Tunisian Islamist party's Jewish candidate gears for elections

Decked out in a striking blue suit and white shirt, matching his political allegiance, Simon Slama rubs shoulders with fellow candidates ahead of Tunisia's municipal elections.

Nothing unusual about that—except he is the only Jewish candidate standing for the Islamist Ennahdha party.

Slama at his shop

A public relations stunt for some; a sign of genuine liberalization for others. But even if Slama fares dismally come the May 6 poll, his candidacy has become a major story in the nation. This will be the first municipal vote since former dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fell from power in 2011. Ben Ali ruled Tunisia with an iron fists for 23 years, and was deposed in the so-called "Jasmine Revolution." The Ennahdha party, as part of which Slama is running, was founded after the dictator's ouster and was based on an Islamist movement founded in the North African country in 1981, inspired by the Islamic revolution in Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt.

Simon Slama is running on the Tunisia Islamist party's ticket in the May elections (Photo: AFP)

And while Slama looks at ease, joyously clapping hands on the campaign trail in the coastal town of Monastir, the 54-year old sewing machine repairman's decision to run drew fierce initial opposition from loved ones. "All my family were against my choice. My brother was angry and my wife went days without speaking to me," the candidate tells AFP, with a timid smile and a nervous fidget of the hands. "But I managed to convince them."

A candidate list in Monastir (Photo: AFP)

Slama and his relatives are among the small number of Jews still living in Tunisia. The community in the North African nation has shrunk from several hundred thousand before independence in 1956, to just 1,200 today. While Jews in the country, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, once served as lawmakers and even ministers, they have long since slipped to the margins of politics. Slama believes his candidacy is helping to change all that and has already "removed fears for Jewish Tunisian citizens".

Comrades in the Ennahdha party insist Slama is the right man to stand for office in Monastir—a symbolic town for Tunisians as it is the birthplace of Habib Bourguiba, the father of the country's independence.

Slama at his sewing machine repair shop (Photo: AP)

"He comes from an ancient family. He has his roots in Monastir... and he knows the town's problems," says Chokri ben Janet, who heads the party's candidate list in the town.

Slama says that despite its history as an Islamist party he opted for Ennahdha out of political conviction, describing it as "the most active and the most serious on the political scene". "Ennahdha has changed its strategy—it is no longer a religious party, it is a civil party," he says. The party is a junior partner in a coalition led by President Beji Caid Essebsi and his Nidaa Tounes party.

Tunisia has worked hard to modernize its image since ousting dictator Ben Ali in 2011 (Photo: Reuters)

Taking stock from its experience in power after the 2011 revolution, it has worked hard to modernize its image. It opposed a project to criminalize any attempt to normalize relations with Israel; a vote on the proposal was dropped this winter. Now some of its leading candidates are women who don't wear the Islamic veil. All of these changes—including Slama's candidacy—have drawn derision from some political opponents who accuse the group of simple opportunism to bolster its vote. Top Nidaa Tounes official Borhane Bassais called it a "political striptease".

Others say that interest in Slama's candidacy highlights that while Jews can practice their religion freely they remain an anomaly in Tunisia—and shows the country still has a long way to go on minority rights.

The media frenzy is testament to "this obsession we have of judging (people) on the basis of something as personal as their religious conviction," says Yamina Thabet, an official for Tunisia's Association for the Support of Minorities. Some noteworthy figures have, nonetheless, thrown their weight behind Slama's bid for a seat. "This candidacy brings pride for the Jewish community," says Rene Trabelsi, who organizes the Jewish pilgrimage to Tunisia's famous Ghriba synagogue, on the island of Djerba.

The famed synagogue in Djerba (Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy , AP)

"It has created a positive image of an open Tunisia that we can all share," says the businessman, who was once a contender to become tourism minister. And as for the candidate himself, he appears comfortable with his identity and the attention his foray into politics has garnered. If he wins, Slama says, he is ready to take the oath of office on "both the books"—the Jewish Torah and the Muslim Koran.

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Germany needs to do more to combat anti-Semitism, official says

Germany must do more to tackle anti-Semitism and should set up a national database to record anti-Semitic incidents that are not included in crime statistics, the country’s first anti-Semitism commissioner Felix Klein said on Friday.

 

The former diplomat, who will take up the newly created position next month, also said anti-Semitism was still rooted largely in extreme right-wing ideology and was not only being driven by Germany’s growing Muslim population.

Anti-Semitism is a highly sensitive issue in Germany, whose Nazi-era government murdered more than 6 million Jews during the Holocaust.

Kippah march in Berlin (Photo: EPA)

 

“There are many things going on to combat anti-Semitism but all the efforts have to be coordinated and sharpened,” Klein told Reuters.

“I hear from Jewish communities that they feel that anti-Semitic attacks and incidents have risen but that there is not yet a serious database that underlines and supports that perception.”

He said a national database should include everything that is not considered criminal, such as vulgar behavior and “stupid” comments. By drawing a more detailed picture, that would help authorities devise measures to combat anti-Semitism.

Last week, an Israeli Arab who wore the Jewish cap, or kippa, in Berlin as an experiment was subjected to verbal abuse by three people and was lashed with a belt by a Syrian Palestinian. A video was posted on the internet.

צילום: הפורום היהודי נגד אנטישמיות

That followed reports of bullying of Jewish children in schools. Thousands of Germans wearing kippahs took part in nationwide rallies on Wednesday to show solidarity with the Jewish community.

Official figures for the first eight months of 2017 showed nearly 93 percent of reported anti-Semitic crimes were linked to far-right extremism, despite predictions that a big jump in the Muslim population since Europe’s 2015 migrant crisis could fuel attacks or discrimination against Jews.

Klein stressed that anti-Semitism had been a problem in Germany long before the refugee influx and added that Jewish institutions here and in other countries had needed police protection before migrants started coming in large numbers.

“Anti-Semitism is not only Muslim-driven in Germany,” he said. “Of course we have a new challenge and new forms of anti-Semitism which we have to address and combat, but the great problem also rests with right-wing anti-Semitism and we have to develop good strategies to combat that, as we did before.”

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Filmmaker Loach hits back at Belgian premier in anti-Semitism row

British movie director Ken Loach accused Belgium’s prime minister on Thursday of overlooking the “flagrant breaches of international law” by Israel as a response to the prime minister's criticism of awarding Loach with the honorary doctorate in light of his alleged anti-Semitic views.

Speaking after being awarded an honorary doctorate at one of Belgium’s leading universities, Loach said he was shocked that Premier Charles Michel had chosen to criticize the institution for giving him the award.

British movie director Ken Loach (Photo: Gettyimages)

“Now, he’s a lawyer, Mr. Michel ... Did he I wonder, ask about the breaches of international law committed by Israel? Did he ask about the illegal occupation of Palestinian lands?” said Loach, the 81-year-old director of 2016 Palme d’Or winner “I, Daniel Blake”.

Michel, 42, studied law at the Free University of Brussels and chided it on Wednesday for plans to award Loach an honorary doctorate. Loach denies accusations that his support for Palestinians is anti-Semitic.

