Date: Friday 16 February 2007
Subj: Yemen: Shi'ite rebellion resurfaces - Yemeni Jews threatened
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
YEMEN: SHI'ITE REBELLION RESURFACES - YEMENI JEWS THREATENED
As noted in the recent WEA RLC News & Analysis posting Religious Liberty Trends 2006-2007, "Part 3 - RL Trend: Shiite Ascendancy" (link 1) any Shiite vs Sunni conflict will impact Jews and Christians. This is because in a Shiite vs Sunni conflict, Sunni extremism intensifies and is advanced resulting in increased persecution of Shiites, Jews and Christians, while Shiites (usually the minority sect) attempt to deflect Sunni hate and unite the sects in battle against their common "enemies": Jews, Israel, Christians and US-allied Arab governments.
The Sunni vs Shiite struggle for supremacy is escalating in Yemen and followers of Shiite rebel Al Houthi have renewed their insurgency against the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Before the Shiite rebels re-launched their insurgency they issued a public threat against the local
Jewish community.
JEWS THREATENED AND EXPELLED
On 10 January the 45 Jews of al Haid, Sa'ada (north Yemen), received letters from a Shiite rebel militia. The letters accused them of promoting vice and demanded that they leave the province. According to the Yemen Observer, the 45 Jews have been forced to flee their homes in fear of their lives. While they have since been given refuge in a hotel at the expense of a compassionate local sheik, they are reportedly living in appalling conditions. Shiite militants have since threatened to bomb the hotel.
The Yemen Observer reports: "Most of Yemen's Jews were brought over to Israel during Operation Magic Carpet in 1949-50, following the 1948 Muslim riots that destroyed the Jewish community in Aden and killed 82 people. There were about 63,000 Jews in Yemen in 1948. Now, only about 400 Jews remain in the country, most of who are living in Raida, in the Amran province." (Link 2)
A copy of the threatening letter was faxed to the Yemen Observer. It reads: "After an accurate surveillance of the Jews who are residing in Al Haid, it has become clear to us that they were doing things which serve mainly Zionism, which seeks to corrupt the people and distance them from their principles, their values, their morals, and their religion, and spread all kinds of vice in the society. Our religion ordered us to fight the corrupt people and expel them."
The newspaper reports that the hand written letter concluded with the words: "Allah is Greater, Death to America, Death to Israel, Curse to Jews, and Victory to Islam," and explains that the words form the slogan of the slain Shiite cleric, Hussein Badr Al Deen Al Houthi. The letter was then signed by Yahya Sad Al Khudhair, who described himself as the leader of Al Houthi supporters in Al Salem.
Dawoud Yousef Mousa, one of the displaced Jews, told the Yemen Observer: "We are a total of 45 Jews, from Al Salem, we left our houses in Al Haid area in Sa'ada to a hotel here in the city of Sa'ada, after we received warnings to leave our country, Yemen, within 10 days from the date of the threat letter,"
According to Mousa, on Wednesday 17 January, he was with a group of Jews when they were approached by four masked men who threatened to slaughter them if they did not leave on Al Salem by Friday 19 January. "They told us, 'No one will protect you, Jews, from us, not even [President] Ali Abdullah Saleh." And they were warned that if they did not leave their homes in two days "they will only have themselves to blame" for the consequences, which will include abductions and looting.
The Yemen Observer reports that the local authorities and tribal sheikhs in Sa'ada held meetings to discuss the complaints from the Yemeni Jews. However the meetings only resulted in oral reassurances for the Jews, who were told to ignore the threats and go back to their villages, something the Jews were not prepared to do.
The Jews have appealed to the governor of Sa'ada for protection. In their submission they wrote: "It is not a secret that we are "Themmies" [dhimmis] (free non-Muslims, enjoying the Muslims' protection [definition by Yemen Observer]), we are in the protection of the Prophet Mohammed, and in the protection of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. We [are in] your protection. We would rather die than leave our homes."
SHI'ITE INSURGENCY
Yemen did not exist as a unified state until May 1990. Before then there was North Yemen which was 60 percent Shiite, and South Yemen which was 99 percent Sunni. Historically Zaydi (Shia) Imams had ruled over North Yemen as absolute monarchs. Then in 1962 the Imamate of Muhammad al-Badr was overthrown in a military coup led by Ali Abdullah Saleh. Civil war erupted between republicans backed by Egypt, and royalists backed by Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Britain. After years of conflict and political see-sawing, North Yemen emerged as the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). Ali Abdullah Saleh became the President of the YAR in 1978 after another military coup.
In December 1989 the parliament of South Yemen voted unanimously in favour of unifying the two states. Meanwhile, in North Yemen 25 of the more religiously fundamentalist Shiite members of the of North Yemen parliament boycotted the vote, recognising that upon unification, the Shiites of North Yemen would go from being a majority to a 30 percent minority. Unification went ahead and Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected president of the unified Republic of Yemen on the votes of both houses of parliament. The president of South Yemen became the Vice President.
In June 2004 a Shiite insurgency erupted against the government of Ali Abdullah Salih. The Shiite rebels were "protecting Islam" and protesting the government's alliance with the US in its War on Terror. The government claimed the rebels were fighting for the restoration of the Zaydi imamate, though the rebels denied this. President Ali Abdullah Saleh is a Zaydi Shiite, but like many other Zaydis he is a republican.
On 13 July 2004 the Christian Science Monitor reported on the Shiite insurgency: "The revolt is led by Hussein al-Houthi, an anti-US Shiite cleric who runs a religious school and heads a group called Al Shabab al-Moumin, the Youthful Believers.
"Houthi's rebels have been flying the flag of the Iranian-backed Hizbullah organization and the militant cleric has been paying his followers $100." (Link 3)
The government unleashed the full force of its military against the Shiite rebels and the insurgency only lasted ten weeks. Rebel leader Zaydi cleric Hussein al-Huthi was killed in the fighting.
The July 2004 CSM article actually raised the issue of al Qaeda infiltration into Yemen and questioned whether Iran was sponsoring a Shiite revival amongst the Yemeni Zaydis to counter a Wahhabi revival amongst the Sunnis. It concluded with a quote from Professor Hamzeh: "'It seems that Al Qaeda has been successful in radicalizing the Shafi Sunnis,' he says. 'I can definitely see a future clash between the Zaidi Shiites and the newly mobilized Shafi Sunnis.'"
After Al-Houthi's father, Badr al-Din al-Huthi, assumed leadership of the rebel group, fighting resumed in March 2005. Once again, the government unleashed the military against the rebels. Shiite leaders in both Iran and Iraq protested the "persecution" of Yemeni Shiites. By May 2005 the rebels had retreated into the mountains and the fighting had ceased.
On 27 January 2007 Shiite rebels in the northern province of Sa'ada (where the Jews are being persecuted) launched a mortar attack on a security building, killing six soldiers. In early February Yemen's parliament authorised its military to launch a full-scale assault against the rebels. Stratfor estimates that around 80 Shiite al-Houthi rebels and around 40 Yemeni government soldiers have died in fighting over the past two weeks. The Yemen Times puts the figure at 32 rebels and 15 soldiers.
Some Yemeni MPs and political commentators suspect that Iran and Libya are interfering in Yemen; Iran to bolster the Shiites to counter al Qaeda and the revival of Wahhabi ideology; and Libya to bolster the Wahhabis for the purpose of destabilising Saudi Arabia.
Clearly Yemen is a fertile field for a Sunni vs Shiite contest. If the radicalisation of both Shiites and Sunnis is not effectively countered then the future is bleak, not only for Yemeni Jews and Christians, but for a united Republic of Yemen.
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) RL Trend: Shiite Ascendancy
2) Threatened Yemeni Jews appeal for protection
By Nasser Arrabyee Jan 22, 2007, 19:38 Yemen Observer
http://www.yobserver.com/cgi-bin/2007/exec/view.cgi/23/11554
3) Are Iran and Al Qaeda vying for influence in Yemen?
At least 200 dead in Yemeni battle against radicals.
