Comments (0)Austrian Hotel Refuses Jewish Family
May 12, 2009Rome
JTA Wire Service
An Austrian hotel reportedly refused to accept a Jewish family as guests.
According to the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung, the owner of the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus in the Austrian Tyrol told a Viennese Jewish family it did not take Jewish guests, citing “bad experiences” in the past.
The Serfaus region has become so popular with Orthodox Jewish vacationers in recent years that some local hotels have koshered their kitchens and provide timed lights and other accessories for Shabbat observance.
Local officials branded the refusal as “unacceptable.” The incident shocked the local tourist industry and made headlines around the world.
Meanwhile, Austrian and Italian media reported that on Saturday, a group of neo-Nazis wearing hoods and giving the Nazi salute disrupted a ceremony marking the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Ebensee annex of the Nazi Mauthausen concentration camp. The main ceremony at Mauthausen itself went off without disruption.
Group Asks Toronto Mayor to Prevent Play
B’nai Brith Canada has asked Toronto’s mayor to “use his good offices” to prevent the staging of a controversial play at a city-owned theater.
The Jewish human rights group says “Seven Jewish Children” by British playwright Caryl Churchill is “blatantly propagandist” and “aimed at delegitimizing not only Israel but its Jewish supporters worldwide.”
The 10-minute play is scheduled to run May 15-17 at the Theatre Passe Muraille, which the city saved from closing two years ago by purchasing the property for $1.2 million.
“The City of Toronto should not allow a venue that it funds to be the staging ground for a divisive play that promotes anti-Jewish hatred,” Frank Dimant, the organization’s executive vice president, said in a statement. “As its name denotes, ‘Seven Jewish Children’ does not even pretend to target Israel exclusively. It is clearly aimed at maligning Jews, depicting them as oppressors of Palestinians, blood-thirsty aggressors and child killers. It disturbingly inverts history, using Holocaust imagery to allege that the Jews, once the victims, are actively teaching their own children callous disregard for the suffering of others.”
B’nai Brith Canada called on Mayor David Miller to ensure “that our tax dollars are not inadvertently being used for the promotion of a play whose thrust is anti-Semitic.”
Miller told the Toronto Star yesterday he doesn’t have the power to scrap the play.
“We own the building, but we don’t determine what theater groups in this city play, nor should we,” he said. “I haven’t seen B’nai Brith’s complaint. I prefer to comment after I’ve seen it.”
In a statement, the theater company’s artistic director, Chris Abraham, said he understands “the provocative nature” of the play but hopes audiences “will have the opportunity to form their own significant and meaningful responses to this challenging work.”
The play has already generated controversy in Britain and in Australia. It had three sold-out performances in Montreal last Sunday, but while the Quebec Jewish Congress denounced the play in advance, it said there would be no attempt to stop the play from being staged.
European Rabbis Boycott Religious Conference
A European rabbinical group is boycotting a gathering of religious leaders in Brussels to protest the involvement of Islamist organizations.
The Conference of European Rabbis did not send any representatives to the annual conference, which is Monday. It marked the first time that Jewish leaders declined to attend.
The conference is being hosted by the presidents of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
“We do not consider it appropriate that organizations such as the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe, or individuals who in the past made, or endorsed, anti-Semitic statements and who are clearly linked to the radical Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood should be present at such gatherings,” said Rabbi Aba Duner, the conference’s executive director.
European officials were disappointed by the rabbinical group’s decision, according to the Jerusalem Post.
European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said the global financial crisis makes this “a time for unity and not for isolation.”
The World Jewish Congress endorsed the decision not to attend.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.