BUDAPEST, Hungary (JTA) — A lone heckler tried to disrupt him, but Hungarian lawmaker Janos Hargitai was undeterred as he spoke earlier this month at a memorial day gathering in Hungary commemorating the 1848 revolution there. The holiday marks Hungary’s attempt to break free from the Austrian Empire, and… Read more »
Tagged anti-Semitism
Stymied by Israeli bureaucracy, Ukrainian has been making aliyah for three years
LOD, Israel (JTA) — Sitting in his sister’s living room in this town outside Tel Aviv, Yuriy Yukhatskov says he’s glad to be far from his home city of Kiev. Yukhatskov, 44, says that what he sees as the pervasive anti-Semitism in Ukraine’s capital would grow only worse with… Read more »
In Kiev, an Israeli army vet led a street-fighting unit
(JTA) — He calls his troops “the Blue Helmets of Maidan,” but brown is the color of the headgear worn by Delta — the nom de guerre of the commander of a Jewish-led militia force that participated in the Ukrainian revolution. Under his helmet, he also wears a kippah.… Read more »
Ukraine Jews hunkering down amid turmoil
(JTA) — The turmoil in Ukraine has left one of Europe’s largest Jewish communities on edge. After an outbreak of violence in Kiev last week that left dozens of protesters and policemen dead, President Viktor Yanukovych fled the capital and parliament installed an interim leader to take the still-contested… Read more »
Anti-Semitism in America today: Down, but not out
NEW YORK (JTA) — When Abraham Foxman steps down next summer from his longtime post as national director of the Anti-Defamation League, he’ll be leaving his successor with a much brighter picture on anti-Semitism in America than when Foxman joined the organization in 1965. In an age when anti-Semitic… Read more »
How living in Switzerland taught me about anti-Jewish bias
NEW YORK (JTA) — During the height of the recession, I moved to Switzerland. I had already lived in France, Japan, India and Israel, and traveled much of the rest of the world. I’d gone global for work, love, spirituality and cultural infatuation, but this last time was for… Read more »
Upcoming Halimi movie part of wave of renewed interest in ’06 murder
SAINTE-GENEVIEVE-DES-BOIS, France (JTA) — The phone calls from Africa, the calm demeanor of the suspects and their extreme caution left no doubt in the minds of detectives working the Ilan Halimi case: They were up against an international ring of professional kidnappers. It would be more more than three… Read more »
As quenelle spreads to pitch, British soccer bosses staying on sidelines
(JTA) — When West Bromwich Albion striker Nicolas Anelka exposed British soccer fans to the vaguely Hitlerian salute now sweeping his native France, Jewish groups were confident a strong response was coming. After all, Britain is considered a leader in the fight against xenophobia in sports thanks to its… Read more »
In France, quasi-Nazi salute aims to evade long arm of the law
PARIS (JTA) — To outsiders, they seem like ordinary men striking macho poses for the camera. But there is a dark side to the photos that are appearing with growing frequency in the French media. The men — and less frequently women — are performing the “quenelle,” a gesture… Read more »
Economic, security concerns driving record levels of French aliyah
PARIS (JTA) — In an overcrowded conference room in the heart of Paris’ 14th arrondissement, a hundred French Jews are losing their patience. They have gathered at the Paris office of the Jewish Agency for Israel for a lecture on immigrating to Israel, but the agency staff is running… Read more »
‘Asylum’ request focusing attention on anti-Semitism in Sweden
(JTA) — With an asylum application to her own homeland, Annika Hernroth-Rothstein was hoping to draw attention to the problem of anti-Semitism in Sweden. Hernroth-Rothstein acknowledges the bid is “absurd” — but it’s working, having garnered international media coverage and stirring debate. “EU statutes provide that asylum be granted to… Read more »
Ukraine Jews see alleged beating of Jewish man as sign of mounting nationalism
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — The police station on Stefan Bandera Street in Lviv used to be just another government building to Dmitry Flekman. But that changed earlier this month following a nine-hour interrogation by two detectives, who were accused of torturing and humiliating the 29-year-old Jewish businessman. It’s an… Read more »
A century later, Leo Frank tragedy still resonates
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now… Read more »
Anti-Semitic undertones help galvanize support for convicted Russian teacher
MOSCOW (JTA) — Clutching the bars of the defendant’s cage, Ilya Farber assumes the posture of a crucifix as he proclaims his innocence and pleads for freedom with characteristic thespian flare. “I implore the judge to rule in favor of the children,” the Moscow-born Jewish artist begs the court,… Read more »
Op-Ed: A century later, Leo Frank tragedy still resonates
NEW YORK (JTA) — On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the trial of Leo Frank in Atlanta, let’s begin by stating for the record: No, the Leo Frank case was not the impetus for the founding of the Anti-Defamation League. It is true that the organization, now… Read more »
As European soccer racism festers, British pros coach Israelis in tolerance
(JTA) — Itzik Shanan and Abbas Suan watched last week as 100,000 English soccer fans sang along to a live performance by a multiracial quartet at London’s Wembley Stadium. Shanan, who started a campaign to eliminate racism from Israeli soccer, and Suan, a well-known Arab-Israeli player, were in Britain… Read more »
Hank Greenberg in extra innings
(Washington Jewish Week) — “I think Hank Greenberg was the great American hero,” Washington filmmaker Aviva Kempner says. “What he did on Yom Kippur. What he faced. He was our Jackie Robinson.” Thirteen years after the debut of “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg,” her documentary about the… Read more »
Ukrainian Jews worry that rise of Svoboda party will bring anti-Semitism back into vogue
KIEV, Ukraine (JTA) — Marching in formation, six young men in dark jackets approach an anti-government rally in Cherkasy, a city some 125 miles southeast of Kiev. At the appointed moment, they remove their windbreakers to reveal white T-shirts emblazoned with the words “Beat the kikes.” Their jackets carry… Read more »
Remembering Jackie Robinson’s fight with black nationalists over anti-Semitism
NEW YORK (JTA) — Moviegoers who head this weekend to the AMC Magic Johnson Harlem 9 for the opening of “42” will see the story of how Jackie Robinson displayed legendary courage, class and talent in the face of immense pressure and racial hatred as he broke down baseball’s color barrier.… Read more »
Exhibit recalls Jewish refugees and Nazi prisoners held together in Canadian prisons
VANCOUVER, Canada (JTA) — When Austrian and German Jews escaped Nazism by fleeing to Britain during the 1930s, the last thing they expected was to find themselves prisoners in Canada, interned in camps with some of the same Nazis they had tried to escape back home. But that’s what… Read more »