By Nicholas Blanford. The Christian Science Monitor 13 July 2004
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0713/p11s01-wome.html
BBC profile: YEMEN
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/country_profiles/784383.stm
Profile: Ali Abdullah Saleh http://lexicorient.com/e.o/saleh_a.htm
Showing posts with label Jews. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jews. Show all posts
Friday, February 16, 2007
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Kosovo & Metohija, SERBIA: Precarious Situation
Religious Liberty Prayer Bulletin | No. 415 | Wed 07 Feb 2007
--------------------------------------------------
KOSOVO AND METOHIJA, (Serbia) : PRECARIOUS SITUATION
--------------------------------------------------
What we know today as Kosovo, southern Serbia, was historically two regions: Kosovo and Metohija. 'Metohija' comes from the Greek 'metox' referring to land set aside for the Church. Metohija, a large basin in the south-west comprising nearly half of 'Kosovo', is the spiritual heartland of Serbia and is filled with historic Eastern Orthodox churches and monasteries.
The (Muslim) Ottoman Empire advanced its imperialistic jihad into the Balkans in the 14th Century. For centuries the Christian peoples of the Balkans were subjugated under Islam and sorely persecuted. But then the Ottoman Empire started to crumble and the Christians fought for and won their liberation. During the Ottoman era large numbers of Turkish and ethnic Albanian Muslims migrated over the mountains and into Serbia's southern regions of Kosovo and Metohija, eventually comprising some 50 percent of the population. Their descendants are known as 'Kosovars'. After the Balkan wars of liberation (1912) Islamist Kosovars/Albanians complained that their (Muslim) land was 'occupied', and the Kosovar/Albanian separatist struggle began. So the contemporary struggle between the Muslim Kosovars/Albanians and the Orthodox Serbs for control of Kosovo and Metohija is almost a century old.
The ethnic Albanian Muslim Kosovar cause has accelerated since 1941: first during World War Two through the Nazi-Muslim pact to exterminate Serbs, Jews and Roma/Gypsies in the Nazis' 'Greater Albania'; and then during the Communist era through the pro-Albanian, pro-Arab, anti-Serb policies of Croat Communist leader Marshall Tito. Tito refused to allow the Serbs who had been ethnically cleansed from Kosovo during WW2 the right to return. He dissolved Metohija because of its spiritual significance and turned Kosovo and Metohija into a single, separate and eventually autonomous majority ethnic Albanian province.
War erupted in 1999. After NATO's unilateral intervention Kosovo was declared a UN protectorate. Since then some 150 historic Orthodox Serbian churches and monasteries have been destroyed and an estimated 1000 Serbs and Roma have been kidnapped and murdered or disappeared (but not Jews, because Islamist Kosovars expelled the entire Jewish remnant in 1999). Kosovo's mostly internally displaced Serbs live in fear and poverty and cannot move without UN armed escorts. Meanwhile the Islamisation and radicalisation of Kosovo has advanced without restraint.
The UN special envoy's 2 February 2007 recommendation that Kosovo be granted supervised independence will soon go before the UN Security Council. Albania, all Islamic imperialists, the US and UK support this proposal. Russia and China (two countries that could face similar Muslim separatist claims should Kosovo be granted independence) are opposed to it. Needless to say Serbia rejects any suggestion that the UN excise 15 percent of Serbia's territory and cede it to Muslim separatists.
The West appeases Islamic imperialism in the Balkans for political expediency - the opposite of their response in the Horn of Africa. The situation for Kosovo's Serbs is precarious and Balkans' peace is tenuous.
PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR GOD TO:
* raise up voices for justice and right to speak against shameful political expediency.
* work powerfully through the UN forces to protect the tiny Orthodox Serb remnant in Kosovo so they will not be forced to defend themselves should hostile forces seek their removal or the destruction of more religious sites.
* protect all Kosovar converts to Christianity who are greatly at risk due to the escalating criminality and Islamic nationalist, imperialist and anti-Serb (anti-Christian) zeal in the province.
* give great wisdom and divine guidance to the political and religious leaders in Belgrade (Serbia).
'He [the Sovereign Lord] tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.' Isaiah 40:11 NIV
Friday, June 30, 2006
Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
Date: Friday 30 June 2006
Subj: Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------
IRAQI'S MANDAEANS FACE GENOCIDE
- ALL OTHER RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AT RISK
----------------------------------------
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) has published a report entitled "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened" (March 2006). (Link 2)
This German-based organisation documents the same sorts of abuses that have been documented by the Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia (SMAA) and used in previous WEA RLC postings on Iraq. Abuses include forced conversions, kidnappings, rapes, forced marriages, tortures and killings (often highly barbaric) of innocent Mandaean civilians including women and children.
Since the overthrow of the Hussein regime the situation for Mandaeans in Iraq has become untenable as violence against them has increased markedly. Because Mandaeans, are labeled "unclean" and not even afforded "protected" dhimmi status, they may be publicly persecuted or killed with impunity. In fact the killer may even have a sense of justification, as if he has performed a noble and principled act of cleansing. On top of this, Mandaeans are pacifists and therefore defenseless. They are generally well educated and highly skilled. Altogether this makes them choice, prime, easy targets for greedy criminals as well as for bigoted Islamists.
The Society for Threatened Peoples is also documenting the flight of Mandaean refugees. They estimate that around 1,000 Iraqi Mandaean families had fled to Syria or Jordan by January 2006. In September 2005, the BBC estimated that a mere 13,000 Mandaeans (about one third of the pre-war population) remained inside Iraq.
In May the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. Pages 9 – 12 are devoted to the human rights situation in Iraq, and make it very clear that "The future of religious minorities hangs in the balance".
Here are some excerpts from that four-page segment entitled: "IRAQ: Human Rights in Jeopardy". (Link 3)
"Minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security. The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years. The UN has reported on 'an explosion of Islamist extremist movements and militias which target, among others, members of religious minorities,' concluding that religious minorities 'have become the regular victims of discrimination, harassment, and at times persecution, with incidents ranging from intimidation and threats to the destruction of property, kidnapping and murder,' and that 'members of the Christian minority. . .appear to be particularly targeted.' As discussed below, this violence is also directed against women, including non-Muslim women, who are deemed as not complying with Islamic strictures, which are being imposed unlawfully.
"Sabean Mandaean organizations continue to report that extremist Islamic elements are targeting individual members of the Iraqi Sabean community, solely on the basis of their religious belief. In a number of instances, attackers reportedly attempted to forcibly convert their victims before murdering them, sometimes going so far as to leave the victims' valuables behind to underscore the religious motivation for their acts. Other violence directed against the Sabean community reportedly included kidnapping, rape, immolation, and the gouging of eyes.
"According to the Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples, 17,000 of the 30,000 Mandaeans have already fled Iraq in the wake of this violence. According to sources cited by the UN, Iraqi religious leaders issued several fatwas during the past year which 'have provided Islamic fundamentalists with the religious justification for acts carried out against the Mandaeans, and have accentuated the level of fear among the Mandaean community'."
ULTIMATUM: CONVERT, LEAVE OR DIE.
Today, Iraqi Mandaeans are being given an ultimatum – to convert to Islam or leave Iraq. The only other option is death.
Here are translations of two letters received recently by Mandaeans in Iraq. The translations are taken from the Appendix of the report by the Society for Threatened Peoples.
-----------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Layth Shaker
[excerpt of translated letter]
In the name of God
Warning Warning
To the citizen Layth Shaker, you are going astray and you have to come back to God and his prophet. This is a warning to you and your family, the fighter's brothers will be satisfied if you transfer from Al-Ramady with your family. You have time limit for three days only and after that you will be punished because the settlement is started and this is a last opportunity to you and you are under control by the Al-Jehadia group. . .
-----------------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Mahmoud Shaker
[full text of translated letter]
In the name of Allah
'If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).'
'O, ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.'
To the magus, the infidel, the Sabi the goldsmith Shaker M & his sons, we warn you and your sons that you must abandon the religion of the infidel and the atheist and to convert to Islam. Your sons must join the Al-Jehad group to fight against the occupiers and the army of the infidel. By the way your sons who ever is Mahmoud Shaker and his brother Moneer Shaker are an agent soldiers in the army of what called the national guard and you drink wine, you are dirty, cursed infidel and low. You have only two choices, either convert to Islam or to leave the country of Islam.
He who was warns is excused
The national Islamic resistance
Kataeeb Thwart Al-Eshreen
Information Office.
