New Jersey town sued over denial of Chabad expansion plans

It has become a familiar narrative: a religious group seeks to expand on or build a house of worship, a town rejects the application and the parties end up in court.

  In the latest battle between a religious group and a town's zoning board, the US attorney's office claims Woodcliff Lake, New Jersey, in northern Bergen County, has illegally barred an Orthodox Jewish group from expanding its current facility or buying property to build a new one. The town "took actions that prevented Valley Chabad from purchasing alternative sites in the Borough over an eight-year period, and then denied Valley Chabad's efforts to expand on its current site, thus imposing a substantial burden on its religious exercise," a lawsuit filed last month contends. The town has denied the allegations and contends traffic and safety issues were primary sticking points, and that Valley Chabad didn't meet zoning requirements for houses of worship, including that lots be at least three acres.

The Woodcliff Lake suit contains echoes of other recent disputes. Last year, the town of Bernards agreed to pay $3.25 million to a group whose plan to build a mosque it had rejected over several years. Similarly, Bridgewater Township settled a lawsuit with an Islamic center for nearly $8 million after a four-year legal battle. Bayonne approved a Muslim group's plans to build a mosque this year after a lawsuit charged the group was the target of hate-filled attacks. Orthodox Jewish groups have been at the center of other disputes. The US attorney's office sued the town of Mahwah last year, alleging it used local ordinances to discriminate against Orthodox Jews from nearby New York state. After a series of council meetings marked by angry confrontations between residents, in January the town voted to settle a separate suit filed by a local religious organization, and settlement talks with the US attorney's office are ongoing. Both Mahwah and Woodcliff Lake are within miles of Rockland County, New York, where towns such as Monsey and Airmont have concentrations of Orthodox Jews. At a 2013 council meeting referenced in the Woodcliff Lake lawsuit, one resident told council members "we do not need to bring an influx of people from other towns," and a council member spoke of "keeping Woodcliff Lake the town that it is." In the early 2000s, the lawsuit alleges, Rabbi Dov Drizin was asked by a borough official for a letter "that would explain how Valley Chabad differed from the religious community in Monsey." Valley Chabad alleges it began looking for a larger facility more than 10 years ago to accommodate its growing needs. It currently is located in a large house on a hill overlooking the Garden State Parkway. Twice the group entered into contracts to purchase property and both times the town stepped in and bought the land using eminent domain, according to the lawsuit. On a third occasion, the suit alleges, the town modified zoning laws so townhomes could be built on a property Valley Chabad was seeking to buy, leading the property's owner to cancel his contract with Valley Chabad. The group alleges the town rejected its numerous requests for zoning modifications to expand its existing property. The town's response to the lawsuit is due later this month, and an attorney representing the town declined comment, as did Mayor Carlos Rendo, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor last year. The town's statement denied discrimination played any part, and said it was "saddened by the response of the Valley Chabad in their choice to take this action against our quiet New Jersey town, comprised of hard working people of all faiths that welcomed them into our community."

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Panthon burial honors French rights icon, Holocaust survivor Simone Veil

Thousands of people gathered in Paris on Sunday to pay their final respects to Holocaust survivor and women's rights icon Simone Veil as she was given the rare honor of burial at the Panthéon a year and a day after she died.

Veil's death at the age of 89 prompted an outpouring of emotion as she had long been considered one of France's most popular and trusted public figures.

The Panthéon in the heart of Paris houses the remains of many great French figures, including Voltaire, Victor Hugo and Emile Zola. But Veil is only the fifth woman to be buried there, being laid to rest alongside her husband Antoine, a high-ranking civil servant who died in 2013.

French Republican Guards arrive to carry the coffins of Simone Veil and her husband Antoine Veil to the Panthéon on Sunday (Photo: EPA)

Their two coffins were escorted by Republican Guards through Paris from the Holocaust Memorial where they had stood for 48 hours to allow the public to pay their last respects. The coffins were then placed on funeral biers before carried by pall-bearers on a blue carpet leading to the Pantheon.

