European Union invites extremist Muslim representatives to interfaith dialogue

"Instead, whether by oversight or by deliberate action, three of the four Muslim invitees taken by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering included Muslim representatives who have links to organizations affiliated with the international Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization known for supporting jihad against the West." (Moshe Kantor, European Jewish Congress President)

EU invites extremist Muslim representatives to interfaith dialogue and criticises Jewish representatives who declined the invitation ...

Source: article by Yossi Lempkowicz in EJP

"BRUSSELS (EJP)--- European Commission President José Manuel Barroso deplored Monday that some religious Jewish leaders boycotted a meeting of EU officials and European religious leaders over the inclusion of "anti-Semitic" extremist Muslim groups.

The meeting was co-hosted by the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament.

"The commission regrets the fact that some of the invited Jewish religious leaders have decided not to participate in this EU dialogue," Barroso said at the press conference.

"This meeting aims to foster dialogue and build on common ground, regarding the importance of this economic and financial crisis and we believe it is important to contribute."

He added: "It is time for unity and not for isolation on such an important topic."

In fact, the conference of European Rabbis (CER) declined the invitation to attend the interfaith gathering with the support of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), while a representative of another group, the Rabbinical Center of Europe (RCE), was present.

"It is inappropriate that organizations such as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, or individuals who in the past made, or endorsed, anti-Semitic statements and who are clearly linked to the radical Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood should be present at such gatherings," said Rabbi Aba Dunner, executive director of the CER.

Rabbi Levi Matusof, from the Rabbinical Centre of Europe, told a press conference after the meeting at the European Commission:"This is a dialogue between the religious leaders and the European institutions, it is not an intra-religious dialogue between the religious leaders."

The European Jewish Congress (EJC), an umbrella political representative group for Jewish communities around Europe, supported the CER’s decision to boycott the EU meeting.

"At the very root of any meaningful interfaith dialogue is the critically important issue of tolerance, acceptance and mutual respect. Sadly, today’s European interfaith gathering reflects neither that spirit nor its practice," EJC President Moshe Kantor said in a statement.

"Instead, whether by oversight or by deliberate action, three of the four Muslim invitees taken by Commission President José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering included Muslim representatives who have links to organizations affiliated with the international Muslim Brotherhood, an extremist organization known for supporting jihad against the West".

"This undermines the important interfaith efforts that so many European leaders have worked to strengthen," the EJC said.

The Jewish group particularly mentioned the presence at the meeting of Prof. Tariq Ramadan, who, it said, "is a divisive and conflicted individual who has been known for promoting and defending the 'clashes of civilizations' ideology."

"There is simply no excuse for those who either preach hate or are affiliated with extremist religious organizations to be invited to any official interfaith gathering in Europe, especially under the patronage of the Presidents of the European Union and the European Parliament," it said."

Norway's F.M. Jonas Gahr Støre and the tactics of Israeli diplomacy

"There is something slightly troubling over this anecdote. Can we reasonable suspect that Israeli ambassadors would establish a tactic of regularly accusing their host nations of being Europe’s most anti-Israeli country? And why, in a book of 342 pages, does Støre only make such an observation of Israel ?"

Discrediting and poking fun at Israel has become a European speciality.

Source: piece in Norway, Israel and the Jews blog

"Jonas Gahr Støre [photo] is Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. In November 2008 he published a book on Norway’s foreign policy - "Making a difference" (Å gjøre en forskjell, Cappelen Damm). On page 136 in the chapter "The Middle East" he writes the following (unauthorised translations):

"During my first meeting with Israel’s ambassador to Norway, Myriam Shomrat, the Israeli message was clear: Norway is the country with the strongest anti-Israeli attitudes in Europe. I stood in doubt and wondered about the analysis. Some months later I discussed the Middle East with my Irish colleague in Dublin. I quoted the Israeli ambassador. "That must be wrong,” said the Irishman, “The Israeli ambassador here in this country says that Ireland is the worst!". I think others have received the message."