----------------------------------------
DESPERATE NEED FOR ASYLUM
On 23 June 06, the SMAA reported that in the previous week, ten Mandaeans had been mutilated and killed in Basra, and that all the other Mandaeans still living in Basra had received "warning" notices ordering them to leave Iraq or be likewise killed. The letters reported to the SMAA follow the same line as the "warning" notice to Mahmoud Shaker (above), and falsely accuse the Mandaeans of being drunkards, gamblers, idolaters, prostitutes and practitioners of black magic.
The Mandaeans of Basra have even been informed that they no longer have the option of converting to Islam. They are fleeing for their lives, and those who cannot flee are living in terror of their lives. All the Mandaean clergy have fled.
But where will Iraq's Mandaeans find refuge?
When Iraq's Jewish population was faced with the same choice - leave or die - the newly created state of Israel came to the rescue. Iraqi Jews accounted for one third of Baghdad's population at the time of World War One and most were highly educated, skilled professionals. Persecution of Jews (and Christians) escalated after the British mandate ended in 1932. The Christian Assyrians suffered a catastrophic massacre in 1933. Then in October 1939, the arrival in Iraq of the pro-Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem (a personal ally to Hitler) heralded the beginning of the end of a 2,500 year history of Jews in Iraq. After years of inciting anti-Semitic violence all over Palestine and the Middle East, Haj Amin El Husseini incited anti-Jewish pogroms and massacres in Iraq with a view to genocide. There were still up to 150,000 Jews in Iraq in July 1948 when "Zionism" was made a criminal (in some cases capital) offense, with only two Muslims required to denounce one Jew. By 1951 more than 100,000 Iraqi Jews had been evacuated empty-handed, rescued by Israel's Operation Ezra & Nehemiah to be absorbed in Israel as refugees. A remnant of 34 mostly elderly Iraqi Jews were found in Iraq in 2004. (Link 4)
There is no rescue in sight for Iraqi's immediately threatened Mandaeans. Due to the enormous numbers of refugees flooding into Syria and Jordan, Syrian and Jordanian tolerance is beginning to run out. Also, many Mandaean asylum seekers are not finding refuge in the West as political forces, motivated by trade deals as well as political and diplomatic considerations, are increasingly interfering with refugee tribunal decisions.
Below are two resources from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to further assist with asylum claims of Iraqi Mandaeans, Christians and other religious minorities.
Background Information on the Situation of Non-Muslim Religious Minorities in Iraq. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4371cf5b4
Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4354e3594
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm
2) The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) http://www.gfbv.de "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened." March 2006. (direct link to English version: http://www.gfbv.de/inhaltsDok.php?id=694 )
3) United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. http://www.uscirf.gov/
4) Iraq's Jews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3107219.stm ALSO http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iraqijews.html
Subj: Iraq: Mandaeans face genocide.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal.
----------------------------------------
IRAQI'S MANDAEANS FACE GENOCIDE
- ALL OTHER RELIGIOUS MINORITIES AT RISK
----------------------------------------
Article II of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide defines genocide as "any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- (a) Killing members of the group;
- (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group." (Link 1)
The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) has published a report entitled "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened" (March 2006). (Link 2)
This German-based organisation documents the same sorts of abuses that have been documented by the Sabian Mandaean Association of Australia (SMAA) and used in previous WEA RLC postings on Iraq. Abuses include forced conversions, kidnappings, rapes, forced marriages, tortures and killings (often highly barbaric) of innocent Mandaean civilians including women and children.
Since the overthrow of the Hussein regime the situation for Mandaeans in Iraq has become untenable as violence against them has increased markedly. Because Mandaeans, are labeled "unclean" and not even afforded "protected" dhimmi status, they may be publicly persecuted or killed with impunity. In fact the killer may even have a sense of justification, as if he has performed a noble and principled act of cleansing. On top of this, Mandaeans are pacifists and therefore defenseless. They are generally well educated and highly skilled. Altogether this makes them choice, prime, easy targets for greedy criminals as well as for bigoted Islamists.
The Society for Threatened Peoples is also documenting the flight of Mandaean refugees. They estimate that around 1,000 Iraqi Mandaean families had fled to Syria or Jordan by January 2006. In September 2005, the BBC estimated that a mere 13,000 Mandaeans (about one third of the pre-war population) remained inside Iraq.
In May the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. Pages 9 – 12 are devoted to the human rights situation in Iraq, and make it very clear that "The future of religious minorities hangs in the balance".
Here are some excerpts from that four-page segment entitled: "IRAQ: Human Rights in Jeopardy". (Link 3)
"Minority communities, including Christian Iraqis, are forced to fend for themselves in an atmosphere of impunity, and lack any tribal or militia structure to provide for their security. The result is that members of these communities continue to flee the country in the face of violence, in an exodus that may mean the end of the presence in Iraq of ancient Christian and other religious minority communities that have lived on those same lands for 2,000 years. The UN has reported on 'an explosion of Islamist extremist movements and militias which target, among others, members of religious minorities,' concluding that religious minorities 'have become the regular victims of discrimination, harassment, and at times persecution, with incidents ranging from intimidation and threats to the destruction of property, kidnapping and murder,' and that 'members of the Christian minority. . .appear to be particularly targeted.' As discussed below, this violence is also directed against women, including non-Muslim women, who are deemed as not complying with Islamic strictures, which are being imposed unlawfully.
"Sabean Mandaean organizations continue to report that extremist Islamic elements are targeting individual members of the Iraqi Sabean community, solely on the basis of their religious belief. In a number of instances, attackers reportedly attempted to forcibly convert their victims before murdering them, sometimes going so far as to leave the victims' valuables behind to underscore the religious motivation for their acts. Other violence directed against the Sabean community reportedly included kidnapping, rape, immolation, and the gouging of eyes.
"According to the Germany-based Society for Threatened Peoples, 17,000 of the 30,000 Mandaeans have already fled Iraq in the wake of this violence. According to sources cited by the UN, Iraqi religious leaders issued several fatwas during the past year which 'have provided Islamic fundamentalists with the religious justification for acts carried out against the Mandaeans, and have accentuated the level of fear among the Mandaean community'."
ULTIMATUM: CONVERT, LEAVE OR DIE.
Today, Iraqi Mandaeans are being given an ultimatum – to convert to Islam or leave Iraq. The only other option is death.
Here are translations of two letters received recently by Mandaeans in Iraq. The translations are taken from the Appendix of the report by the Society for Threatened Peoples.
-----------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Layth Shaker
[excerpt of translated letter]
In the name of God
Warning Warning
To the citizen Layth Shaker, you are going astray and you have to come back to God and his prophet. This is a warning to you and your family, the fighter's brothers will be satisfied if you transfer from Al-Ramady with your family. You have time limit for three days only and after that you will be punished because the settlement is started and this is a last opportunity to you and you are under control by the Al-Jehadia group. . .
-----------------------------------------------------------
Threatening letter addressed to Mahmoud Shaker
[full text of translated letter]
In the name of Allah
'If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost (all spiritual good).'
'O, ye who believe! Intoxicants and gambling, (dedication of) stones, and (divination by) arrows, are an abomination of Satan's handiwork: eschew such (abomination), that ye may prosper.'
To the magus, the infidel, the Sabi the goldsmith Shaker M & his sons, we warn you and your sons that you must abandon the religion of the infidel and the atheist and to convert to Islam. Your sons must join the Al-Jehad group to fight against the occupiers and the army of the infidel. By the way your sons who ever is Mahmoud Shaker and his brother Moneer Shaker are an agent soldiers in the army of what called the national guard and you drink wine, you are dirty, cursed infidel and low. You have only two choices, either convert to Islam or to leave the country of Islam.
He who was warns is excused
The national Islamic resistance
Kataeeb Thwart Al-Eshreen
Information Office.
----------------------------------------
DESPERATE NEED FOR ASYLUM
On 23 June 06, the SMAA reported that in the previous week, ten Mandaeans had been mutilated and killed in Basra, and that all the other Mandaeans still living in Basra had received "warning" notices ordering them to leave Iraq or be likewise killed. The letters reported to the SMAA follow the same line as the "warning" notice to Mahmoud Shaker (above), and falsely accuse the Mandaeans of being drunkards, gamblers, idolaters, prostitutes and practitioners of black magic.
The Mandaeans of Basra have even been informed that they no longer have the option of converting to Islam. They are fleeing for their lives, and those who cannot flee are living in terror of their lives. All the Mandaean clergy have fled.