Among the crowds were many women wearing T-shirts with the slogan: "Thank you Simone."

Simone Veil had long been considered one of France's most popular and trusted public figures (Photo: AFP)

"She broke every glass ceiling, in terms of women in society, but also that of (France's role in) the extermination of the Jews: it was taboo," said Bernard Greensfeld, one of those standing outside the Holocaust memorial.

"She's not going into the Panthéon as a Holocaust victim but as someone who overcame this horror and that's why she's in people's hearts," he told AFP.

Simone Veil was 16 when she was deported along with family members in 1944 to Auschwitz. Her mother, father and brother were killed in the Holocaust. After her return, she became a resolute advocate of women's rights as well as European reconciliation, securing her biggest political victory in 1974 by convincing the French parliament to legalize abortion despite fierce opposition.

She also became the first elected president of the European Parliament in 1979, a post she held for three years.

(Photo: EPA)

The move to have Veil's remains transferred to the Panthéon began immediately after her death on June 30, 2017, with two petitions quickly gaining hundreds of thousands of signatures.

Until now, only four women have been interred there: scientist Marie Curie, Sophie Berthelot, who was buried alongside her chemist husband Marcellin Berthelot and two resistance fighters Genevieve de Gaulle-Anthonioz and Germaine Tillion.

As the sun beat down, a large crowd gathered for the ceremony which was attended by members of her family, and a host of politicians and dignitaries, among them the former presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy.

At the ceremony, President Emmanuel Macron said the decision to bury her in the Panthéon was a decision taken by the entire nation.

President Macron stands by the coffins (Photo: EPA)

"It is... what all French people wanted," he said. "With Simone Veil, all the women that have made France are here."

The transfer of Veil's remains had began on Friday, when the couple's coffins were exhumed from the Montparnasse cemetery and brought to the crypt of the French Holocaust Memorial in central Paris, which she helped found.

After Macron's address, the two coffins were transferred into the Panthéon where the coffins will lie in state until Monday, with admission free until July 8.

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Jewish leader: Over 40 percent of young Germans don’t know what Auschwitz is

More than 40 percent of young Germans have no idea what Auschwitz is and 20 percent of Hungarians hold anti-Semitic views, Jewish leaders said this week during the annual National Community Directors' Forum of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) held in Israel.

According to the Jewish leaders, anti-Semitism is on the rise in many parts of Europe not because of the governments’ policy, but because of feelings spreading among different parts of the public.

Robert Ejnes, the executive director of CRIF, an umbrella organization of French Jewish organizations, mentioned the French government’s strong support of the Jewish community.

Desecration of mass graves and Holocaust monuments in Ukraine

“Is France an anti-Semitic country? The answer is no,” he said. “Is there anti-Semitism in France? The answer is yes. President (Emmanuel) Macron has declared that anti-Zionism is a new form of anti-Semitism. Former Presidents Francois Hollande and Nicolas Sarkozy made strong statements on the matter too.

“We have the strongest legal system to fight anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial,” Ejnes added. “Are the laws always implemented efficiently? That’s a good question. In the past 20 years, 12 people have been murdered in France for being Jews. Anti-Semitic attacks make up 50 percent of hate crimes in the country.

“We have an undemocratic community which keeps growing and voting for extremists. We aren’t attacked merely because we are Jews, but also because of the values we represent. We are very concerned about the forces fighting democracy.”

Daniel Botmann, managing director of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, pointed at the rise of the far right and Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement as the main source of anti-Semitism. That fact, he said, along with the public’s surprising ignorance on Holocaust issues, has prompted the government to take significant steps to curb anti-Semitism.

“More than 40 percent of young Germans don’t know what Auschwitz is. That’s a thought-provoking situation. Good relation with the government are not enough. We have to work from the bottom, in schools, with young people, by holding a dialogue between Jews and non-Jews. We need stable relations with the civil society, because anti-Semitism is not just a Jewish problem. Anti-Semitism is anti-democratic and threatens the entire society, not just Jews.”