In a speech on Wednesday at Brussels’ Grand Synagogue to mark the 70th anniversary of Israel’s foundation, Michel said: “No accommodation with anti-Semitism can be tolerated, whatever its form. And that also goes for my own alma mater.”

Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel (Photo: EPA)

In a statement on Thursday, the European Jewish Congress called on the university to revoke its decision to honor Loach, saying he had “constantly undermined efforts to combat anti-Semitism in the UK”.

The dispute in Belgium comes as the British Labour Party under left-winger Jeremy Corbyn, for whom Loach has been a vocal supporter, is battling allegations of anti-Semitism.

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Germans don skullcaps to protest anti-Semitism

A “Kippah March” got underway in Germany on Wednesday in a mass display of solidarity with the country’s Jewish community after a video that surfaced earlier this week showed a 19-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker whipping a man wearing a skullcap in Berlin. The march went ahead despite exhortations from the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Josef Schuster, who told broadcaster Radioeins Tuesday that wearing a skullcap is right in principle, but that he was advising individuals "against showing themselves openly with a kippah in a big-city setting in Germany, and wear a baseball cap or something else to cover their head instead."

Israel's Chief Rabbi David Lau, however, called on German Jewry to refrain from removing skullcaps from their heads while out in public, despite the danger of being targeted for anti-Semitic hate crimes as a result.

Kippah March in Berlin (Photo: AFP)

  

Five hundred people took part in the rally, as marchers donned a skullcap as a show of defiance against the rising tide of anti-Semitism and as many Jews wonder about their safety in Germany, which has tried to atone for Nazis’ killing of 6 million European Jews in the Holocaust more than 70 years ago.

“Since World War II, there has not been a demonstration like this in which so many people have worn the Kippah outside a Jewish community building in Berlin,” said Schuster, whose advice ultimately went unheeded.

“We can never allow anti-Semitism to become a norm in Germany,” said Foreign Minister Heiko Maas ahead of the march. “There can be no discrimination against any person because of his ethnicity, skin color or religion.”

 

The march was also attended by Berlin Mayor Michael Müller. “Berlin stands firm alongside the State of Israel. When Jews are attacked here, it is an attack on us all,” he said.

(Photo: AFP)

Germany's music industry scrapped its prestigious annual Echo awards on Wednesday after a row over anti-Semitism, hours before the nationwide rallies were due to take place.

The awarding of this year's Echo music prize to a rapper duo accused of reciting anti-Semitic lyrics caused outrage. Several previous winners returned their awards in protest.

In a further show of solidarity with the Jewish community, the BVMI music association said the Echo prize had been so damaged by the row that a new start was required.

"On no account do we want this music prize to be a platform for anti-Semitism, contempt for women, homophobia or for belittling violence," it said in a statement.

The controversial winners were Kollegah and Farid Bang, whose lyrics include: "I'm doing another Holocaust, coming with a Molotov" and who sing that their bodies are "more defined than Auschwitz prisoners".

Kollegah and Farid Bang (Photo: AFP)

The rising tensions have come as a time when Germany has been grappling with an influx of more than 1 million mostly Muslim migrants, along with the rise of a nationalist party, the Alternative for Germany, which was elected to Parliament last year. Its leaders are known for their openly anti-Muslim stance, but their anti-Semitism is less apparent.

Across Europe, anti-Semitism has been on the rise in recent years, and thousands of Jews—mostly from France—have moved to Israel.

About 150 people—Jews, Muslims, Christians and atheists—came together Wednesday and put on kippahs in a show of solidarity in the eastern city of Erfurt. Other rallies were expected later in the day in Berlin, Cologne and Potsdam.

In last week’s attack in Berlin, the 21-year-old victim, an Arab Israeli who said he wore the kippah in a show of solidarity with his Jewish friends, caught the assault on video, which quickly went viral. It showed a young man whipping him violently with a belt while shouting “Yahudi!”—Jew in Arabic.

The RIAS group that tracks anti-Semitism said there were 947 anti-Semitic incidents last year in Berlin, including 18 attacks and 23 threats last year.

In all of Germany, authorities say there are a high volume of anti-Semitic incidents reported, with the equivalent of nearly four per day in 2017. There were 1,453 anti-Semitic incidents, compared with 1,468 incidents in 2016 and 1,366 in 2015.

Schuster’s comments on hiding the skullcap drew sharp criticism from other Jewish leaders, who say Jews should wear a kippah to show they’re not afraid.

(Photo: AFP)

“Jewish identity is not something we should hide,” said Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal. “We have to be proud of who we are and at the same time fight anti-Semitism.”

Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid also attended the march. “Jews cannot be afraid to walk around with their Kippah in Germany in 2018. I am willing to accept a situation in which we are afraid and our children are afraid like their parents and grandparents were scared,” Lapid said.

 

“I met today with people from the Jewish community and they asked me what I think and I told them, walk around with your Kippah and clubs and react in the way Jews should react in 2018 when someone threatens them,” he added.

“Anti-Semitism has and always, and will exist. We have a state, and because of that we have an army, and because of that I can march today in Germany and tell anti-Semites that they can bite us.” 

For years, many Jewish men in Germany and across Europe who wear the kippah as a symbol of their devotion to God have been hiding their skullcaps under baseball hats when they are in public.

Anti-Semitism has existed in Europe for hundreds of years, often fanned by Christian churches who have blamed Jews for the killing of Jesus. In recent decades, however, Muslim immigrants have added a new strain by holding Jews responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We also have new phenomena (of anti-Semitism in Germany). We have refugees now, for example, or people of Arab origin who are bringing a different type of anti-Semitism into the country,” Merkel told Israeli TV this week. “In the new government, we have for the first time appointed a commissioner for Jewish life in Germany and in the fight against anti-Semitism.”

The decision followed a recommendation by experts and came amid concerns over the bullying of Jewish children in schools in recent months and the burning of Israeli flags during a recent pro-Palestinian protest in Berlin.

Earlier this month, a rap band that included cynical references about the Auschwitz death camp in its lyrics won the Echo award, Germany’s most important music prize, drawing strong criticism from other artists and government officials. After several past winners said they would return their awards, the German music industry behind the Echo said Wednesday it would scrap the prize in its current form.

(Photo: AFP)

Neighboring France also has witnessed virulent anti-Semitism in recent years, notably in two Islamic extremist attacks targeting a Jewish school and a kosher supermarket. More recently, authorities say anti-Semitism was a motive for the stabbing death last month of an 85-year-old Parisian woman, a killing that shocked France.

Thousands of French Jews have left for Israel in recent years, but France still has the highest Jewish population in Europe, about half a million.

Around 200,000 Jews live in Germany, most of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union. That’s fewer than half of the 500,000 Jews who lived in the country before the Holocaust.

(Photo: AP)

Some 3.3 million Jews lived in Poland on the eve of the Holocaust, making it Europe’s largest Jewish community, and the second-largest in the world. There are no exact numbers today because many people with Jewish roots do not register. Estimates are in the thousands.