But where will Iraq's Mandaeans find refuge?
When Iraq's Jewish population was faced with the same choice - leave or die - the newly created state of Israel came to the rescue. Iraqi Jews accounted for one third of Baghdad's population at the time of World War One and most were highly educated, skilled professionals. Persecution of Jews (and Christians) escalated after the British mandate ended in 1932. The Christian Assyrians suffered a catastrophic massacre in 1933. Then in October 1939, the arrival in Iraq of the pro-Nazi Mufti of Jerusalem (a personal ally to Hitler) heralded the beginning of the end of a 2,500 year history of Jews in Iraq. After years of inciting anti-Semitic violence all over Palestine and the Middle East, Haj Amin El Husseini incited anti-Jewish pogroms and massacres in Iraq with a view to genocide. There were still up to 150,000 Jews in Iraq in July 1948 when "Zionism" was made a criminal (in some cases capital) offense, with only two Muslims required to denounce one Jew. By 1951 more than 100,000 Iraqi Jews had been evacuated empty-handed, rescued by Israel's Operation Ezra & Nehemiah to be absorbed in Israel as refugees. A remnant of 34 mostly elderly Iraqi Jews were found in Iraq in 2004. (Link 4)
There is no rescue in sight for Iraqi's immediately threatened Mandaeans. Due to the enormous numbers of refugees flooding into Syria and Jordan, Syrian and Jordanian tolerance is beginning to run out. Also, many Mandaean asylum seekers are not finding refuge in the West as political forces, motivated by trade deals as well as political and diplomatic considerations, are increasingly interfering with refugee tribunal decisions.
Below are two resources from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to further assist with asylum claims of Iraqi Mandaeans, Christians and other religious minorities.
Background Information on the Situation of Non-Muslim Religious Minorities in Iraq. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4371cf5b4
Guidelines Relating to the Eligibility of Iraqi Asylum-Seekers. (October 2005)
http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/home/opendoc.pdf?tbl=RSDLEGAL&id=4354e3594
Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/p_genoci.htm
2) The Society for Threatened Peoples (Gesellschaft fur bedrohte Volker) http://www.gfbv.de "Mandaeans in Iraq: After centuries of persecution – Today their very survival is threatened." March 2006. (direct link to English version: http://www.gfbv.de/inhaltsDok.php?id=694 )
3) United States Commission on International Religious Freedom released its Annual Report for 2006. http://www.uscirf.gov/
4) Iraq's Jews
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3107219.stm ALSO http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/anti-semitism/iraqijews.html
Wednesday, April 14, 2004
Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
Date: Wednesday 14 April 2004
Subj: Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------
ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE EU
- and the EU response to it.
------------------------------------
The European Union (EU) still appears unwilling to acknowledge the findings of its own reports. Last year the EU-sponsored report into anti-Semitism in the EU was shelved, citing data collection irregularities, after it reported that the majority of anti-Semitic attacks were being perpetrated by Muslim youths. A new report was commissioned. However this produced the same conclusion that Muslim youths are increasingly responsible for anti-Semitic violence in the EU.
This year the language was softened and the issue of the identity of the perpetrators was either avoided or smoothly glossed over. The report states, "It is not any more the extreme right that is mainly responsible for hostility towards Jewish individuals and property. Varying proportions of victims of hostility classified perpetrators to be 'young Muslims', 'people of North African origin', and 'immigrants'". Yet this finding is written-off with a reminder that this is merely the victims' "perception" and cannot be verified, certainly not on official records. (Executive Summary, page 25; Conclusions, page 319.)
The EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) released to the media a 22-page summary that actually presented a contradictory finding. Hence media across the world have reported that the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts in the EU are primarily "young, disaffected white Europeans" - the opposite of the actual finding of the report. This false reporting is deeply troubling.
Anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, while those who disseminate anti-Semitism and fuel or perpetrate anti-Semitic acts are being protected with a cloak of invisibility. This must end, because impunity equals permission, and if anti-Semitic attacks are permitted to escalate at this rate then the future looks truly horrifying - like something we vowed we would never let happen again.
----------------------------------
BLATANT FALSE REPORTING
The EU-commissioned report entitled "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003", by the EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) was released in late March 2004. (Link 1)
The 22-page summary released to the media states, ". there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents in five EU countries, (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK). These incidents ranged from hate mail to arson. In some other countries there has been little evidence of increase in antisemitism. Although it is not easy to generalise, the largest group of the perpetrators of antisemitic activities appears to be young, disaffected white Europeans. A further source of antisemitism in some countries was young Muslims of North African or Asian extraction. Traditionally antisemitic groups on the extreme right played a part in stirring opinion."
Generally speaking, the world's media took this and ran with it, seemingly ignorant of the fact that it contradicted both reality and the EUMC report itself.
The BBC reported (Wednesday 31 March 2004) "Attacks against Jews in Europe have sharply increased, says a report by a European anti-racism watchdog. The study singles out Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, where it says the rise in anti-Semitism has been of particular concern. Other countries, including Ireland and Portugal, showed little sign of any rise in attacks, the report says.
"It identifies 'young, disaffected white Europeans' as the key culprits followed by North African or Asian Muslims."
On 1 April, The Hindu published an article entitled, "White males blamed for attacks on EU Jews." It stated: "Brussels, April 1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Attacks on Jews have increased in five EU countries in the last two years with white males rather than Muslims being blamed for many of them, according to a report published yesterday.
"The study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) contrasted with the controversial findings of research carried out in Berlin last year, which said young Arabs and Muslims were mainly responsible for rising anti-semitism."
JEWISH GROUPS OUTRAGED
Jonathan Fisk commented on 1 April, "A long-awaited report on European anti-Semitism confirms that it is a growing problem across the continent - but dances around the politically sensitive question of who is responsible. The 344-page report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, or EUMC, details a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Physical assaults are absent or rare in Greece, Austria, Italy and Spain, the report found, but anti-Semitic discourse is virulent there as well.
"Those findings are unlikely to surprise observers who have watched a rash of anti-Semitic outbursts spread across Europe since the Palestinian intifada began in September 2000.
"More surprising was the almost passing reference made to the perpetrators. Newer actors such as immigrant Muslim youth are mentioned in the report, but an EUMC press release accompanying the report sought to highlight the role of more traditional sources of anti-Semitism, such as far-right groups and skinheads." (Link 2)
Regarding the contradictory statements made in the media summary, Jonathan Fisk quotes Elan Steinberg, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress as protesting, "After the scandal of the previous report, the EUMC has compiled an impressive quantitative analysis that shows an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. But they studiously avoid going into the causes of the anti-Semitism; you're almost left with the impression that it occurred from outer space. It's an intellectual whitewash and an instance of moral cowardice."
Fisk also quotes Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress, "It's contradictory that the EUMC puts an emphasis on 'white, right-wing perpetrators,' whereas the report reveals that the majority of attacks in most countries are committed by young Muslims of North African origin. How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?"
ARAB ANTI-SEMITISM
A brilliant Special Report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) entitled "What is Arab Antisemitism?" draws this conclusion: "Arab antisemitism must be closely monitored and its many manifestations translated and exposed, in the hope that exposure will lead to international protests and diplomatic pressure on the states guilty of propagating it."
This MEMRI report is highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand contemporary Arab anti-Semitism.
MEMRI "What Is Arab Antisemitism?"
By Menahem Milson, 27 February 2004
Another excellent summary and analysis is by the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (ISIC - an arm of the Barnabas Fund). ISIC Briefing 12 November 2003
"Mahathir Mohamad and Muslim Antisemitism."
-------------------------------------------
After all the Country Reports, Part 2 of the EUMC "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003" report focuses on "Evaluation of National EUMC-RAXEN Data on Antisemitism". The Conclusions are detailed from pages 318-326.
THE EUMC RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
On page 319 we read, "There is evidence to support the view that there is a link between the number of reported antisemitic incidents and the political situation in the Middle East." This is of course a simple observation.
On page 323 however, we read, "Another topical issue with regard to contemporary antisemitism is the influence of the crisis in the Middle East on both attitudes towards Jews and hostile acts directed against Jews."
This statement comes without qualification or explanation and is therefore contemptible. Such an unqualified statement subtly implies, or yields to the propaganda, that "the crisis in the Middle East" is responsible for anti-Semitic attitudes and hostility and may even therefore ultimately justify them.
