A7News: 13% increase in violent anti-Semitic attacks worldwide in 2018

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Wednesday, May. 01 '19, כ"ו בניסן תשע"ט





HEADLINES:
1. 13% INCREASE IN VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS WORLDWIDE IN 2018
2. PHOTO COLLECTION OF DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP REVEALED
3. LIKUD TRYING TO RECRUIT BLUE AND WHITE'S HAREDI MK?
4. DAYS AFTER POWAY, MAN HARASSES AND LUNGES AT CHABAD RABBI IN NY
5. POWAY SHOOTER HAD 50 UNFIRED BULLETS
6. FBI WARNED OF POWAY SHOOTER 5 MINUTES BEFORE ATTACK
7. FRENCH AMBASSADOR SUMMONED FOR REPRIMAND
8. NETANYAHU BRISTLES AT HAREDI LAWMAKERS' DEMANDS


1. 13% INCREASE IN VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITIC ATTACKS WORLDWIDE IN 2018
by Arutz Sheva Staff

Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), spoke about the rise in all forms of antisemitism at the release of the 2018 Annual Report on Antisemitism Worldwide at the Kantor Center at Tel Aviv University.

"If I have to summarize in one sentence the situation concerning antisemitism in 2018 and the beginning of 2019, I would say it is the increasing sense of emergency among Jews in many countries around the world," Dr. Kantor said.

"Anti-Semitism has recently progressed to the point of calling into question the very continuation of Jewish life in many parts of the world. As we saw with the second mass shooting of a synagogue in the US, many parts of the world that were previously regarded as safe no longer are."

"Additionally, as we recently witnessed with the disgraceful cartoon in The New York Times, anti-Semitism has entered gradually into the public discourse. Threats, harassment, and insults have become more violent, inciting to even more physical violence against Jews. It feels like almost every taboo relating to Jews, Judaism and Jewish life has been broken."

In 2018, we witnessed the largest number of Jews murdered in a single year in decades.

The number of the most severe and violent incidents monitored worldwide by the Kantor Center was close to 400 - representing a 13 % increase from last year.

In Western European countries, the situation is the worst – specifically in Germany where there was a 70 percent increase in violent anti-Semitism.

The countries with the highest number of major violent cases are the US with over 100 cases, the UK with 68 cases, France and Germany with 35 cases each and Canada with 20 reported cases involving violence against Jews.

"It is now clear that anti-Semitism is no longer limited to the far-Left, far-Right and radical Islamist's triangle - it has become mainstream and often accepted by civil society," Dr. Kantor continued. "It represents a clear danger not only to Jews but to society as a whole. Anti-Semitism is the common denominator that unites extremists on the political spectrum, as part of their politics of intolerance that puts us all in danger."

"With the political center becoming more fragile, these extremist movements and groups seek to gain political power by attacking the foundations of democratic societies," Dr. Kantor concluded.


2. PHOTO COLLECTION OF DACHAU CONCENTRATION CAMP REVEALED
by Arutz Sheva Staff

A collection of photographs and written testimony from the Dachau concentration camp has been revealed to the public for the first time, following its discovery.

The hitherto unknown album had been assembled by Adrian Aloy, a member of the Belgian underground during World War II.

The recently discovered collection, set to go on sale next month at the Kedem Auction House, includes photographs taken from the liberation of Dachau, including during the period of reprisals by prisoners and US soldiers on S.S. guards who had run the camp prior to its liberation.

In the notes attached to the album, Aloy describes the American advance towards the camp.

"The Americans, who just a few days ago said they were located along the Danube, have already passed Augsburg… we can hear, barely, the sounds of battle."

Aloy also noted the sudden change in the behavior of the S.S. guards shortly before the camp's liberation.

"The discipline, which had been so merciless just a short time ago, has disappeared completely. The German officer Alphonse, a morally degenerated bully, is almost looking at us sweetly now."

"The [Allied] attack on the camp is expected soon…you can see it in [the S.S. guards'] eyes… the white flag is waving in the entrance tower of the… S.S. guards. They're waving the white flag!"

During the camp's liberation, Aloy described how American soldiers gunned down captured S.S. guards, after the US soldiers discovered the atrocities committed by the German forces at Dachau.

"The shots are going off, and suddenly the first American soldiers appeared, rifles in hand, shoving the S.S. guards. Then right away, without mercy, they wiped them out without any trial."

Some 200,000 people were held at the Dachau camp, roughly two-thirds of them Soviet prisoners or political prisoners of war – including a number of Catholic priests – and one-third of them Jews. Approximately 30,000 people are estimated to have been killed at Dachau.

