A Yiddish metro sign in Paris Berlin Transformed for Peres
Berlin took on a new guise last week with the visit of Shimon Peres to mark the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, prompting a security operation on a rare scale. Roadblocks and closures dominated the jammed city for much of the week as 3,000 police officers were deployed to protect the Israeli president during his trip, in which he addressed parliament and visited some of the sites most closely associated with the Holocaust. The visit comes amidst concerns from Peres himself over the way Israel is viewed in the country: survey results suggesting young Germans viewed the Jewish state as more of a danger than Iran prompted calls from the Head of State for German education about Israel to be stepped up a notch.
Siemens Breaks with Iran
Both Peres and German chancellor Angela Merkel used the president’s highly-publicized trip to press home the Iranian threat, with Merkel issuing an ultimatum to Iran to change tack soon or face sanctions. Siemens took the matter into its own hands, announcing that it would become the latest German corporation to stop doing business with Iran, following Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and Daimler.
British Muslims Give Mixed Message
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign has drawn the wrath of the Board of Deputies for British Jews, the community’s representative body, after a lesson pack for schools produced by the UK organisation suggested pupils analyse a cartoon of Jesus on the cross flanked by a large-nosed Israeli soldier. Better news came from the Muslim Council of Britain, a group with a long history of feuds with the British government and Jewish groups, which agreed to end its boycott of Britain’s annual Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration by attending this year’s event. The group did not take part in the 2009 proceedings in protest at Israel’s military operation in Gaza, claiming that the anniversary would be used to silence criticism of the state’s actions.
Neturei Karta Protest Aliyah Meeting
Another anti-Israel campaign group with a track record in Britain tried to get its voice heard this week, but this time the protesters were Jewish. Neturei Karta members chose a meeting of Nefesh b’Nefesh, the aliyah organisation, as a backdrop for a 30-man strong counter-demonstration outside the Manchester venue. The Jewish Chronicle reports cries of “this is Zionist propaganda” and “terrorist state” from representatives of the anti-Zionist, ultra-Orthodox group.
Have I Got Jews for You
David Abraham has been appointed chief executive of the UK independent broadcaster Channel 4, following in the footsteps of fellow religionists Michael Grade and Sir Jeremy Isaacs. Add to this leading BBC journalist Robert Peston and James Harding, editor of the London Times, both children of the Covenant, and it’s clear things are going quite well for Jews in the British media at the moment.
Shoah Spat Haunts Church
They say Europe is one enormous church broken up by a few pubs along the way, so it’s little surprise that some of the biggest bones of contention afflicting the community in Europe arise from the Christian establishment. Almost in an attempt to compete with the Pope, whose visit to an Italian synagogue last week was overshadowed by continued rumblings over wartime Pope Pius XII’s gradual ascent to sainthood, a Polish bishop has frantically tried to defend remarks published on a Catholic news site – and attributed to him – claiming the Jews had “stolen” the Holocaust from other persecuted groups, including Catholics. Tadeusz Pieronek appeared on Polish television alleging that the interview had been manipulated and denying that he had called the Holocaust an “invention.” As Poland celebrates ‘Polska Year’, a showcase of Polish culture for a British audience, this is the last thing the eastern European country wants in the headlines.
Crete Shul in Double Attack
Two British citizens, a Greek and an American were arrested in connection with a double arson attack on a 15th-century synagogue on the island of Crete, one of Greece’s most treasured Jewish edifices. Although the Etz Hayyim synagogue appeared beyond repair after the Second World War, it was restored only in 1999 and had been used as a museum and cultural centre. Community head Moses Constantinis said Jews in his country were “worried,” claiming that arrests should have been made after the first attack to prevent another one occurring.
Khap a Shmooze in Paris
Paris is fast becoming a major world centre for Yiddish, thanks largely to the Maison de la culture yiddish-Bibliothèque Medem, a centre hosting linguistic and cultural seminars and publishing a journal in the language five times a year. Now enthusiasts can try their Yiddish out at the monthly yidish-tish, a mameloshn-only gathering at a Parisian café, which drew 13 shmoozers in January. The helpful website gives a cell phone number so people can send a “samekh-mem-samekh” if they get lost on the way, while its chirpy MySpace page plugs the yidish-tish site, urging users to “gib zshe a kvetsh afn link” – “give the link a kvetch.” | 