It is well known that the situation in the Middle East is regularly used as an excuse for anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. However it should be noted that we are not seeing evidence that Palestinian and Arab Islamist terrorism against Israeli civilians in the Middle East is producing hateful, aggressive, violent and destructive Jews in the EU (and we don't expect to). So to blame "the crisis in the Middle East" is quite unfair and misdirected. As far as the Middle East goes, it is anti-Semitism that is an obstacle to peace, not the other way around.
Likewise, we read in the Executive Summary, "What should not be considered as antisemitic and therefore does not have to be monitored under the heading 'antisemitism' is hostility towards Israel as 'Israel' i.e. as a country that is criticised for its concrete policies."
This is a very delicate area. It is often said that Jews worldwide are hostages to Israeli policies (which are by implication bad). I fear however that the real situation is that Israel is hostage to pervasive and widespread anti-Semitism.
It is this anti-Semitism that denies Israel the right to exist and defend herself. It is this anti-Semitism that will, without making any demands on any Arab leaders, make Israel the Middle East's, and even the world's scapegoat. Through this anti-Semitism Israel is demonised and contempt for her is then used to justify the expression of anti-Semitic attitudes and acts.
Some criticisms of Israeli government policies (standing out as they do against a background of silence regarding Arab policies) are rational and reasonable - most however, are not. They are pure anti-Semitism dressed up in political garb.
------------------------
Serious questions were raised on page 323 under the main heading,
"Proposals for Data Collection and Research".
The report states that there are two separate manifestations of anti-Semitism:
1) "ideological and symbolic antisemitism as represented in political and media discourses, literature and public attitudes towards Jews";
2) "concrete incidents directed against individual Jews or Jewish organisations".
The reports then questions whether these two manifestations are connected or related. The report states that the issue needing to be addressed is "how far these two strands are dependant or independent from each other".
The report then acknowledges that the EUMC report has not examined "the motivations of the perpetrators and the relationship between their acts and antisemitic attitudes and ideology".
The EUMC should certainly be encouraged to examine the ideology and motivations of the perpetrators. They should do this through independent research and analysis, not by seeking statements from Islamic and Arab propagandists. This may however result in another report that will be shelved for its lack of political correctness.
The EUMC might like to start by examining the educational materials used in Islamic schools in the EU, especially Saudi-funded schools, and Saudi-produced and disseminated Islamic educational materials.
The EUMC might also like to examine the virulent anti-Semitism being disseminated through Arab broadcasting and Arab Internet sites (for example, Link 3) including those of Arab Embassies (most of which have links to the Saudi government's Islamic Affairs Department).
Examination should be made of the rabid anti-Semitism preached from many mosques, especially Saudi-funded, Saudi-established mosques through out the EU.
If the EUMC does conduct such research, they might find that a poisonous anti-Semitism is infesting Europe's airwaves, Muslim communities, Islamic schools and media, creating and feeding antisemitic hate and directly and indirectly provoking antisemitic acts.
Antisemitism is a serious issue that requires a serious response. All must have equality before the law.
---------------------
Finally, here is an interesting article on immigration, demographics, the radicalisation of Europe's Muslims and the short-sighted attempts by European leaders to appease them. These things do help explain the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic acts in the EU, especially in states with higher levels of Arab Muslim immigration.
--------------------
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003"
by the EU Monitoring Centre (EUMC) for Xenophobia and Racism.
http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php
2) Report notes rise in anti-Semitism, but blurs question of
responsibility
by Jonathan Fisk, JTA, 12 April 2004
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=5P8lNz.var
3) Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
"Former Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee Head Sets Out the Jews' 20 Bad
Traits As Described in the Qur'an" - for an on-line chat room on 22
March 2004.
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD69104
Subj: Anti-Semitism in the EU, and the EU response to it.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
------------------------------------
ANTI-SEMITISM IN THE EU
- and the EU response to it.
------------------------------------
The European Union (EU) still appears unwilling to acknowledge the findings of its own reports. Last year the EU-sponsored report into anti-Semitism in the EU was shelved, citing data collection irregularities, after it reported that the majority of anti-Semitic attacks were being perpetrated by Muslim youths. A new report was commissioned. However this produced the same conclusion that Muslim youths are increasingly responsible for anti-Semitic violence in the EU.
This year the language was softened and the issue of the identity of the perpetrators was either avoided or smoothly glossed over. The report states, "It is not any more the extreme right that is mainly responsible for hostility towards Jewish individuals and property. Varying proportions of victims of hostility classified perpetrators to be 'young Muslims', 'people of North African origin', and 'immigrants'". Yet this finding is written-off with a reminder that this is merely the victims' "perception" and cannot be verified, certainly not on official records. (Executive Summary, page 25; Conclusions, page 319.)
The EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) released to the media a 22-page summary that actually presented a contradictory finding. Hence media across the world have reported that the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts in the EU are primarily "young, disaffected white Europeans" - the opposite of the actual finding of the report. This false reporting is deeply troubling.
Anti-Semitic attitudes and attacks are escalating at an alarming rate, while those who disseminate anti-Semitism and fuel or perpetrate anti-Semitic acts are being protected with a cloak of invisibility. This must end, because impunity equals permission, and if anti-Semitic attacks are permitted to escalate at this rate then the future looks truly horrifying - like something we vowed we would never let happen again.
----------------------------------
BLATANT FALSE REPORTING
The EU-commissioned report entitled "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003", by the EU Monitoring Centre for Xenophobia and Racism (EUMC) was released in late March 2004. (Link 1)
The 22-page summary released to the media states, ". there has been an increase in antisemitic incidents in five EU countries, (Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK). These incidents ranged from hate mail to arson. In some other countries there has been little evidence of increase in antisemitism. Although it is not easy to generalise, the largest group of the perpetrators of antisemitic activities appears to be young, disaffected white Europeans. A further source of antisemitism in some countries was young Muslims of North African or Asian extraction. Traditionally antisemitic groups on the extreme right played a part in stirring opinion."
Generally speaking, the world's media took this and ran with it, seemingly ignorant of the fact that it contradicted both reality and the EUMC report itself.
The BBC reported (Wednesday 31 March 2004) "Attacks against Jews in Europe have sharply increased, says a report by a European anti-racism watchdog. The study singles out Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, where it says the rise in anti-Semitism has been of particular concern. Other countries, including Ireland and Portugal, showed little sign of any rise in attacks, the report says.
"It identifies 'young, disaffected white Europeans' as the key culprits followed by North African or Asian Muslims."
On 1 April, The Hindu published an article entitled, "White males blamed for attacks on EU Jews." It stated: "Brussels, April 1. (GUARDIAN NEWS SERVICE): Attacks on Jews have increased in five EU countries in the last two years with white males rather than Muslims being blamed for many of them, according to a report published yesterday.
"The study by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) contrasted with the controversial findings of research carried out in Berlin last year, which said young Arabs and Muslims were mainly responsible for rising anti-semitism."
JEWISH GROUPS OUTRAGED
Jonathan Fisk commented on 1 April, "A long-awaited report on European anti-Semitism confirms that it is a growing problem across the continent - but dances around the politically sensitive question of who is responsible. The 344-page report by the European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, or EUMC, details a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and England. Physical assaults are absent or rare in Greece, Austria, Italy and Spain, the report found, but anti-Semitic discourse is virulent there as well.
"Those findings are unlikely to surprise observers who have watched a rash of anti-Semitic outbursts spread across Europe since the Palestinian intifada began in September 2000.
"More surprising was the almost passing reference made to the perpetrators. Newer actors such as immigrant Muslim youth are mentioned in the report, but an EUMC press release accompanying the report sought to highlight the role of more traditional sources of anti-Semitism, such as far-right groups and skinheads." (Link 2)
Regarding the contradictory statements made in the media summary, Jonathan Fisk quotes Elan Steinberg, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress as protesting, "After the scandal of the previous report, the EUMC has compiled an impressive quantitative analysis that shows an unprecedented wave of anti-Semitism in Europe. But they studiously avoid going into the causes of the anti-Semitism; you're almost left with the impression that it occurred from outer space. It's an intellectual whitewash and an instance of moral cowardice."