Poland witnessed a startling wave of anti-Semitic comments earlier this year by government officials amid a dispute with Israel over a new Polish law. The law criminalizes blaming Poland for Holocaust crimes. The anti-Semitic rhetoric, unprecedented in Poland in 50 years, deeply shook the country’s tiny Jewish community.

Despite the rhetoric, Poland is still considered one of the safest countries in Europe for Jews, with violence extremely rare. With no radical Muslim population and no left-wing anti-Semitism, Jews in Poland have to worry only about the extreme right, which is small but growing more emboldened.

 

Kobi Nachshoni, Itamar Eichner, Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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German Jewish leader advises against skullcaps in cities

Germany's main Jewish leader says he would advise people visiting big cities against wearing Jewish skullcaps, following a street assault last week on two young men wearing them. The attack in Berlin, in which a 19-year-old Syrian asylum-seeker is a suspect, added to growing concern in Germany about anti-Semitism.

Anti-Semitic incident    (צילום: הפורום היהודי נגד אנטישמיות)

(Photo: Reuters)

Josef Schuster, the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, told broadcaster Radioeins Tuesday that wearing a skullcap is right in principle, but that he was advising individuals "against showing themselves openly with a kippa in a big-city setting in Germany, and wear a baseball cap or something else to cover their head instead."

Rally against anti-Semitism in Germany (Archive photo) (Photo: Reuters)

Schuster suggested three years ago that Jews shouldn't wear skullcaps in areas with large Muslim populations. But he stressed there's increasing anti-Semitic sentiment among non-migrants.

Screenshot (Photo: Jewish Forum for Democracy and Against anti-Semitism)

Berlin's Jewish community said they were organizing a "kippah march" Wednesday following the assault of a Adam Arush, a 21-year-old Israeli Arab wearing a skullcap in the German capital last Tuesday. The precession will take place next to the Jewish community building.

The Jewish community plans to hand out thousands of kippahs to everyone interested in expressing solidarity with the Jewish community in Germany by wearing them proudly across the city.

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The Jews-by-choice of San Nicandro, Italy

The small synagogue in the remote village of San Nicandro, in the province of Puglia in southeastern Italy, is the only one in the world where the women’s section is three times as large as that of the men. The women of the community maintain a flourishing Jewish lifestyle in the heart of a devout Catholic area. In most cases, their husbands are Catholics and many of them are not considered Jewish according to Jewish law—but this does not prevent them from feeling that they are proud Jews. The unique synagogue is located in a small building which the women, many of whom are engaged in agriculture, bought in 1994 with money they had collected on their own, lira by lira, and without any external help, so that they would have a place to pray. “We would tell our husbands that the price of the dress we bought was a bit more expensive, and we would save the difference in money for the purchase of the synagogue,” one says with a wry smile.

Freund at a Torah scroll introduction ceremony. The small Jewish community has only eight children, and the women fear there will be no Jews left

We came to visit the village together with Michael Freund, the founder and chairman of Shavei Israel—an international Jewish organization based in Jerusalem. Its goal is to reach out to communities around the world with Jewish ancestry as well as those who want to connect with the Jewish people. Rabbi Pinhas Punturello, Shavei Israel’s emissary to Italy, also joined us.

The women of the community were very moved by their visit, and they received the guests from Israel with songs and hymns in Hebrew and Italian. We were welcomed into the home of Lucia Guellano Leone, 50, one of the dominant women in the community. Her husband, Matteo, is a former Catholic who underwent conversion with her, and now works as a kosher supervisor at a cracker factory in the port city of Bari.

Inside the Holy Ark in the local synagogue there is, among other things, a particularly old Torah scroll that is 300 to 400 years old. Next to it is a Megillat Esther, the Book of Esther that is read on the holiday of Purim, which the women of the community had prepared many years ago—although it was clear to them that according to Jewish law it was invalid. Two years ago, they received a kosher scroll, which is used for reading on the festival, but they refuse to discard the non-kosher scroll, which for them serves as a symbol. The story of the community of converts from San Nicandro, which could easily become a Hollywood movie, begins in the first World War. Donato Manduzio (1885-1948) was a farmer’s son who had never set foot in a school. During World War I, he was drafted into the army and wounded, and then hospitalized in a military hospital in Pisa with his legs paralyzed. In the bed next to him lay a wounded man who taught him to read and write, and so he began to read books. When Manduzio returned to San Nicandro, he read a great deal of Italian literature and became a healer who brewed potions. After undergoing a “divine revelation” in the middle of the night, he began to study the Old Testament and came to the conclusion that Judaism is the true religion. He began observing Shabbat and gradually other commandments. He conveyed his new teachings to his followers, and established the San Nicandro Jewish community, which at its height numbered 80 people. Sometime afterward, a merchant who happened upon the village found himself in the midst of a conversation between Manduzio and one of his followers, who were discussing the Book of Psalms. The merchant asked Manduzio if he was an evangelical, and Manduzio replied: “No, we are the people of God” ("Popolo di Dio”). When the merchant told him that there were thousands of Jews living in Rome, Milan, and Florence, Manduzio was stunned. He was convinced that the people of Israel he had read about in the Old Testament were extinct and no longer existed. He asked the merchant to give him the addresses of the Jewish communities and immediately sent them letters. After a lengthy exchange of correspondence, the Jewish community of Rome concluded that the San Nicandro community was serious and worthy of being converted. The Chief Rabbi of Rome dispatched a messenger to visit the Mityahadim, or “Jews-by-choice” —as the Italian Jewish community called them—and on that visit the village’s first synagogue was dedicated and the community received prayer shawls, a menorah and several other religious articles. Today, there are about 50 people living in the village who continue to maintain a Jewish lifestyle. They observe Shabbat, perform public prayers on Shabbat and Jewish holidays in Hebrew and in Italian, and consider themselves Jews in every way. The Jewish women of San Nicandro eat kosher food, which they prepare themselves. They even make kosher cheese on their own under supervision. On Sukkot, they erect a large sukkah, organize joint meals on festivals, and every Friday they make a communal Kiddush and Shabbat meal. They make sure to eat only kosher meat, which is brought from Rome, separate meat and dairy, bake their own challahs and of course light Shabbat candles. The synagogue compound has a screen, which they use to connect to a virtual class on-line with Italian rabbis in order to study Torah. There is a Beit Midrash, which also serves as a museum of the San Nicandro community. On the wall are historical photographs that describe the life of the community from the days of the prophet Manduzio until the present. Among the pictures are children dressed up in costume on Purim, lighting Hanukkah candles, dancing with a Torah scroll and celebrating Israel's Independence Day, which the community in the village marks every year.

Lucia Zorro and her sister Josephina outside the village synagogue

The small Jewish community in the village has only eight children, and the women fear that there will be no Jews left in San Nicandro in the future.

The small and well-kept synagogue is located on a central street in the village. There are about 30 people praying on Friday night and about 40 on Shabbat, most of them women. The prayer includes melodies and fragments of poetry. The morning prayer lasts four hours, part in Hebrew and partly in Italian, and the Shabbat service in the synagogue is the center of life for the Jews of the village.