[album:open:11073]


3. LIKUD TRYING TO RECRUIT BLUE AND WHITE'S HAREDI MK?
by Arutz Sheva Staff

The Likud is working to convince a number of newly-minted MKs from the Blue and White party to jump ship at the beginning of the 21st Knesset's term, a new report by Yediot Ahronot claims.

On Wednesday, just a day after the 120 Knesset Members elected last month were sworn in to the Israeli parliament, Yediot Ahronot reported that Natan Eshel, one of the Likud officials leading the party's coalition negotiations, is actively working to lead several MKs from the rival Blue and White party away from the faction – and into the Likud.

One of Eshel's top targets is freshman MK Omer Yankelevich, a haredi MK in the Israel Resilience faction of the Blue and White party – and the only female haredi lawmaker in the Knesset.

According to the Yediot report, Eshel has been attempting to use connections in the haredi world to encourage Yankelevich to abandon the Blue and White party in favor of the Likud. Eshel's efforts have reportedly included investigating which rabbis Yankelevich would be most likely to be influenced by.

Eshel has reportedly offered the first-time MK chairmanship of a Knesset committee.

The Likud is hoping to recruit at least one Blue and White MK, thus enabling Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to form a narrow 61-MK coalition without former Defense Minister Avidgor Liberman's Yisrael Beytenu party.

At present, 65 MKs, including Yisrael Beytenu's five-member delegation, have backed Netanyahu for premier. Without Yisrael Beytenu, Netanyahu would be unable to form a right-wing – religious coalition. The Blue and White party has ruled out forming a unity government with Netanyahu.

"We don't have a government without her vote," Eshel is quoted as telling haredi officials. "If we do get her vote, then Netanyahu will have a government even without Evet [Liberman]."

"We want her to bolt from Blue and White and come over to the Likud. She'll be given chairmanship of an important committee which handles issues related to the haredi community. She won't just be another MK without any influence within the Blue and White."

Eshel has denied the claims, saying "This kind of report is good for me, but we have not asked and are not interested in her or others. We are happy with the 65 [MKs] that we have."


4. DAYS AFTER POWAY, MAN HARASSES AND LUNGES AT CHABAD RABBI IN NY
by Josefin Dolsten, JTA

📹 To watch the video: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/262525

Rabbi Uriel Vigler was heading to morning prayers on Tuesday as he does every day on Manhattan's Upper East Side, just before 7 a.m., when a man began shouting anti-Semitic insults at him.

Vigler said the man called him a "f***ing Jew."

"Instinctively, I moved away," he told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. "I moved to the other side of the street, and he follows me and he said, 'Are you nervous, are you scared?'"

As Vigler neared the synagogue, he said the man lunged at him. When the assailant noticed the congregation's security guard, he turned around and called the rabbi "the devil." The rabbi recorded the end of the incident and shared the video on Facebook.

Though the man did not harm Vigler, the rabbi believes that if the security guard had not been present, the assailant would have physically attacked him. Vigler has filed a report with the New York Police Department but has yet to hear back.

The incident comes just days after a shooter attacked a Chabad synagogue in Poway, California, killing one and wounding three.

Vigler, who leads the Chabad Israel Center on the Upper East Side along with his wife, Shevy, said he would not let the incident deter him from doing his work.

"We are not afraid," he said. "We are going to continue our mission to spread goodness and kindness in the world, to reach out to Jews with unconditional love."


5. POWAY SHOOTER HAD 50 UNFIRED BULLETS
by Elad Benari

John Earnest, the man accused of attacking the Chabad of Poway synagogue in Southern California this past Shabbat only eight to 10 of the roughly 60 bullets he had before his weapon jammed, prosecutors said Tuesday, according to Fox News.

Earnest, 19, pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and attempted murder in the shooting in which one woman was killed and three people wounded, including the synagogue's rabbi.

Earnest was arrested shortly after the attack with 50 unfired bullets, a tactical vest and helmet, prosecutors said during his arraignment.

At the hearing, he stood behind a glass panel, wearing blue jail clothes and showing no apparent emotion. He uttered only one word — "yes" — to waive his right to a speedy preliminary hearing.

The judge scheduled a status hearing for May 30 and denied bail, calling Earnest an extreme threat to public safety.

Poway was formally charged on Monday with murder and attempted murder. Authorities have also charged him with arson in connection to a fire last month at an Escondido mosque.

Prior to the attack Earnest had published an anti-Semitic screed online in which he claimed responsibility for an arson attack against a mosque in the area weeks earlier.

