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Comments (0)Critics of a caricature in Cologne showing a Jew preparing to eat a Palestinian child, with a glass of blood to wash it down, are pressing for charges against the artist.
The critics want Walter Hermann to be prosecuted for inciting anti-Semitism, but the city prosecutor so far says no.
The cartoon was visible as part of an enlarged photo of an anti-Israel demonstration. Until recently it was on display as part of a “Wailing Wall exhibit” in the center of town by Hermann, but it has been removed from Cologne’s Cathedral Square.
Following a public uproar and charges filed against him in court, Hermann has distanced himself from his own work.
The Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger online newspaper reported Tuesday that Hermann said he “didn’t agree with the message of the cartoon” and in fact dissociated himself from it “because it can be perceived as anti-Semitic.” The artist said he only wanted his installation to arouse discussion about Israel’s policies.
Hermann suggested, however, that Israel itself was to blame for anti-Semitism and should “avoid actions that can revive deep-seated, anti-Jewish sentiment.”
The chief prosecutor rejected charges of incitement to hate brought by non-Jewish citizens and will consider only a charge by the Society for Christian-Jewish Cooperation, according to the Koelner Stadt-Anzeiger. Only complaints by the group affected—in this case, Jews or Jewish groups—may be considered in a charge of incitement to hate.
The failure to bring charges has been roundly criticized.
EU Court: No Tariff Breaks for West Bank Goods
The European Union’s high court has ruled that Israeli goods produced in the West Bank cannot receive EU tariff breaks.
The decision handed down Thursday by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice drew a legal distinction between Israel and areas located over the Green Line, according to the French news agency AFP.
The case before the court dealt with the German company Brita, which wanted to import drink makers and syrups from Soda-Club, which is based in the West Bank near Jerusalem. A German court had refused to extend EU trade privileges to the goods.
The EU court upheld the German court decision.
The ruling said that “Products originating in the West Bank do not fall within the territorial scope of the European Community-Israel agreement and do not therefore qualify for preferential treatment under that agreement.”
Israel’s Foreign Ministry has not yet commented on the ruling.
Vandalism of Rome Holocaust Memorial is Condemned
Civic and Jewish leaders condemned the defacing of a recently inaugurated Holocaust memorial in Rome.
Over the weekend, vandals covered with black paint a set of “stumbling stones” that had been placed in front of the house of a Jewish family that had been deported to Auschwitz during the Holocaust.
The Stumbling Stones—or Stolpersteine—memorial project was begun in the 1990s by the German artist Gunter Demnig. Brass plates, like cobblestones, are placed in front of the houses of a deportee with the name, year of birth and fate of the person memorialized. About 20,000 such stones have been placed in several countries.
The first ones in Rome were unveiled this year on Holocaust Remembrance Day at the end of January.
Rome Province President Nicola Zingaretti called the vandalism a “horrible action” and, along with Rome’s mayor and other officials, expressed solidarity with the Jewish community.