There is something slightly troubling over this anecdote. Can we reasonable suspect that Israeli ambassadors would establish a tactic of regularly accusing their host nations of being Europe’s most anti-Israeli country? And why, in a book of 342 pages, does Støre only make such an observation of Israel ? Be that as it may, visit Wikipedia’s section on Støre and you find the following:

"He also makes an amusing revelation of Israeli diplomatic tactics in Europe. In her first meeting with Støre the Israeli ambassador Myriam Shomrat stated that Norway is the country with the strongest anti-Israel attitudes in Europe. Støre doubted this, and talked about it with his Irish colleague in Dublin. He could tell of how Israel’s ambassador had said precisely the same thing about Ireland."

It is unfortunate that Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs be quoted in this fashion. One of the salient features of Wikipedia is that it allows users to edit its contents. This site proposes that Støre makes use of this feature as soon as possible."

- Gry Larsen, political adviser to Norwegian FM, no friend of Israel
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- Norwegian envoy equates Israel with Nazis
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- Norway says it has severed Hamas ties

Germany: ban on Israeli flags during rally upheld

"During a protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead organized by the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs [Turkish] that attracted 10,000 protesters in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window. [...] If the police unit had not removed the flags, "it could have come to a big escalation" and "jeopardized life and limb" of those present, Richter said."

Source: article by Benjamin Weinthal in TJP

"A legal opinion submitted by law professor Jürgen Vahle to the Interior Ministry of North Rhine-Westphalia state in late April upholds the propriety of a police ban on and seizure of two Israeli flags during a violent anti-Israeli demonstration in January.

The report, a copy of which was obtained by The Jerusalem Post, asserts that "the entry by force in two apartments" and "the securing of the flags was lawful."

During a protest against Israel's Operation Cast Lead organized by the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs that attracted 10,000 protesters in Duisburg, two police officers stormed the apartment of a 25-year-old student and his 26-year-old girlfriend and seized Israeli flags hanging on the balcony and inside a window.

According to Vahle's report, the protesters threw "chunks of ice, pocket knives and cigarette lighters" at the Israeli flags.

North Rhine-Westphalia's domestic intelligence agency (Protection of the Constitution) cited in its 2008 report the anti-Semitic and militant Islamic group Milli Görüs, the organizer of the anti-Israeli protest, as a threat to the democratic structure of the federal republic.

The student, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he fears for his safety, told the Post that two weeks after the removal of the flags "a couple of young folks" hollered in front of his apartment, "Damn Jew, come outside."

He displayed the Israeli flags in January to "show solidarity with a republic [Israel] in the Middle East that is surrounded by dictators but is viewed as a pariah state. I was in Israel and find the land super."

Asked about Vahle's report, the student said, "False questions were poised."

Given the background of the radical Islamic group Milli Görüs, he asked, "why was a police unit of 280 officers present at a demonstration where 10,000 protesters" were present?

Vahle's report drew mixed reactions from police union officials. Frank Richter, chairman of the police union (Gdp) in North Rhine-Westphalia, told the Post that the "special relationship between Israel and Germany is good" but the entry into the apartment was "legal according to the police statute."

If the police unit had not removed the flags, "it could have come to a big escalation" and "jeopardized life and limb" of those present, Richter said.

However, another "legal opinion could reach a different result" and there "were alternatives" to removing the flags, Rainer Wendt, head of the police union (DPolG), told the Post. Wendt criticized the Vahle report and said, "Everything that is lawful does not mean that it is right." It was "not part of police conduct to rip down Israeli flags," he said. According to Wendt, the seizure of Israeli flags should be "assessed politically and psychologically."

German police had a "special responsibility" toward the Jewish state and the confiscation of Israeli flags damaged the German-Israeli relationship, he said."

The pope, the Holy Land and the truth, Denis Maceoin

"What concentration camp ever launched a single rocket at its guards, let alone over 8,000, as the Gazans have done? What Nazis ever provided oil, water, food and medicines to camp inmates, as the Israelis have done? What camps had shops stocked from floor to ceiling with goods, or are studded with expensive villas and apartment blocks? What camp inmates would ever have set about destroying £14 million worth of greenhouses provided for their well-being, as the Gazans did in 2005?"

Extract from an essay in TJP

"ISRAEL WOULD would also be a perfect place for Benedict to denounce another churchman who has indulged in a similar distortion of the truth. Cardinal Renato Martino [photo], head of the Vatican Council for Justice and Peace, recently bought in to a smaller but equally vicious lie, namely that the people of Gaza live in "a big concentration camp." This sits next to other popular lies, chiefly that Israelis/Jews are really Nazis who kill babies for sport, or that there has been genocide, even a holocaust in Gaza.