Police investigating the shooting attack say Earnest acted alone and was not part of any organized group.

The suspect's parents said on Monday that their son and five siblings were raised in a family that "rejected hate and taught that love must be the motive for everything we do."

"To our great shame, he is now part of the history of evil that has been perpetrated on Jewish people for centuries," the parents said in their first public comments following the shooting attack. "Our son's actions were informed by people we do not know, and ideas we do not hold."

The parents, who are cooperating with investigators, refused to provide legal representation to their son, and he was represented by a public defender.



6. FBI WARNED OF POWAY SHOOTER 5 MINUTES BEFORE ATTACK
by Gary Willig

The FBI revealed on Monday that it had received a warning about the Poway synagogue shooter five minutes before he carried out a deadly shooting attack.

On Saturday, during morning services, John T. Earnest opened fire on worshippers at the Chabad of Poway, killing one and wounding three, including the synagogue's rabbi and an eight-year-old girl.

The FBI had received a warning about Earnest minutes before the attack, but did not have enough time to locate the suspect.

Short;y before the attack was carried out Earnest posted an anti-Semitic manifesto on the 8-Chan board, an online community notorious for hosting extremists. In his manifesto Earnest accused the Jewish people of seeking to destroy the European race, accused President Trump of being controlled by Jews, and vowed to post a live-stream on Facebook of an attack on a Jewish target.


7. FRENCH AMBASSADOR SUMMONED FOR REPRIMAND
by Yoni Kempinski

French Ambassador to Israel Hélène Le Gal was summoned on Monday to Israel's Foreign Ministry for a dressing down after a outgoing French Ambassador to the United States Gerard Araud called Israel an "apartheid state."

Le Gal, who met with Rodica Radian-Gordon, was harshly reprimanded for Araud's interview with the The Atlantic, in which he criticized US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" and said the plan allows "the more powerful [party]" to "impose terms on the weaker party."

"That's the basis of Jared Kushner's [peace plan]," he said then, adding that "it will be a proposal very close to what the Israelis want."

If Israel makes residents of the Palestinian Authority citizens of Israel or stateless, he explained, that would be "an apartheid" and "there will be officially an apartheid state. They are in fact already."

All Israeli officials have been banned from meeting Araud, who is expected to arrive in Israel in the coming days.


8. NETANYAHU BRISTLES AT HAREDI LAWMAKERS' DEMANDS
by David Rosenberg

As negotiations begin for the formation of the 35th Government of Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is warning that haredi lawmakers are making "excessive demands" which cannot be realistically met, Israel Hayom reported Tuesday morning.

This week, faction leaders met with the Likud's negotiating team, kicking off talks towards the formation of the next government.

With Netanyahu expected to form a narrow coalition government with 65 MKs from the six right-wing and religious factions – Likud, Kulanu, Yisrael Beytenu, Union of Right-Wing Parties, Shas, and United Torah Judaism – each potential coalition partner, with the exception of Kulanu, will be necessary for reaching the 61-MK minimum for a majority government.

That has emboldened faction leaders to press the Likud for major concessions, either on the future government's agenda or with regard to the distribution of ministries.

The Union of Right-Wing Parties, which won just five seats, compared to the eight seats its member factions won in 2015, is pushing to retain the Education and Justice ministries – while also demanding that the government include annexation of some Israeli towns in Judea and Samaria in the coalition's agenda. During the previous Knesset, the party also held the Agriculture Ministry – but is now seeking the Housing Ministry.

Kulanu, which plummeted from 10 to four seats, has asked to retain the powerful Finance Ministry, while Yisrael Beytenu has demanded it return to the Defense Ministry, which party chairman Avidgor Liberman left last November.

But the most greatest demands have been levelled by the two haredi factions – Shas and United Torah Judaism – which have called for significantly more influence in the next government, demanding a total of seven ministries between the two parties, compared to just three held by the two factions in the previous term.

Shas, which rose from seven seats to eight, has requested three ministries and a deputy minister, while UTJ, which rose from six seats to eight, has called for a total of four ministries – though in keeping with the party's policy of not officially accepting ministerial positions, its representatives would serve as deputy ministers.

According to Israel Hayom, Prime Minister Netanyahu has balked at the demands of the two haredi factions, telling his inner circle that the terms offered by the two parties were excessive.

The two parties have also, according to Kikar Hashabbat, demanded a deputy minister for Shas and control of a number of powerful Knesset committees, including the finance committee (currently held by UTJ), and the constitution and law committee (currently held by the Jewish Home).