“The Jews of San Nicandro are a unique phenomenon. It is the first time in the modern era in Europe that an entire group of people formally embraced Judaism,” says Shavei Israel Chairman Michael Freund. “Manduzio and his followers,” Freund says, “discovered the truth of Judaism entirely by themselves and without any external prompting. Despite the rise of fascism and hatred towards Jews at that time, they adopted a Jewish lifestyle with courage and determination and did not give up even after Mussolini decreed the racial laws against the Jews in 1938. They see themselves as spiritually connected with the Jewish people and the religion of Moses and Israel.” The racial laws against the Jews of Italy were not applied against Manduzio and his followers, due to their Italian Catholic origin, despite their insistence on telling Italian fascist policemen, and later the German Nazi soldiers who entered the village, that they were Jews. Luckily, no one believed them. In 1943, Manduzio quarreled with one of the fascists in the village, who threatened to go to the police the next day and ask to arrest all the Jews. The legend in the community relates that Manduzio, who engaged in Kabbalah, told him: “You will not arrive tomorrow.” A few hours later, the man fell and died. In October of that year, the British army captured the village from the Germans. Several jeeps belonging to the Jewish Brigade, a group of Jewish fighters from the Land of Israel who served in the British Army during World War II, passed through San Nicandro and they were emblazoned with the Star of David. Manduzio’s followers saw the jeeps pass but did not manage to stop them. They ran to tell Manduzio about the encounter and he decided to paint a flag with a Star of David on a blue background and hang it on his house—in case the jeeps passed by again. And so it was. The Jewish officers from Israel, who did not know a word in Italian, were astonished to meet Jewish farmers in the remote village. The soldiers of the Jewish Brigade spoke to Manduzio and heard his story. They decided to call him “the Prophet,” a nickname that would accompany him later on. Members of the Jewish Brigade urged the people of San Nicandro to immigrate to Israel, telling them a Jew’s place was in the Land of Israel. In 1946, the rabbinate in Rome converted the community. In the years 1947-1949, 74 members of the San Nicandro community immigrated to Israel on ships that brought Holocaust survivors from Europe. They settled in three communities: Ashkelon, Bat Yam, and Safed. The “prophet” Manduzio objected to their emigration on the grounds that the role of the community was to be a light unto the nations. He remained in the village with his wife and three other women who were married to Catholics. A few months prior to the establishment of the State of Israel, Manduzio passed away and was buried in the Jewish section of the small cemetery in San Nicandro. On his grave is a Star of David and the inscription: “Here is buried he who lived under the delusion of worshipping foreign gods until 1930, but on August 11 of that year, by Divine inspiration, called himself Levi, proclaimed the unity of God and the observance of the Sabbath.” In recent years, 14 of the 50 members of the San Nicandro community have undergone conversion by an Italian rabbinical court, thanks in large measure to the efforts of the late Rabbi Giuseppe Laras, one of Italy’s most prominent rabbis, and Shavei Israel. The rest of the women have encountered difficulties in undergoing the complex conversion process, which requires undertaking a long trip and residing in one of the larger Jewish communities in Italy, such as Rome or Milan. Apart from the fact that this will disconnect them from the village and their fields, the requirement that they convert to be officially recognized as Jews offends some of them. “The fact that they do not officially recognize me does not change the fact that I'm Jewish,” says Grazia Casavecchia, a member of the community. "I study Torah without calling it a conversion process because I am already Jewish. When I follow the commandments and maintain a Jewish lifestyle it gives me a good feeling and I don’t care if I do not have a formal stamp of approval. It is like discovering one day that you are an adopted daughter of Judaism, and it's hard to accept it.”

The ‘prophet’ Donato Manduzio

Lucia Leone, who specializes in growing tomatoes, peppers and olives, and also makes excellent olive oil, describes the insult she felt before she completed her conversion: “I cried when I heard from the rabbis that I was not Jewish according to halacha. How can it be? I am a descendant of Manduzio’s followers and I also have a Jewish family living for many years in Israel.” Lucia Zorro, 50, who is married like most women in the community to a Catholic man, boasts that, “my children live as Jews, but when they grew up they moved away from it a little. The amazing thing is that my husband got angry at them and asked them to respect their mother and continue to live a Jewish life.” Her husband, Nazzario, stopped eating pork two years ago and refrains from going to a cafe or restaurant on Shabbat. The women, though, do not pressure the husbands to convert: “There is mutual respect here,” explain the men and women alike. Thus, for example, the Catholic husband of Grazia Sochi, one of the community activists, prepared a menorah and a Star of David at his workshop and then placed them in their field. She boasts that he also paid 6,800 euros to bring into the house a “smart” clock system that operates all the electricity in an automated fashion, including lighting and shutters, in order to observe Shabbat properly. “My husband even encourages our sons to go to synagogue with me,” she says. “He respects me very much and at home we celebrate only Jewish holidays. We do not celebrate any Catholic holidays, but my husband does not want to convert and I respect him.” The San Nicandro community in Israel continues to maintain contact with the “mother community” in Italy and their members come for visits and vacations in the summer. According to them, they did not experience any problems of anti-Semitism, and the mayor even named a square in the town after Manduzio. The women of San Nicandro consider the possibility of immigrating to Israel, but they claim that without conversion it is unrealistic. Their economic situation also makes it difficult for many to visit Israel, but that does not stop them from dreaming about the Promised Land. “Every day when I pray, I close my eyes and imagine myself at the Western Wall in Jerusalem,” says Grazia with glistening eyes. And who knows, perhaps her prayer will soon come true. Michael Freund of Shavei Israel says he hopes to organize a trip to Israel for San Nicandro’s determined “Jews-by-choice” this summer, enabling them at last to realize their dream.

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Putin eats matzah all year round, says Russia's chief rabbi

Russian President Vladimir Putin is particularly fond of matzah and eats the unleavened flatbread, which is part of the Jewish cuisine during Passover, all year round, according to Russia's Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar, a close associate of the Russian leader.

Lazar told reporters during the Limmud FSU festival, which is aimed at strengthening the Jewish identity of Russian-speaking Jews, that Putin eats matzah while drinking tea.

 

Vladimir Putin (Photo: EPA)

"Putin said matzah is tasty, easy and healthy to eat. He eats the matzah I bring him," the rabbi said.

  The Limmud FSU festival took place in Moscow to mark Israel's 70th Independence Day. Some 2,000 people attended the festival, including Immigrant Absorption Minister Sofa Landver, Israel's Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren and Deputy Director General of the Euro-Asia Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs Alexander Ben-Zvi.

Chaim Chesler, the founder of Limmud FSU, said the festival, the flagship event of the organization, is being held in Russia's capital, Moscow, for the 12th consecutive year. "The festival is the most important event for Russia's Jewry and I hope the organization will continue strengthening the young Jewish generation in Russia for many years to come," Chesler added.

Chief Rabbi Lazar emphasized Putin's evolvement in the Jewish community in Russia. "Putin knows which city has a synagogue and which city doesn't. The Jewish museum was inaugurated following his visit to Yad Vashem in Jerusalem where he was very moved. He even contributed one of his salaries to the Jewish museum project," Lazar elaborated.