Fisk also quotes Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary general of the European Jewish Congress, "It's contradictory that the EUMC puts an emphasis on 'white, right-wing perpetrators,' whereas the report reveals that the majority of attacks in most countries are committed by young Muslims of North African origin. How can we effectively fight anti-Semitism when we refuse to identify the true perpetrators?"
ARAB ANTI-SEMITISM
A brilliant Special Report by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) entitled "What is Arab Antisemitism?" draws this conclusion: "Arab antisemitism must be closely monitored and its many manifestations translated and exposed, in the hope that exposure will lead to international protests and diplomatic pressure on the states guilty of propagating it."
This MEMRI report is highly recommended for anyone wanting to understand contemporary Arab anti-Semitism.
MEMRI "What Is Arab Antisemitism?"
By Menahem Milson, 27 February 2004
Another excellent summary and analysis is by the Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity (ISIC - an arm of the Barnabas Fund). ISIC Briefing 12 November 2003
"Mahathir Mohamad and Muslim Antisemitism."
-------------------------------------------
After all the Country Reports, Part 2 of the EUMC "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003" report focuses on "Evaluation of National EUMC-RAXEN Data on Antisemitism". The Conclusions are detailed from pages 318-326.
THE EUMC RAISES SERIOUS QUESTIONS AND ISSUES
On page 319 we read, "There is evidence to support the view that there is a link between the number of reported antisemitic incidents and the political situation in the Middle East." This is of course a simple observation.
On page 323 however, we read, "Another topical issue with regard to contemporary antisemitism is the influence of the crisis in the Middle East on both attitudes towards Jews and hostile acts directed against Jews."
This statement comes without qualification or explanation and is therefore contemptible. Such an unqualified statement subtly implies, or yields to the propaganda, that "the crisis in the Middle East" is responsible for anti-Semitic attitudes and hostility and may even therefore ultimately justify them.
It is well known that the situation in the Middle East is regularly used as an excuse for anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. However it should be noted that we are not seeing evidence that Palestinian and Arab Islamist terrorism against Israeli civilians in the Middle East is producing hateful, aggressive, violent and destructive Jews in the EU (and we don't expect to). So to blame "the crisis in the Middle East" is quite unfair and misdirected. As far as the Middle East goes, it is anti-Semitism that is an obstacle to peace, not the other way around.
Likewise, we read in the Executive Summary, "What should not be considered as antisemitic and therefore does not have to be monitored under the heading 'antisemitism' is hostility towards Israel as 'Israel' i.e. as a country that is criticised for its concrete policies."
This is a very delicate area. It is often said that Jews worldwide are hostages to Israeli policies (which are by implication bad). I fear however that the real situation is that Israel is hostage to pervasive and widespread anti-Semitism.
It is this anti-Semitism that denies Israel the right to exist and defend herself. It is this anti-Semitism that will, without making any demands on any Arab leaders, make Israel the Middle East's, and even the world's scapegoat. Through this anti-Semitism Israel is demonised and contempt for her is then used to justify the expression of anti-Semitic attitudes and acts.
Some criticisms of Israeli government policies (standing out as they do against a background of silence regarding Arab policies) are rational and reasonable - most however, are not. They are pure anti-Semitism dressed up in political garb.
------------------------
Serious questions were raised on page 323 under the main heading,
"Proposals for Data Collection and Research".
The report states that there are two separate manifestations of anti-Semitism:
1) "ideological and symbolic antisemitism as represented in political and media discourses, literature and public attitudes towards Jews";
2) "concrete incidents directed against individual Jews or Jewish organisations".
The reports then questions whether these two manifestations are connected or related. The report states that the issue needing to be addressed is "how far these two strands are dependant or independent from each other".
The report then acknowledges that the EUMC report has not examined "the motivations of the perpetrators and the relationship between their acts and antisemitic attitudes and ideology".
The EUMC should certainly be encouraged to examine the ideology and motivations of the perpetrators. They should do this through independent research and analysis, not by seeking statements from Islamic and Arab propagandists. This may however result in another report that will be shelved for its lack of political correctness.
The EUMC might like to start by examining the educational materials used in Islamic schools in the EU, especially Saudi-funded schools, and Saudi-produced and disseminated Islamic educational materials.
The EUMC might also like to examine the virulent anti-Semitism being disseminated through Arab broadcasting and Arab Internet sites (for example, Link 3) including those of Arab Embassies (most of which have links to the Saudi government's Islamic Affairs Department).
Examination should be made of the rabid anti-Semitism preached from many mosques, especially Saudi-funded, Saudi-established mosques through out the EU.
If the EUMC does conduct such research, they might find that a poisonous anti-Semitism is infesting Europe's airwaves, Muslim communities, Islamic schools and media, creating and feeding antisemitic hate and directly and indirectly provoking antisemitic acts.
Antisemitism is a serious issue that requires a serious response. All must have equality before the law.
---------------------
Finally, here is an interesting article on immigration, demographics, the radicalisation of Europe's Muslims and the short-sighted attempts by European leaders to appease them. These things do help explain the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic acts in the EU, especially in states with higher levels of Arab Muslim immigration.
--------------------
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU 2002-2003"
by the EU Monitoring Centre (EUMC) for Xenophobia and Racism.
http://eumc.eu.int/eumc/index.php
2) Report notes rise in anti-Semitism, but blurs question of
responsibility
by Jonathan Fisk, JTA, 12 April 2004
http://www.virtualjerusalem.com/news/lateststories/?disp_feature=5P8lNz.var
3) Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI)
"Former Al-Azhar Fatwa Committee Head Sets Out the Jews' 20 Bad
Traits As Described in the Qur'an" - for an on-line chat room on 22
March 2004.
http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=SD69104
Thursday, April 1, 2004
Anti-Semitism escalating in Canada
Date: Thursday 1 April 2004
Subj: Anti-Semitism escalating in Canada.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
While this report on anti-Semitism is centred around incidents in and material out of Canada, it really pertains to global anti-Semitism which has, in the words of a recent Canadian report, "taken root across the globe".
---------------------------------------------------------
ANTI-SEMITISM ESCALATING IN CANADA
---------------------------------------------------------
Every year since 1982, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada has published the "Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents" which is "a summary and analysis of reported incidents of antisemitic vandalism and harassment." (Link 1)
The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 Introduction states:
The principal causes for concern are four-fold.
* First, it appears that ingrained prejudices based on traditional antisemitic stereotypes are re-surfacing.
* Second, antisemitic messaging is being imported into Canada from abroad, sometimes in the guise of anti-Israel propaganda, but more often in less subtle ways over the Internet or through foreign language ethnic publications.
* Third, there are indications of a cross-pollination between fringe elements in the far Right and in the far Left, which borrow freely from each other's imagery and rhetoric, as well as from the motifs of the rejectionist front of the Arab world.
* Finally, the greatest threat to the security of Jewish community institutions is no longer from the neo-Nazi groups as in the past, but rather from elements linked to international terrorist groups.
---------------------
The Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 was released in mid March 2004, just as a rash of anti-Semitic attacks left Canadians soul-searching. In a 23 March editorial comment in the Globe and Mail entitled "Anti-Semitism's stain" it was reported, "Two weekends in a row of anti-Jewish vandalism in the Toronto area have suddenly brought an age-old hatred into stomach-churning display. The vandalism has confronted the city with the problem of how to deal with a hatred that will not die.
"Vandalism falls short of physical violence, but there is a palpable threat in the sort of sinister graffiti, replete with swastikas, that were spray-painted onto the front doors or cars of 13 Jewish-owned homes, recognizable by the mezuzah, or sacred scroll, affixed to the house. This past weekend, 22 Jewish graves were desecrated, as were a synagogue, a Jewish school and even a clothing-donation box. One Jewish group says the scope of the vandalism suggests a planned campaign."
Also on 23 March, Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com) Faith and Ethics reporter Leslie Scrivener quoted Mark Webber, co-director of the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University, as saying that he believes the threshold of what is acceptable in conversation about Jews and Israel has been lowered. "It's more okay to be anti-Semitic - things that were perhaps thought 10 to 15 years ago are now said and done."
Lowering the bar on what is deemed unacceptable is not only immoral, it is exceedingly dangerous as the Globe and Mail editorial pointed out, "From 'polite' anti-Semitism to the ruder kind is no great distance."