What concentration camp ever launched a single rocket at its guards, let alone over 8,000, as the Gazans have done? What Nazis ever provided oil, water, food and medicines to camp inmates, as the Israelis have done? What camps had shops stocked from floor to ceiling with goods, or are studded with expensive villas and apartment blocks? What camp inmates would ever have set about destroying £14 million worth of greenhouses provided for their well-being, as the Gazans did in 2005?

The "concentration camp" claim is a blatant lie and an insult to the millions who really did suffer and die in the camps, and the pope must denounce it and chasten the cardinal who has promoted it. Only transparency can bring eventual peace to the region.

To claim, as so many do, that there has been a genocide or a holocaust in Gaza is not merely wrong, it is indecent. According to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, the annual growth rate in Gaza is about three times the world average. The population there has grown by almost 40 percent between 1997 and 2007. What genocide has ever increased the numbers of a population? Yet that lie allows marchers round the world to call Israelis "Nazis" and "Zionazis," and cartoonists to draw hooked-nosed Jews in SS uniforms. We all know the consequences when similar lies were told about the Jews in the 1930s and '40s. There must be no question this time that a pope will denounce these fictions for their incitement to the oldest of evils.

THE POPE must also address the widespread claim that Israel is an "apartheid state." This also is both ludicrous and dangerous. There are no apartheid laws in Israel, Arabs are not excluded from restaurants, cinemas, concert halls or swimming pools, but serve in parliament and on the Supreme Court. The claim is another vicious lie and, given the Church's commitment to anti-racism, it is fitting for the pope to expose it.

Passing beyond the lies (of which there are dozens more), an urgent matter on the pope's agenda must surely be the plight of Christians in the West Bank and Gaza. Harassed by militant Islamic groups, the Christian population there has been dwindling. In 1990, Christians made up 60% of the population in Bethlehem; today, a mere 19 years later, they number just 20% and that figure is shrinking rapidly. Christians in the Palestinian territories have fallen in numbers from 15% of the population in 1950 to less than 1% today. Calls have been made for their extinction, and attacks are regularly made on institutions and individual Christians. More and more Christians pack their bags and flee. In Israel, their numbers have risen from 34,000 in 1948 to more than 140,000 today. If the pope does not speak out and make this an issue of international concern, the bombings, the beatings and the intimidation will continue, and before very long the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem will be left to the tender mercies of Islamic Jihad.

THERE IS ONE other thing Pope Benedict should consider doing before he leaves Israel. In Haifa, on the slopes of Mount Carmel, stands a UNESCO World Heritage Site made up of the gardens, shrines and international headquarters of the Baha'i religion. It is a beautiful place, one of the loveliest on the Mediterranean coast. Israel is the only country in the Middle East where these places would be safe. Iran, a country that threatens to wipe Israel off the map, is the original home of the Baha'is, who form its largest religious minority. There the holiest Baha'i shrines have been bulldozed into rubble. Since the revolution, Baha'is have been imprisoned and executed, and made the objects of severe persecution. If the pope could stand in the gardens in Haifa and proclaim his abhorrence of all religious persecution, it would send out a firm message to bullies like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and those, like Hizbullah and Hamas, whom he controls.

There is a deeper message that the pope is well-situated to convey, which is that the truth is greater than the lie, and that there can be no peace while there is falsehood. Only when the Israelis and the Palestinians can engage in complete honesty with one another, and only when the deluded marchers walking on European streets chanting "Hamas! Hamas! Jews to the gas!" have their eyes opened to the enormous deceit that has been perpetrated on them will a real and lasting peace begin to grow in the Holy Land. It's a great opportunity. I pray it is not too late for Benedict to take it."

The writer is a former lecturer in Arabic and Islamic studies, the author of several reports on radical Islam and currently the editor-designate of an international journal, the Middle East Quarterly. This piece first appeared in the Catholic Herald.

Norwegian and French newspapers compare media coverage of Gaza and Sri Lanka

"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. [...] If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference."

Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews

Business editorial states "There is a difference between Singalese and Jews"

"Dagens Næringsliv is Norway’s largest business daily. Yesterday many readers found the following editorial a refreshing change from the same-same of Akersgata (Norway’s Fleet Street):

"Social commitment - The tragedy of Sri Lanka is entering its temporarily last act

During the next few days the last little piece of land still controlled by the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, will probably be conquered by Singalese troops. After almost three decades of war 70,000 people - at least - are dead. The island’s commercial life and environment have been severely injured. Millions of Tamils have been displaced and exiled. The problem, integrating the Tamil minority, is unsolved.

This should concern us. Norwegian authorities, led by our present Minister of Development Erik Solheim, has been strongly committed to creating peace. The conflict is in many ways an enlarged edition of the conflict in the Middle East, where also Norway was engaged in peace attempts, with about the same miserable result.

LTTE behaves as brutally as Hamas and Hizbollah - at least, with suicide bombing and recruitment of child-soldiers as its specialities. At the same time the Singalese governments’ warfare makes Israel’s conduct against the Palestinians appear mild and humane.
But even though the sufferings are greater, we are less concerned. Media coverage is far more muted. Academics and artists do not sign petitions, musicians do not arrange supportive concerts. Concerned doctors are busy elsewhere. When 3,500 people participated in the demonstration in Oslo earlier this month, there was hardly a white face in sight.

There is, obviously, a difference between Tamils and Palestinians - and there is a difference between Singalese and Jews. Whatever the reason may be.""
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Source: LE BLOGNADEL

From Le Monde :

"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are learning it at their own expense. For three months in the north-east of the island, they have been trapped in heavy fighting between brutal government forces and the unscrupulous Tiger rebellion. If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference.

The UN lukewarm reaction is difficult to explain. According to the Organization's unofficial figures, unverifiable in the absence of observers, nearly 6,500 people have already died - five times more than in Gaza." (April 30)

"The crime is almost perfect. Close to 6,500 Sri Lankans have died, according to United Nations' estimates, and no corpse has hit the front pages of newspapers or TV screens. The authorities in Colombo have effectively banned all witnesses from the war zone. " (May 2).

Gilles William Goldnadel asks: "At this point, if I humbly point out that the Sinhalese are not Jews, will I be told again that I am overreacting ?"

Good point indeed.

Belgian opera shows Jew raping woman in anti-Israel piece

"Samson [...] died at the hands of his occupiers, while killing many of his captors. This, according to the opera's creators, makes him "the world's first shaheed," or martyr."

Intifada at the opera. The Flanders Opera is also organising a number of political debates on the conflict.

Source: article by Cnaan Liphshiz in Haaretz

"By portraying a religious Jew raping a woman in a show about Israel, the state-funded Flanders Opera is in danger of encouraging anti-Semitic stereotypes, leading members from Belgium's Jewish community told Haaretz.

The highly-controversial scene appeared in the premier of "Samson and Delilah" in Antwerp on Tuesday evening. The contested show was created by two Israelis, who turned the biblical tale of Samson into a reverse-role protest against Israel's occupation of Palestinians.

Belgium's Jewish community has condemned the opera directed by Omri Nitzan and Amir Nizar Zuabi for dressing Philistine conquerors in Western garb while Hebrew fighters like Samson wear Arab clothes. The rape scene shows a Philistine religious priest dressed up as a religious Jew while raping Delilah, who was Samson's lover. The rapist was the only man in the show wearing a skull cap. The Flanders Opera could not be reached for a comment.

Samson lived in the 11th century BCE as a partisan under occupation of the Philistines - a powerful and technologically-advanced people of European roots. The Bible says he died at the hands of his occupiers, while killing many of his captors. This, according to the opera's creators, makes him "the world's first shaheed," or martyr.

"From conversation with the creators, I gather the rape scene was meant to protest religious coercion inside Israel," said Michael Freilich, editor-in-chief of the Dutch-language Jewish affairs newspaper Joods Actueel. "But most people in Belgium don't make such distinctions. To them a man wearing a skull cap in a show about Israel is a Jewish Israeli."

Another image from the show showed occupying soldiers clad in black combat suits and armed with M-16 assault rifles stroking the weapons while placing them horizontally against their crotches. Israel's ambassador to Belgium, Tamar Samash, was invited to the event but eventually canceled. Sources involved with the embassy's work in Belgium said the ambassador felt it was "inappropriate" for her to attend on Tuedsay night, the eve of Israel's 61st anniversary.

