Europe
Members of the Jewish community in France have expressed their deep concern regarding the broadcast by French public-television Channel France 2 of a report on Gaza that contains a clear anti-Israeli bias.
On Nov. 13, 2015, a series of Islamist terrorist attacks shook Paris: 130 people were killed and hundreds others injured in coordinated shootings and a suicide bombing that hit the Bataclan concert hall, the Stade de France stadium, and several bars and restaurants, all in the name of the Islamic State.
“Sweden has seen a frightening resurgence in antisemitism recently, among both Islamists and neo-Nazi elements who feel empowered and emboldened to target innocent people with violent rhetoric and actions,” said WJC CEO and executive vice president Robert Singer.
Iranian official Assadollah Assadi, 46, who worked in disguise as a diplomat, was extradited to Belgium to face trial for his role in a thwarted terrorist plot to bomb a political rally in France on June 30.
Italian member of the European Parliament Fulvio Martusciello, chairman of the European Parliament delegation for relations with Israel, stressed the necessity of reporting the truth about Israel. “Too many members in the European Parliament speak about Israel without knowing Israel at all,” he noted.
Since its founding in 2013 as a Euro-skeptic party, the AfD has been criticized by the mainstream German Jewish community over concerns of its views on Muslim migrants and country’s Nazi past. Yet Jewish supporters see the opposite. “I prefer to be part of a party that wants to help living Jews, not dead Jews,” said one Jewish supporter.
U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, who is rumored to be one of the candidates to succeed Nikki Haley at the United Nations, himself has traveled to Israel more times than he can count and calls Jerusalem “one of the most fascinating cities in the world.”
Israel is boycotting ministers from Austria’s far-right Freedom Party over its anti-Semitic past. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz is taking steps to conciliate Israel; a presidential visit a few months from now could lead to normalized bilateral ties.
When he was a senior banker, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki allegedly complained to friends about “greedy” and rich “Americans, Jews, Germans, Englishmen and Swiss” who run hedge funds.
The Belgian Ministry of Development Cooperation has announced that “the glorification of terrorism or perpetrators of terrorist acts is not acceptable under any circumstances.”
A man hurled a heavy rock into the window of the women’s gallery of a synagogue in Gdansk, Poland, during prayers at the end of Yom Kippur, the Dy of Atonment, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar.
“Your deeds helped to preserve our collective humanity—and we are forever in your debt for doing so,” said Eric Green, deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Warsaw.