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'Kippah march' to be held in Berlin to fight ant-Semitism

Berlin's Jewish community is organizing a "kippah march" Wednesday following the assault of a Adam Arush, a 21-year-old Israeli Arab wearing a skullcap, by a 19-year-old Muslim refugee in the German capital last Tuesday. The precession will take place next to the Jewish community building.

The Jewish community plans to hand out thousands of kippahs to everyone interested in expressing solidarity with the Jewish community in Germany by wearing them proudly across the city.

Deputy Mayor of Frankfurt Uwe Becker with his kippah (Photo: Rafael Herlich)

Arush said in an interview to German television that he had worn the kippah as an "experiment" following a conversation he had had with a Jewish friend residing in Berlin.

"My friend told me that wearing Jewish symbols in public is not safe in Berlin," Arush explained.

Arush filmed a video of his assault on his phone. The video shows a young Muslim hitting him with a belt and yelling "Jew" in Arabic. "I couldn't sleep all night after the assault, my body was sore and I don't feel as safe as I felt before and had to be rushed to the hospital to receive medical care," Arush lamented.

Arush said in an interview to German television that he had worn the kippah as an "experiment" following a conversation he had had with a Jewish friend residing in Berlin.

"My friend told me that wearing Jewish symbols in public is not safe in Berlin," Arush explained.

Arush filmed a video of his assault on his phone. The video shows a young Muslim hitting him with a belt and yelling "Jew" in Arabic. "I couldn't sleep all night after the assault, my body was sore and I don't feel as safe as I felt before and had to be rushed to the hospital to receive medical care," Arush lamented.

The 21-year-old asked his girlfriend, who was with him during the attack, to call the police. The Berlin Police Department confirmed receiving a report of the incident and launched an investigation. Arush gave the police the video he had filmed, showing the assailant's face.

Head of the Jewish Community in Germany, Joseph Schuster, Berlin Mayor Michael Müller and the Jewish community leader Dr. Gideon Yaffe will speak during the kippah march.

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The commissioner recently appointed by the German government to coordinate government activities against anti-Semitism, Felix Klein, has also showed his supoort of the event.

The head of the Charlottenburg neighborhood in Berlin expressed his solidarity with the Jewish community, writing on his Facebook page that he planned to wear a kippah he had bought in Jerusalem several years ago even though he was not going to be in town on the day of the march.

Frankfurt Deputy Mayor Uwe Becker called on the city's residents to also wear a kippah on Wednesday and show their support of the Jewish community, in addition to posting his own photo wearing a kippah.

Arush told in an interview to German television that he wore the kippah as an 'experiment' following a conversation he had had with his Jewish friend who resides in Berlin.

The German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas, who attended an event in Berlin marking Israel 70th Independence Day, condemned the incident and called it a "disgrace."

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French performers, politicians decry ‘new anti-Semitism’

Actor Gerard Depardieu, singer Charles Aznavour and former President Nicolas Sarkozy are among some 300 well-known French people urging national action to counter a “new anti-Semitism” that they blame on rising Islamic radicalism.

They signed a manifesto published Sunday in Le Parisien newspaper, joining politicians from the right and left, as well as Jewish, Muslim and Catholic leaders.

Singer Charles Aznavour

The statement urges prominent Muslims to denounce anti-Jewish and anti-Christian references in the Quran as outdated so “no believer can refer to a holy text to commit a crime.” It also calls for combating anti-Semitism “before it’s too late.”

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy (Photo: AFP)

Justice Minister Nicole Belloubet said on France-Inter radio that the government must be vigilant against anti-Semitism and called for social unity.

Several French Jews have been killed by Islamic radicals in recent years.

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European rabbis: Jews not welcome in Iceland

The Conference of European Rabbis (CER) has been staging rallies and engaging in public relations activities in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavik recently, as well as at the European Parliament in Brussels, coming out against a bill proposed by Iceland to impose a prison sentence on any person circumcising their son.

 

CER further reported it has managed to mobilize senior US congressional and EU officials, as well as doctors and academics and heads of organizations of all faiths who called the proposal "anti-Semitic"—and sent representatives to the protest rallies.

Rabbi Goldschmidt said the Icelandic bill was 'ill advised' (Photo: Eli Itkin)

With the firm backing of the media in Iceland, the rabbis expressed for the first time cautious optimism regarding the thwarting the initiative they claimed violated religious freedom.

President of the conference Rabbi Pinhas Goldschmidt warned that, "The Nazis enacted such a law in 1933 and we know how it ended," adding he thought the bill, which passed its first legislative reading two months ago, was "ill advised."

  "This move is not only a violation of the basic human right to freedom of religion or belief, but a sign that people of Jewish or Muslim background are not welcome in Iceland," he added.

Rabbi Goldschmidt explained that a proposal by rabbis and Jewish organizations to adopt a model approved by the Council of Europe, in Germany and the UK—according to which ethical and medical standards will be anchored in regulation in order to enable the circumcision to be performed—has garnered much support from the public and the media.

While his group was "definitely optimistic" at the public support, the campaign was not yet over.

 

Belgian chief rabbi and member of the conference Rabbi Avraham Gigi explained at the Brussels conference the significance and historical and religious background of circumcision, saying it "occupied a central and critical place in culture, religion and Jewish identity."

Belgian Chief Rabbi Avraham Gigi said circumcision played a central role in all aspects of Jewish life (Photo: Wolfish, Brussels)

In his words, "Questioning the freedom of Jewish families to circumcise their children means undermining the most ingrained identity in their collective memory." Therefore, "When a particular country forbids circumcision, it is publicly declaring that no Jewish community is desirable there." The conference of rabbis noted that the initiators of the law in Iceland came from Denmark, raising the fear that similar attempts will be made afterwards in other Scandinavian countries. "Opponents of circumcision in Denmark have already collected 30,000 signatures from citizens, out of the 50,000 necessary in order to initiate a legislative process there as well," an attendee said. At the end of the conference, a communiqué was issued by the people and organizations that took part, calling on the Icelandic government and members of the country's parliament to immediately halt the proposal, which they claim violated the right of the child to belong to his family's religious tradition.

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German theater asks guests to wear swastikas for Hitler play

A theater in southern Germany is proceeding with plans to open a satirical play Friday about Adolf Hitler's youth in which some patrons will be wearing swastika armbands, despite objections and legal complaints.

The Konstanz Theater's production of George Tabori's "Mein Kampf" opens Friday night for a month-long run.

George Tabori's 'Mein Kampf' (Photo: AFP)

Though named after Hitler's infamous anti-Semitic manifesto, the play tells a fictional story of how a young Hitler is befriended in Vienna by a Jewish man who takes pity on him for his futile pursuit of a career as an artist and puts him on his political path, as well as helping him with his hairstyle. Tabori, who was born into a Jewish family in Budapest in 1914, was known for his avant-garde works that confronted anti-Semitism. He died in 2007. Though Tabori was able to flee the Nazis himself, his father and other family members were killed in the Auschwitz death camp. His dark farce "Mein Kampf" has been performed many times, and was made into a German-language film a decade ago. But in a twist introduced by the Konstanz Theater, patrons who agree to wear a swastika armband will be given free admittance, while those who purchase tickets will be asked to wear a Jewish Star of David.