BDS protest in France (Photo: AP)

Péter Kunos the executive director of the Federation of Jewish Communities in Hungary, noted that recent surveys showed “20 percent of the population in Hungary—in other words, 2 million people—shares strong anti-Semitic sentiments, but the government is making efforts to guarantee that the country’s Jewish population will be able to live securely.”

The comments were made by members of a WJC delegation, which includes some 60 Jewish community directors from 50 countries around the world, as part of the organization’s annual National Community Directors' Forum.

This is the fifth time the forum convenes at the initiative of WJC CEO Robert Singer, and the first time it convenes in Israel, in honor of the state’s 70th anniversary.

The delegation members are the most senior professional representatives of Jewish communities around the world and they consider this conference the best stage for exchanging knowledge and experience on the representation of their communities in international forums.

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American Jews turn on Trump's senior advisor

A senior advisor to US President Donald Trump recently encountered a barrage of abusive remarks at a Mexican restaurant he was dining in. Other restaurant customers called Miller, who appeared unfaced by the abuse, a “fascist” and a “racist” among other things.

 

The incident comes at a time when the images of children being separated from their parents are filling up the screens and causing outrage among the general public in the US.

The policy of separating immigrant families was the advisor’s flagship program, and currently he’s living the dream. The same dream he’s had since he was a teenager in California: to preserve the superiority of the white population in the US and minimize the legal immigration to the country.

(Photo: Reuters)

Jane Eisner, editor-in-chief of liberal Jewish magazine Forward, wrote about Miller in an article “Jews should disown Stephen Miller over Trump’s family separation disgrace."

In the article she emphasized that the Jewish community in America must distance itself from Miller because his worldview "is nasty and unforgiving, devoid of hope, optimism and generosity, and so at odds with Jewish values and experiences that it’s hard to fathom this guy really had a bar mitzvah."

“Stephen really enjoyed seeing the images coming from the border. He’s from the Waffen SS,” said a source familiar with Miller on a personal level. Miller is one of the few Trump advisors who’s been there from the start—the other two being Ivanka and Jared Kushner. He’s always in Trump’s ear and he almost always gets his way. A smear campaign happening against Miller isn’t surprising since most of American Jews living in the US are liberal. They are not overly impressed by his gestures towards Israel or by Ivanka’s visit to the Western Wall. The Jewish community especially dislikes Trump’s use of expressions, which are associated with the Nazis, such as “infest”—a word which usually refers to either rats or cockroaches and was popular with Nazis. For now, the ire of the Jewish community is directed towards Miller, the man who they believe is behind all of this.

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Last opportunity for heirs of Polish Jews to claim restitution

Large law firms in Poland might have found a way for the descendants of the Jews who lived in the country during World War II to receive restitutions for nationalized property. The move comes in light of the legislation that would exclude all non-first-line-heirs from seeking potential inheritance, which is expected to pass soon. All potential heirs must prepare paperwork proving their ancestors in Poland had property which had been nationalized, which would allow them to receive a percentage of the property’s value.

Polish Holocaust museum (Photo: Reuters)

Attorneys in Poland say that this is the last opportunity for the descendants to claim restitutions since the law on the issue is frozen and not being promoted due to the political climate in the country.

The procedure could also be made possible by adopting Polish citizenship. A Polish EU passport could be issued when a birth certificate or a military or civil document proving the ancestors’ Polish citizenship is provided. The lawyers claim that the general public in Israel might not be fully aware of their rights when it comes to the issue. Poland’s biggest privatization law has been heavily criticized not only in Israel but in Poland as well. On the surface, it appears the law is intended to ease the process, for private owners or their families, of either retrieving the property or receiving financial compensation for property which had been nationalized.

However, behind the rhetoric lies an attempt to minimize the number of potential heirs. For instance, the law does not include compensation to legal heirs of most landowners before the war, among them hundreds of thousands of Polish Jews who left Poland for either Israel or the US because of the war, lost their Polish citizenship in the Holocaust and left behind a lot of valuable property.