The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 reported the same trend. Not only has the incidence of anti-Semitic attacks doubled in the period between 2001-2003 (and this is estimated to represent around 10% of all cases as most go unreported), but increasingly, anti-Semitism is being tolerated.
Rochelle Wilner, National President of B'nai Brith Canada told Talon News, "[Over] the past few years, the bar has been raised on what victims themselves, as well as society in general, are prepared to tolerate. A process of desensitization, both within and outside the Jewish community, has meant that what was once seen as offensive and unacceptable is now being viewed as less serious and even routine. Visibly orthodox Jews in particular have come to view such harassment as inevitable." (Link 2)
On 23 March the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada released a statement condemning anti-Semitic attacks, and affirming "the dignity of all persons", "the biblical principles to love our neighbour and to affirm justice for all people" and the Biblical calling for Christians to be peacemakers.
--------------------------------
The Audit classifies anti-Semitic acts into three main categories - harassment (anti-Jewish propaganda, abuse and threats of violence), vandalism, and violence.
Violent attacks include that of "a visibly orthodox man who was viciously attacked with a hammer on the way home from synagogue" in Toronto in February 2003. He was not robbed, but he was left with brain injuries. Also in Toronto, in November 2003, "a series of anti-Semitic bullying episodes at a local public school targeting a Jewish student culminated in a physical assault against the victim." In Montreal "a visibly orthodox Jewish woman, returning from
synagogue, was beaten up by four men" in May 2003. Also in Montreal, "an elderly Jewish woman was beaten up in a park by two female teenagers of apparent Arab origin".
In the chapter entitled "The Context", the 2003 Audit details how anti-Semitism is occurring in several contexts, including "Right wing anti-Semitism", "Anti-Semitism of the Left", and "Global
Anti-Semitism", as well as in the media, on campuses, and in academia in general.
RIGHT-WING ANTI-SEMITISM
Canadian right-wing groups are rallying around the Holocaust denier Ernst Zundal, who was deported from USA to Canada in February 2003 and is presently battling with the courts in his efforts to achieve refugee status. The 2003 Audit reports, "Nazi symbolism was the predominant motif of the reported incidents of vandalism/graffiti in 2003." Hate propaganda messages such as "We the Aryan nations. Help rid Canada of the evil influence of the Jews", is disseminated through graffiti, literature and anonymous e-mail.
The Audit also reports that in 2003, there were four reports of "music hatefests" in Canada. "The Toronto Hate Crime Police Unit reports that 'organized hate groups maintained a presence throughout the year with at least three hate rock concerts and other activities.' In the same report, the Toronto police force also notes that 'web-based hate is very popular'.
"The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai Brith has reported that antisemitic and racist rock music is a major recruiting tool and source of funding for hate groups. It is estimated that extremist companies sell millions of dollars of hate rock CD's over the Internet. Canadians can easily purchase these CD's in the same way. Many hate group members have been drawn to White Supremacist ideologies by listening to hate rock on the Internet, on CD's and at concerts featuring groups such as Angry Aryans, Blue Eyed Devils and H8Machine, as well as the Canadian group Numbskulls.
"Web message boards run by neo-Nazi or White Supremacist groups, such as stormfront.org and its Canadian link, appear to be widely used, providing a key source of communication and recruitment."
The report concludes, "It is clear that extreme right wing groups are becoming more devious in their efforts to recruit widely and infiltrate popular culture. They take advantage of Canada's democratic traditions of free speech and expression, at the same time as they attempt to find new ways of skirting the law."
LEFT-WING ANTI-SEMITISM
The Audit reports that "anti-Jewish rhetoric [is] increasingly emanating from the far left. This trend points to a progressively radicalized anti-globalist movement joining forces with Marxist, anti-American, and anarchist elements to vilify the Jews as the root of all the world's problems.
"Evidence of this new breed of antisemitism is reflected in the findings, discussed earlier, of the European Union-commissioned report "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU" (link 3), which blamed the upsurge in anti-Jewish acts on European Muslims and the European far left. So disturbing were the EU's findings that its Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia allegedly shelved the report when it found that Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups were implicated in many of the incidents.
"It should also be noted that the EU report documented high occurrences of extreme left-wing elements employing media and antisemitic stereotyping in their criticism of Israel to get their
antisemitic message across."
THE LEFT-RIGHT ALLIANCE
The 2003 Audit examines "the convergence between historically left wing and right wing opponents", made possible by their common hatred of Jews. This is illustrated with several examples. One trend noted is for anti-globalisation rallies to have "Palestinian flags flown alongside Marxist flags, as well as Israeli flags superimposed with swastikas. At these same rallies protesters carried coffins, which displayed photographs of U.S. President George W. Bush, and/or Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and/or that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. . Thus, seemingly disparate agendas fused into one seamless anti-Israel and anti-Jewish message."
Jim Hauser, reported on the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 for Talon News. His article, entitled "Anti-Semitism on Rise in Canada" provides an excellent overview and analysis. (Link 2)
Hauser reports that the annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents "indicates several disturbing trends including an increase in the number of 'hate rock concerts' featuring musicians espousing Nazi principles, an increase in incidents perpetrated by Canadians of Mid-East decent against Jewish citizens, and the apparent alliance between Nazi and Mid-Eastern groups in instigating orchestrated actions against Jews."
The EU report, "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU", also noted this contemporary Nazi-Arab alliance, commenting, "Since the end of the 1990s there has been a dramatic increase in the number of homepages present on the web from far-right groups and parties, which quite often also have ties to radical Islamic fundamentalists." (p 9)
The EU report also notes "Holocaust denial" thought, that plays a central role in European right-wing extremism and propaganda, becomes employable ideologically for radical Islamist groups in their struggle against Israel. "Here a learning process has taken place in which 'revisionist' thought has been adopted by some people in the Arab world." (p10)
Of course there is nothing new about the concept of a Nazi-Arab alliance. Nothing unites xenophobic white supremacists and Arab Islamists like their shared rabid hated of Jews. This of course was most eloquently depicted by the co-operative relationship between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini (who was on the Nazi pay-role) and Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust.
GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM
Concerning Global Anti-Semitism the Audit comments, "The increasing instances of antisemitism worldwide do not occur in a vacuum, and are part and parcel of the prevailing global atmosphere that allows for such poisoned sentiment to take root.
"Today's antisemitism, characterized by its global resurgence, has spilled over into the social, political and cultural arenas of the world's nations. No longer merely a European phenomenon, antisemitism has, sadly, taken root across the globe."
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/league/league.htm
2) Anti-Semitism on Rise in Canada
By Jim Hauser, Talon News, 17 March 2004
http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/march/0317_canada_antisemitism.shtml
3) Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union
First Semester 2002
Synthesis Report
Draft 20 February 2003
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasite/images/iht_daily/D281103/eu_anti_semitism_report.rtf
Subj: Anti-Semitism escalating in Canada.
To: World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty News & Analysis
From: WEA RLC Principal Researcher and Writer, Elizabeth Kendal
While this report on anti-Semitism is centred around incidents in and material out of Canada, it really pertains to global anti-Semitism which has, in the words of a recent Canadian report, "taken root across the globe".
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ANTI-SEMITISM ESCALATING IN CANADA
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Every year since 1982, the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada has published the "Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents" which is "a summary and analysis of reported incidents of antisemitic vandalism and harassment." (Link 1)
The Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 Introduction states:
The principal causes for concern are four-fold.
* First, it appears that ingrained prejudices based on traditional antisemitic stereotypes are re-surfacing.
* Second, antisemitic messaging is being imported into Canada from abroad, sometimes in the guise of anti-Israel propaganda, but more often in less subtle ways over the Internet or through foreign language ethnic publications.
* Third, there are indications of a cross-pollination between fringe elements in the far Right and in the far Left, which borrow freely from each other's imagery and rhetoric, as well as from the motifs of the rejectionist front of the Arab world.
* Finally, the greatest threat to the security of Jewish community institutions is no longer from the neo-Nazi groups as in the past, but rather from elements linked to international terrorist groups.
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The Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 was released in mid March 2004, just as a rash of anti-Semitic attacks left Canadians soul-searching. In a 23 March editorial comment in the Globe and Mail entitled "Anti-Semitism's stain" it was reported, "Two weekends in a row of anti-Jewish vandalism in the Toronto area have suddenly brought an age-old hatred into stomach-churning display. The vandalism has confronted the city with the problem of how to deal with a hatred that will not die.