George Tabori, with the actors in his play (Photo: AP)

Theater manager Christoph Nix says the point is to show how easily corruptible people are, and provoke dialogue about racism. "The theater is the only place where such a discussion can take place immediately," he told the dpa news agency. The opening of the play is also on Hitler's birthday, which Nix said was a wish of Tabori's, who was a personal friend. The display of the swastika is generally prohibited in Germany, though there are exceptions such as when it's clearly part of an anti-Nazi protest, or where artistic freedom is involved. Multiple people filed complaints with the Konstanz prosecutors over the theater making use of the armbands in its production, but they decided earlier this week that the concept fell under the expression of artistic freedom.

(Photo: AFP)

Still, the local German-Israeli Society and the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation have both called for a boycott of the production. The theatre says about four dozen people have signed up to wear the swastika, meaning there will only be a handful at any of the play's 14 performances. The theater is also planning strict security checks at the entrance, and also as people exit to ensure that the armbands are returned.

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From the ‘Donetsk hell’ to Israel

For 42-year-old Valentina Matviyenko and her two sons, Oleg and Matti, the recent Passover holiday they spent in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon marked the end of a real journey to freedom.

Two months ago—on February 7, 2018—the small family made aliyah after four years of war near the line of fire in Donetsk, the biggest city in Ukraine’s Donbass region.

Click here for the full project

 

“We decided to immigrate to Israel because we’re Jewish and are entitled to do so,” Matviyenko tells Ynet. “The events of the past four years definitely helped us reach this decision. We lived in Donetsk’s Petrovsky District, which is located just several kilometers from the front, and what we experienced was a nightmare. It was hell.”

The average Israeli is unfamiliar with the front Matviyenko lived on. A small war zone, out of sight and out of mind, between Ukraine and Russia.

In four years of battles, she saw everything: “Our windows were shattered from the blasts. I saw a kindergarten sustaining direct hits. We would hear the bombardments every evening.”

 

Valentina Matviyenko with her two sons, Oleg and Matti. ‘A better future’

Matviyenko, who usually stays away from politics, found herself—like the rest of the citizens of the new republic established by Russian separatists—within the line of fire. “The authorities blamed the Ukrainians, and the Ukrainian side pointed an accusing finger at Donbass on the issue of who started it. But our neighbors were actually killed in a bus stop which was directly hit by Grad missiles, and I really hope these things are happening to the Ukrainian army as a result of an error and inexperience. “An entire community near our area was wiped off the face of the earth. We often had to live without electricity and water for weeks. We stored water in the bathtub and were forced to buy or bring home water from other sources.” Matviyenko, who used to run a restaurant, says that “many times in the morning I was forced to heat the iron on the stove, like they used to do in the past, to iron my clothes and look neat.”

The curfew began every evening. “One day, I returned from work late. We were stopped and had to wait in the taxi till 5 am,” she recalls. “There is a curfew in Donetsk every day from 11 pm to 5 am. It’s called off only three times a year, on the major holidays—Novy God (New Year), Christmas and Easter.”

Valentia’s immigration with her family wasn’t easy. To get the documents ready, she was forced to cross roadblocks on Ukrainian border and wait for about three to four hours at every crossing. Well-informed sources say the barrier can be crossed without the wait, for a fee of 500 hryvnia (roughly $20).

Valentina Matviyenko. ‘An entire community near our area was wiped off the face of the earth’

“I’m not angry with the Ukrainian authorities,” she says. “I believe there is injustice in the war with Donbass. They wanted to draft my eldest son, Oleg, to the Ukrainian army in 2014. Being in school saved him. Had we stayed, he would have received a mobilization order from the army of the Donetsk People’s Republic. “I don’t want him to take part in a war between brothers in Ukraine. I do want him to join the IDF, as that would help him adjust to life in Israel and he won’t be different from other people serving the state. I have nephews who live in other cities in Ukraine and have been drafted into the Ukrainian army. I truly hope they won’t receive an order to bomb Donetsk.”

Valentina’s elderly parents stayed behind. On January 11, 2018, the local cellphone provider cut all communication to the separatist republic, making it difficult for her to contact her parents. The official version, by the way, is that the communication was cut following a shelling and that it isn’t being fixed due to lack of access.

“I installed my elderly parents’ WhatsApp and Viber on their phone and they use the services of Donetsk’s cellphone provider,” she says.

(Photo courtesy of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) )

Her aliyah was preceded by an enthusiastic visit to Israel in 2012, before the war. But the actual immigration two months ago set a new record: “We arrived in February from a temperature of minus 19 degrees to plus 19! The view from the plane was so beautiful and picturesque.” Matviyenko arrived in Israel with the help of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ), which is also active in conflict areas in eastern Europe. She believes her sons will have a better future here. Despite choosing to live in Ashkelon, which has had its share of Code Red alarms, she isn’t deterred by the security situation. “I’m certain that Israel’s defense is more efficient than Donetsk’s defense,” she says. Now, she hopes to work in a restaurant on the Ashkelon beach and says her son plans to work as a cooling system engineer after completing his military service.

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'People used to steal money, today they steal food’

“Once, people used to steal money. Today, they steal food,” Natasha Benshimol, a 27-year-old new immigrant from Venezuela, summarizes what the South American country has been going through in recent years. From a relatively stable country, Venezuela has turned into a place where life is simply unbearable. The entire local Jewish community has been shaken in the past few years, and according to Benshimol, the situation just keeps getting worse every year. Click here for the full project“There has been an unbearable deterioration,” she says. “There is no personal safety on the streets, people steal food, and those who have a little money have nothing to do with it because the shelves are empty and there are no basic civilian services. There were times when I needed medications, I had the money to pay for them, but the pharmacies were empty. It’s a very difficult day-to-day life.”

Natasha Benshimol, who made aliyah from Venezuela, with her family

Benshimol says Jewish life was pretty active and there were no particular problems on the local street. “There were occasional statements, mainly by (former President Hugo) Chavez, but in general there was no problem walking on the street with a skullcap. There was security opposite the synagogue we used to celebrate and prayed in, and there were no unusual incidents.”

According to Benshimol, many Jews have left the country in recent years. Only 2,000 families are left, trying to survive the difficult situation.

After completing her studies in the field of education, she realized she had no future in the country. “I got married, I had a child and I saw there were no good professional options and that the situation wasn’t going to get better. “The decision to come to Israel wasn’t easy,” she says, “and it was largely done for my son’s future, but also for me. I’m young and I want to develop professionally and personally.” These days, she is marking 10 months since making aliyah. Together with her husband, who isn’t Jewish and plans to undergo a conversion process, she is advancing in her Hebrew studies. Did you know anything about Israel before making aliyah?“Luckily, part of my family immigrated to Israel before me, so I had a relatively soft landing and they’ve been very helpful. We all live close to each other in Be’er Sheva, and although I have the language barrier and the entire process isn’t easy, I think this is the best decision I have made in my life.”