The draft legislation would only make it possible to claim restitutions for current Polish citizens whose property had been confiscated by the Communist government. This prevents most survivors from filing claims since they left the country before or during the Holocaust. The law does say the descendants would also be able to file claims however only the first and second generation. Following the publication of the draft legislation nearly 10 months ago, the World Jewish Restitution Organization (WJRO) expressed its "profound disappointment" and called on the Polish government to ensure that fair and just legislation would be implemented. Patrick Ryzbakiski, an attorney from JGBS BIERNAT & PARTNERS—a Polish law firm that specializes in Warsaw real estate, explains “We need the Israeli plaintiffs to provide us the documents which show that their family members were Polish citizens, then we’ll be able to speed up the process.”

JGBS BIERNAT & PARTNERS

He added that “the main part is collecting the relevant documents to prove the ownership of the property.” In addition, those who are eligible to file a claim as part of different post-war treaties signed between Poland and other countries, would not be able to do so under the bill proposal. The bill also says that the survivors would not be able to file a claim if the property they owned was through company shares. From the moment the law passes, a claim must be filed within a year before the government takes control of the Finance Ministry.

“We’re putting in place different, relevant procedures in order to approve Polish citizenships, including institutions documenting talks with the family members and presenting them in front of relevant Polish authorities until the citizenship is granted," Ryzbakiski added.  

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Sweden sentences 3 to prison for synagogue arson attack

A Swedish court has found three men guilty of attempted arson against the Jewish synagogue in Sweden's second-largest city of Gothenburg last year, causing minor damage.

Two men got two years in jail and the third was sentenced to 15 months.

Swedish police at the scene of the arson attack

The Gothenburg District Court says Monday the case involved two Palestinians and a Syrian.

The 22-year-old Palestinian had his asylum application turned down following the December 9 attack and will be deported after serving his sentence. The others, aged 19 and 24, have Swedish residency permits.

(photo: AP)

The court said they were part of a masked group who threw burning objects at the synagogue, which the prosecution said was a reaction to the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

All three pleaded innocent. They were the only people charged.

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Jews, Muslims in Berlin team up on bike rides against hatred

Some 25 Jews and Muslims teamed up on tandem bicycle rides through the German capital on Sunday in a protest against growing anti-Semitism and attacks on Muslims in the country.

Some were rabbis and imams, others included women in headscarves and Jewish community members donning skullcaps from Berlin and beyond who shared the bikes on a tour through the city.

Rabbi Elias Dray, one of the organizers of the ride that started at Berlin's Holocaust memorial, said the interfaith tour was intended to boost contacts between Jews and Muslims and other Germans.

A Muslim and a Jewish man ride a tandem together during a bicycle tandem tour of Jews and Muslems against anti-Semitism and hatred of Muslims in Berlin (Photo: AP)

"There's often prejudice in places where there's little contact," said Dray, who works as a community rabbi in the Bavarian town of Amberg. "Anywhere it's a big gain to get to know Judaism and Islam." He rode a tandem together with Berlin Imam Ender Cetin. They and others wore white vests with the words: "Jews and Muslims for respect and tolerance." In addition to the 25 interfaith-bikers, dozens of people joined the bicycle tour through Berlin's downtown in a show of solidarity. Anti-Semitism has been on the rise in Germany lately and while attacks on Muslims have increased. The rising tensions come as Germany grapples 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 for the first time. Its leaders are known for their openly anti-Muslim stance, while anti-Semitism has also featured in their statements, but less often. To further complicate things, some of the newly arrived Muslim migrants have added a new strain of anti-Semitism by holding Jews responsible for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Reports of bullying of Jewish children by Muslim immigrant kids in schools across the country have scared many Jews, while Muslim women among others often report slurs and discrimination against them for wearing headscarves. Despite these tensions, Imam Cetin said, "the majority of Muslims and Jews want to live peacefully together."

"It must become a natural thing that we live together in this city and, that we can be able to express our religion openly," Cetin added.

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