"Vandalism falls short of physical violence, but there is a palpable threat in the sort of sinister graffiti, replete with swastikas, that were spray-painted onto the front doors or cars of 13 Jewish-owned homes, recognizable by the mezuzah, or sacred scroll, affixed to the house. This past weekend, 22 Jewish graves were desecrated, as were a synagogue, a Jewish school and even a clothing-donation box. One Jewish group says the scope of the vandalism suggests a planned campaign."
Also on 23 March, Toronto Star (http://www.thestar.com) Faith and Ethics reporter Leslie Scrivener quoted Mark Webber, co-director of the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies at York University, as saying that he believes the threshold of what is acceptable in conversation about Jews and Israel has been lowered. "It's more okay to be anti-Semitic - things that were perhaps thought 10 to 15 years ago are now said and done."
Lowering the bar on what is deemed unacceptable is not only immoral, it is exceedingly dangerous as the Globe and Mail editorial pointed out, "From 'polite' anti-Semitism to the ruder kind is no great distance."
The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 reported the same trend. Not only has the incidence of anti-Semitic attacks doubled in the period between 2001-2003 (and this is estimated to represent around 10% of all cases as most go unreported), but increasingly, anti-Semitism is being tolerated.
Rochelle Wilner, National President of B'nai Brith Canada told Talon News, "[Over] the past few years, the bar has been raised on what victims themselves, as well as society in general, are prepared to tolerate. A process of desensitization, both within and outside the Jewish community, has meant that what was once seen as offensive and unacceptable is now being viewed as less serious and even routine. Visibly orthodox Jews in particular have come to view such harassment as inevitable." (Link 2)
On 23 March the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada released a statement condemning anti-Semitic attacks, and affirming "the dignity of all persons", "the biblical principles to love our neighbour and to affirm justice for all people" and the Biblical calling for Christians to be peacemakers.
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The Audit classifies anti-Semitic acts into three main categories - harassment (anti-Jewish propaganda, abuse and threats of violence), vandalism, and violence.
Violent attacks include that of "a visibly orthodox man who was viciously attacked with a hammer on the way home from synagogue" in Toronto in February 2003. He was not robbed, but he was left with brain injuries. Also in Toronto, in November 2003, "a series of anti-Semitic bullying episodes at a local public school targeting a Jewish student culminated in a physical assault against the victim." In Montreal "a visibly orthodox Jewish woman, returning from
synagogue, was beaten up by four men" in May 2003. Also in Montreal, "an elderly Jewish woman was beaten up in a park by two female teenagers of apparent Arab origin".
In the chapter entitled "The Context", the 2003 Audit details how anti-Semitism is occurring in several contexts, including "Right wing anti-Semitism", "Anti-Semitism of the Left", and "Global
Anti-Semitism", as well as in the media, on campuses, and in academia in general.
RIGHT-WING ANTI-SEMITISM
Canadian right-wing groups are rallying around the Holocaust denier Ernst Zundal, who was deported from USA to Canada in February 2003 and is presently battling with the courts in his efforts to achieve refugee status. The 2003 Audit reports, "Nazi symbolism was the predominant motif of the reported incidents of vandalism/graffiti in 2003." Hate propaganda messages such as "We the Aryan nations. Help rid Canada of the evil influence of the Jews", is disseminated through graffiti, literature and anonymous e-mail.
The Audit also reports that in 2003, there were four reports of "music hatefests" in Canada. "The Toronto Hate Crime Police Unit reports that 'organized hate groups maintained a presence throughout the year with at least three hate rock concerts and other activities.' In the same report, the Toronto police force also notes that 'web-based hate is very popular'.
"The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) of B'nai Brith has reported that antisemitic and racist rock music is a major recruiting tool and source of funding for hate groups. It is estimated that extremist companies sell millions of dollars of hate rock CD's over the Internet. Canadians can easily purchase these CD's in the same way. Many hate group members have been drawn to White Supremacist ideologies by listening to hate rock on the Internet, on CD's and at concerts featuring groups such as Angry Aryans, Blue Eyed Devils and H8Machine, as well as the Canadian group Numbskulls.
"Web message boards run by neo-Nazi or White Supremacist groups, such as stormfront.org and its Canadian link, appear to be widely used, providing a key source of communication and recruitment."
The report concludes, "It is clear that extreme right wing groups are becoming more devious in their efforts to recruit widely and infiltrate popular culture. They take advantage of Canada's democratic traditions of free speech and expression, at the same time as they attempt to find new ways of skirting the law."
LEFT-WING ANTI-SEMITISM
The Audit reports that "anti-Jewish rhetoric [is] increasingly emanating from the far left. This trend points to a progressively radicalized anti-globalist movement joining forces with Marxist, anti-American, and anarchist elements to vilify the Jews as the root of all the world's problems.
"Evidence of this new breed of antisemitism is reflected in the findings, discussed earlier, of the European Union-commissioned report "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU" (link 3), which blamed the upsurge in anti-Jewish acts on European Muslims and the European far left. So disturbing were the EU's findings that its Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia allegedly shelved the report when it found that Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups were implicated in many of the incidents.
"It should also be noted that the EU report documented high occurrences of extreme left-wing elements employing media and antisemitic stereotyping in their criticism of Israel to get their
antisemitic message across."
THE LEFT-RIGHT ALLIANCE
The 2003 Audit examines "the convergence between historically left wing and right wing opponents", made possible by their common hatred of Jews. This is illustrated with several examples. One trend noted is for anti-globalisation rallies to have "Palestinian flags flown alongside Marxist flags, as well as Israeli flags superimposed with swastikas. At these same rallies protesters carried coffins, which displayed photographs of U.S. President George W. Bush, and/or Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, and/or that of British Prime Minister Tony Blair. . Thus, seemingly disparate agendas fused into one seamless anti-Israel and anti-Jewish message."
Jim Hauser, reported on the League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada Annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents 2003 for Talon News. His article, entitled "Anti-Semitism on Rise in Canada" provides an excellent overview and analysis. (Link 2)
Hauser reports that the annual Audit of Antisemitic Incidents "indicates several disturbing trends including an increase in the number of 'hate rock concerts' featuring musicians espousing Nazi principles, an increase in incidents perpetrated by Canadians of Mid-East decent against Jewish citizens, and the apparent alliance between Nazi and Mid-Eastern groups in instigating orchestrated actions against Jews."
The EU report, "Manifestations of Antisemitism in the EU", also noted this contemporary Nazi-Arab alliance, commenting, "Since the end of the 1990s there has been a dramatic increase in the number of homepages present on the web from far-right groups and parties, which quite often also have ties to radical Islamic fundamentalists." (p 9)
The EU report also notes "Holocaust denial" thought, that plays a central role in European right-wing extremism and propaganda, becomes employable ideologically for radical Islamist groups in their struggle against Israel. "Here a learning process has taken place in which 'revisionist' thought has been adopted by some people in the Arab world." (p10)
Of course there is nothing new about the concept of a Nazi-Arab alliance. Nothing unites xenophobic white supremacists and Arab Islamists like their shared rabid hated of Jews. This of course was most eloquently depicted by the co-operative relationship between the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin Al-Husseini (who was on the Nazi pay-role) and Adolf Hitler during the Holocaust.
GLOBAL ANTI-SEMITISM
Concerning Global Anti-Semitism the Audit comments, "The increasing instances of antisemitism worldwide do not occur in a vacuum, and are part and parcel of the prevailing global atmosphere that allows for such poisoned sentiment to take root.
"Today's antisemitism, characterized by its global resurgence, has spilled over into the social, political and cultural arenas of the world's nations. No longer merely a European phenomenon, antisemitism has, sadly, taken root across the globe."
- Elizabeth Kendal
Links
1) The League for Human Rights of B'nai Brith Canada
http://www.bnaibrith.ca/league/league.htm
2) Anti-Semitism on Rise in Canada
By Jim Hauser, Talon News, 17 March 2004
http://www.talonnews.com/news/2004/march/0317_canada_antisemitism.shtml
3) Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union
First Semester 2002
Synthesis Report
Draft 20 February 2003
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasite/images/iht_daily/D281103/eu_anti_semitism_report.rtf