Benshimol immigrated to Israel as part of the activity of the of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). According to its president, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, “The Fellowship has been working independently for four years now to help thousands of Jews from 26 countries, who have been suffering from financial, security and anti-Semitic distress.

“We began working independently following the crisis and the war that broke out in Ukraine, and since then we have expanded our activities to other countries where Jews live in risk, such as France, Venezuela and even Arab states. “We focus on helping Jews in a medium and low socioeconomic status, who receive a generous aid and support envelope allowing them to get through the difficulties and obstacles involved in moving to a new country and successfully integrating into it. “We are unequivocally committed to having new Jew in the world who wishes to immigrate to Israel but is prevented from doing so due to financial or social problems.”

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The last Jew who made aliyah from Iraq

Emad Levy, 52, used to do everything in Iraq's shrinking Jewish community: He was the rabbi, the slaughterer, the communal leader and the man who helped each member with every single Jewish-related issue they needed help with. Growing up in Baghdad, he experienced the vibrant community life, when thousands of Jews lived in the city and led a Jewish life under the local regime. Click here for the full project“I think a lot changed in the 1970s. It was a terrifying period. There were Jews who simply disappeared and we didn’t know what had happened to them, and many others chose to leave and come to Israel,” he says.

Since then, the number of Jews in the country gradually decreased, and those who remained began keeping a low profile and observing the Jewish holidays and customs in a modest manner.

Emad Levy. The last Jew to immigrate to Israel from Iraq

“In 2003, I became the community leader. I traded in shoe materials for a living and managed to support myself, and simultaneously, I was in charge of everything that had to do with the Jewish life,” he says. “After the slaughterer left, I learned how to slaughter according to Jewish law, so we would be able to eat kosher meat. I took care of issues related to Jewish burial and tried to help the community members with different issues as much as I could.”

How did you make the decision to leave for Israel?

“I wanted to leave a long time ago, during the Saddam Hussein era, but I was targeted by the Iraqi intelligence at the time and couldn’t leave the country. I knew I wanted to leave because I wanted to start a Jewish family. I was born as a Jew and I will die as a Jew, and I knew I would be able to establish a real family only if I left Iraq.

“In 2010, after receiving death threats from local elements, I knew it was time to leave. With one suitcase, leaving everything behind, I flew to Jordan and from there to Israel.”

After surviving six terror attacks in Baghdad, the situation became unbearable and Levy decided to leave, becoming the last immigrant to arrive in Israel from Iraq.

“I had a passport issued, and the Jewish Agency together with the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center got me a flight to Jordan,” he says. “I arrived in Israel on Hoshana Rabbah (the seventh day of the holiday of Sukkot).”

The rabbi, the slaughterer and the communal leader. Emad Levy in Baghdad

The person who was largely responsible for Levy’s aliyah is Israel Prize laureate Mordechai Ben Porat, the founder of the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center, who had immigrated to Israel from Iraq himself.

What is left of Iraq's Jewish community?

 

“There are five Jews in the country today, and one woman is the community director. I keep in touch with them in different ways, and they’re taking care of themselves.”

What does Iraq look like today?

 

“It looks very bad. The local regime is unstable and weak, and the situation has greatly deteriorated. There are no basic civilian services and it doesn’t feel like a law-abiding state. Compared to previous years, the situation is very bad.”

Levy’s story has a happy ending: He fulfilled his dream to create a Jewish family. After arriving in Israel, he got married and had a child.

“While I was still in Iraq, I started dealing with pain treatment, and here in Israel I completed my studies and became on expert on the issue. I am certified in healing and massage and I’m very satisfied, both with life in Israel and with the fact that I get to help people through my profession.”

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Poland marks 75th anniversary of uprising in Warsaw Ghetto

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75 years after the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, Poland holds a day of commemoration, taking a moment of silence to remember those who fell, as well as the millions of others slain in the Nazi Holocaust. Poland marks 75th anniversary of uprising in Warsaw Ghetto : https://ift.tt/2qJHm2E

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WATCH: Jewish man attacked by Muslim man in Berlin

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Childhood Holocaust survivors reunited after 76 years

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Alice Gerstel and her Jewish family were hidden for 2 weeks in the home of the Gronowski family in Brussels, and were smuggled out by the Jewish family she thought had been murdered; decades later, she is reunited with one of the family members who jumped off a train to Auschwitz. Childhood Holocaust survivors reunited after 76 years : https://ift.tt/2GV3L8d

Jews who fought Nazis recall struggle

While most of his fellow Jews were being killed or brutalized in Nazi death camps and ghettos, Baruch Shub and his friends were hiding in the forests of the former Soviet Union, trying to undermine the Nazis by derailing trains, burning bridges, sabotaging communication lines and killing the occasional collaborator.

"You couldn't really fight the German army, given our means, but we did our best to disrupt them," recalled the 94-year-old Shub at his retirement home in central Israel. "Whether or not it made a difference, I don't know. But it gave me a great sense of joy that at least I was doing something to get even with them." As Israel marks its annual Holocaust memorial day, those aging survivors who actively resisted and helped shape the country's fighting spirit are quickly disappearing. Shub is among perhaps only a handful of remaining Soviet partisan fighters. Only two remain from the greatest symbol of resistance of all—the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising.

Warsaw ghetto resistance fighters, April 1943 (Photo: Getty Images)

Israel will come to a standstill Thursday for its annual remembrance of the Holocaust's 6 million victims. It falls on the same date on the Hebrew calendar as the Warsaw uprising—the ultimately doomed revolt that played such an important role in defining the country's psyche. Even the day's official name—"Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day"—alludes to the image of the Jewish warrior upon which the state was founded.

The conditions for resistance were limited, Shub said, given the all-encompassing scope of the Nazi genocide, but those who could fight back did so. With their actions, he said they continued a tradition dating back to biblical times.

Baruch Shub (Photo: AP)

 "Jews always fought for their survival and national honor," he said. "I want history to remember that Jews did not walk like cattle to their slaughter." Shub's mother and three siblings were murdered by Nazis and their local collaborators in his native Lithuania. After a failed uprising in the Vilna ghetto, he escaped to the forests to join the underground network led by famed resistance fighter Abba Kovner. Four battalions of Jewish fighters raided villages for food and supplies and hacked away at communication and electricity lines used by German forces, he said. After the Red Army liberated the ghetto in what is now called Vilnius in 1944, Shub returned to find all its Jews killed by Nazi SS troops. Among the bodies strewn on the street was that of his father. A blood-soaked note in his hand, written in Yiddish, said, "If anyone sees my son, tell him to take revenge."

Baruch Shub (Photo: AP)

Israel's identity is defined by the axiom that never again will Jews be helpless in the face of annihilation. But Shub fears that message is being lost. He is angered that a planned museum to honor Jewish fighters, along with the 1.5 million Jewish World War II veterans, has been bogged down in bureaucratic delays for more than a decade. Dina Porat, chief historian at Israel's Yad Vashem memorial, said that thanks to the many books, films and collected testimony, there is little danger of their legacy being erased. Still, the live witness accounts pose a powerful rebuke to the current wave of historic revisionism in several eastern European countries to play down their own wartime complicity.