"I have not seen the show so I would rather not comment on the specifics," Eli Ringer, vice-chairman of the forum of Jewish Organizations of Belgium, told Haaretz. "But I gather it portrayed a man wearing a skull cap in the ugliest way possible and of course this is not helpful to combat anti-Semitism."

Ringer also said that he is concerned about the use of holy scriptures to promote political causes. "History tells us this is not a good idea," he said. A number of members of Jewish organizations attended the premier to report on it. They said the production provoked members of the crowd to boo the cast at certain points. This was confirmed by Dutch radio. The Jewish onlookers said the jeers did not come from the delegation. Meanwhile, most Belgian media offered negative criticism of the opera on artistic grounds rather than ideological ones. "If you go to the opera, close your eyes because the music is wonderful," one critic wrote.

Another connoisseur said the role reversal is too complicated to follow because the original text of the opera was not changed to fit it. "Imagine seeing a production of Little Red Riding Hood where a wolf who is dressed up like a little girl meets another little girl while he is on his way to visit her granny," the opera-lover said."

- Belgian Jews criticize Flanders Opera for staging anti-Israeli premiere
- "Massaal boegeroep" na voorstelling Samson en Dalila in Vlaamse Opera
- Intifada lyrique

Is there an anti-Israeli "European street" ?

"[...] the sole ambassador in Israel who backed Ferrero-Waldner was the French [Jean-Michel Casa]. He was quoted as saying that her statements reflect the European public's feelings."

Are "European public's feelings" supposed to mean that, like the famed "Arab street", there is now in Europe an anti-Israeli "European street" ? Only that it's not called "street" but "European public's feelings".

Source: Israel to EU: Criticism of Netanyahu government unacceptable
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent

"A Foreign Ministry official has been warning European countries that unless they curtail criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu's government, Israel will block the European Union from participating in the diplomatic process with the Palestinians. The main target of the offensive is EU External Affairs Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner*, who recently called for a freeze in upgrading ties with Israel over its peace process policies. Several days ago, the deputy director for Europe at the Foreign Ministry, Rafi Barak, began calling European ambassadors in Israel regarding the attitude toward the new government. The first conversations were with France's Jean-Michel Casa, Britain's Tom Phillips and the Chargé d'Affaires of the German embassy.

Barak sharply protested the criticism by European ministers and senior EU officials about Israel's government. Barak singled out Ferrero-Waldner in his rebuke and said her statements were troubling in their form, style and timing.

"For some weeks now, we have been telling everyone in Europe that Israel's government needs time to reformulate policies, and not to begin a war in the press," Barak told the diplomats.

He also noted that the European Union had not made an official decision on freezing the upgrading of ties, and therefore it was unclear what gave Ferrero-Waldner the authority to make her statements. [...]

"Israel is asking Europe to lower the tone and conduct a discreet dialog," he said. "However, if these declarations continue, Europe will not be able to be part of the diplomatic process, and both sides will lose."

In a telegram to the Israeli missions in Europe, Barak briefed the Israeli diplomats on his conversations and noted that the sole ambassador in Israel who backed Ferrero-Waldner was the French. He was quoted as saying that her statements reflect the European public's feelings.

A political source in Jerusalem noted that Ferrero-Waldner was sharply criticized by European officials, and one European foreign minister said in a private conversation that she "is causing damage to European foreign policy in her attacks on Israel"."
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*Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner who is being so critical of the Israeli governement is Austrian. Maybe she should be paying a little more attention to what's going on is her own country.

Articles in Z-Word by Karl Pfeifer, a veteran anti-fascist and journalist based in Vienna:
- Free Speech and the Far Right
- Austria’s Far Right Blames the Jews…Again
- Austria: Right Wing Extremist Elected Parliament President
- Antisemitism: It’s Time for Tachles
- Antisemitic Tropes in Austria’s Top-Selling Daily
- Stalinist Smears
- Far Right Scandals Continue in Austria
- Antisemitism and the Austrian Left
-Austria’s Far Right and Selective Free Speech
- "Excessively": The Austrian Media on Gaza