Jews at the Warsaw ghetto in September 1942 (Photo: Getty Images)

Survivors have been outraged by a Polish law criminalizing the blaming of Poland for crimes committed by Germany during the Holocaust. Lithuania also has recently pushed for legislation to prohibit the sale of books that "distort Lithuanian history" by mentioning its complicity. Lithuanian authorities have launched investigations into the partisans' wartime activities and accused Yitzhak Arad, a former chairman of Yad Vashem, of killing Nazi collaborators who are regarded today as Lithuanian heroes for opposing communism. The charges were later dropped. "There is a process of rewriting history in these places," said Arad, 91, who blew up 16 German supply trains as a teenager. "We are fading away, so it will be up to the next generation to continue this battle with the tools at their disposal." There are even fewer who remain from the single greatest act of Jewish resistance during the Holocaust, which wiped out a third of world Jewry. Though guaranteed to fail, the Warsaw ghetto uprising symbolized a refusal to succumb to Nazi atrocities, and inspired other uprisings and underground resistance by Jews and non-Jews alike.

Warsaw ghetto uprising, May 1943 (Photo: Getty Images)

Three-quarters of a century later, only 89-year-old Aliza Vitis-Shomron is left in Israel to tell the story. The only other known surviving fighter, Simcha Rotem, is in ill health. Vitis-Shomron said the hardest moment was fleeing just before the Nazis vanquished her comrades. They had few weapons and it seemed pointless to keep around a teenage girl who could escape and tell the world what had happened. "They said I was too young to die," said Vitis-Shomron, who has three children, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. "I still feel guilty that I got out and they stayed." Along with her mother and younger sister, she found a cellar to hide in outside the ghetto. She vividly remembers poking a hole in the curtain and watching the red skies above the burning ghetto where her friends were waging war.

Warsaw ghetto wall (Photo: AP)

The resistance movement began to grow after the deportation of July 22, 1942, when 265,000 men, women and children were rounded up and later killed at the Treblinka death camp. As word of the Nazi genocide spread, a small group of rebels began spreading calls for resistance, carrying out isolated attacks and sabotage. The Nazis entered the ghetto on April 19, 1943, the eve of the Passover holiday. Three days later, they set the ghetto ablaze, but the Jewish fighters kept up their struggle for nearly a month, fortifying themselves in bunkers and managing to kill 16 Nazis and wound nearly 100. Vitis-Shomron said that Mordechai Anielewicz and other fair-looking leaders of the revolt had ample opportunities to escape. "They are the real heroes, the ones who stayed knowing they would die," she said. "They had daring and a will to avenge the Nazis and prove that the Jewish people did not surrender. There were those who fought back."

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Report: Anti-Semitism rises, but violence against Jews falls

Violent attacks on Jews worldwide dropped in 2017 despite a rise in other forms of anti-Semitism, researchers reported Wednesday, in a year characterized by normalization and mainstreaming of anti-Semitism not seen in Europe since World War II.

Researchers at Tel Aviv University said assaults specifically targeting Jews fell 9 percent last year. They recorded 327 cases compared to 361 in 2016, which had already been the lowest number in a decade.

But they noted attacks were far more brazen and brutal. Most dramatic were a pair of cases in France, where a Jewish woman was thrown to her death out of her apartment window and a Holocaust survivor was stabbed and burned to death in her Paris home.

File photo: Neo-Nazis in Poland create burning swastika to commemorate Hitler's birthday

The decline in anti-Semitic incidents, the researchers explained, is because there are "less Jews with skullcaps and Stars of David."

Threats, harassment and insults have also driven thousands of French Jews to relocate.

"Neither the public nor the private space is perceived as safe for Jews," said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, an umbrella group representing Jewish communities across the continent. "The general feeling shared by Jews, as individuals and as a community, is that anti-Semitism has entered a new phase, and is widespread in most parts of the world."

According to the report, Jews feel less safe and are less inclined to identify as Jewish in public. "Jewish parents in Europe have to deal with explaining to their children that eventually there would be no choice but to leave public schools and move to Jewish institutions," Kantor said.

Rally against anti-Semitism and in memory of Mireille Knoll, a Holocaust survivor murdered in her home in Paris (Photo: AFP)

 

Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry releases the report every year on the eve of Israel's Holocaust memorial day, which begins Wednesday at sundown.

Increased security measures are credited with reducing violence, but it may be masking a trend of anti-Semitism becoming more mainstream and acceptable, particularly in European politics. The report described a toxic triangle made up of the rise of the extreme right, radical Islamism and a heated anti-Zionist discourse on the left accompanied by anti-Semitic expressions. "The religious dimension of classic, traditional anti-Semitism has returned, and the term 'Jew' has become an insult," Kantor said. He noted that the majority of anti-Semitic incidents still went unreported, either out of fear of retribution or a lack of interest on the part of local authorities. Despite the overall drop, anti-Semitism rose in many places globally. In Germany, home to the world's fastest growing Jewish community, there was a rise in anti-Semitic acts from 644 in 2016 to 707 in 2017. Among these were 24 violent cases in 2017, compared to 15 the year before. Kantor also said that the ascendancy of British Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn led him to believe that "the banality and normalization of Jew-hatred has reached the highest levels."

British Jews protest against Corbyn and anti-Semitism in the Labour party (Photo: EPA)

Critics say Corbyn, a longtime critic of Israel, has long allowed anti-Jewish prejudice to go unchecked. Corbyn's supporters have been accused of sharing Holocaust denial and international Jewish banking conspiracies on social media. On Tuesday, Israel's Labor Party suspended its ties with Corbyn over his party's expressions of anti-Semitism. The year was also marked by the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—where demonstrators used the Heil Hitler salute, donned swastikas and chanted slogans such as "Jews will not replace us." Far-right parties gained strength following elections in Germany and Austria. US President Donald Trump's December recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel also set off demonstrations that were used as a pretext to attack Jews with anti-Semitic slogans, including calls for murder. The report cited an audit of the Anti-Defamation League that found anti-Semitic incidents in the United States rose 57 percent in 2017—the largest single-year increase on record and the second highest number reported since the ADL started tracking such data in 1979. The sharp rise was due in part to a significant increase in incidents in schools and on college campuses, which nearly doubled for the second year in a row. The rising threat appears to be drawing growing interest.

Israel recently hosted a global forum to address the various ways of combatting anti-Semitism that drew experts from around the world. Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial says there has been wide participation in its recently launched online course on the origins of anti-Semitism.

Baruch Adler, the deputy chairman of the annual "March of the Living," explained why the march is still important and relevant in 2018.

"In France, Jewish-owned stores are being burned again, in eastern Europe the voices of anti-Semitic politicians grow stronger, and new laws seek to limit the truth. In enlightened states in the US, there are neo-Nazi power displays without any no shame, while at the polls the voices calling to go back in time to authority, homogeny and fascism are gaining in strength," Adler said.

Adir Yanko contributed to this story.

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