Comments (0)Europe’s Far-Right Parties Form Alliance
October 29, 2009Budapest
JTA Wire Service
The main radical national movements of the European Union formed a political alliance.
Gabor Vona, the leader of Hungary’s far-right Jobbik Party, made the announcement Saturday in Budapest.
The Alliance of European Nationalist Movements will be registered either in Brussels or Luxembourg, Vona said during weekend celebrations honoring the anniversary of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution against Soviet rule.
Along with Jobbik, the group’s founding members are the National Front of Belgium, the National Democratic Party of Sweden, the French Front National and the Italian Fiamma Tricolore. Negotiations were progressing with several other prospective members, Vona said, including parties in Austria, Britain, Spain and Portugal.
A nine-point declaration signed by the founders rejects any initiative in support of a federal Europe. It also calls for protection against “religious, political, economic or financial imperialism.”
The far-right parties have made substantial gains in recent European elections by exploiting the rise of anti-Semitism in a climate of economic insecurity generated by the recession.
Jobbik activists were highly visible at many Hungarian celebrations marking the failed revolution, donning the uniforms of the banned paramilitary National Guard and the recently formed Guard Gendarmerie. Both organizations are modeled on military forces that murdered thousands of Jews during World War II.
Report: European Lawyers to Sue Israeli Officers
Human-rights lawyers in Europe are preparing to file lawsuits against Israeli officers based on actions from the Gaza war, an Israeli newspaper reported.
The lawyers in Britain and other countries have collected the names of Israel Defense Forces personnel that Gaza Palestinians have accused of committing war crimes during last winter’s operation, according to Ha’aretz. The lawyers have assembled the testimonies of the Gazans in preparation for filing the suits in their names.
Legislation enables arrest warrants to be issued against the officers if they enter the specific countries. In addition to Britain, other countries with lawyers collecting the information include the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium and Norway.
Attorney Daniel Makover of London told Ha’aretz that the Goldstone report will assist the lawyers in their work.
The newspaper reported that several human rights groups are working to create a network to keep tabs on the officers and seek warrants for their arrest.
An unofficial network of attorneys and pro-Palestinian activists is following Jewish and pro-Israel groups to determine when one invites an Israeli officer to speak. If the officer arrives in a country in which a warrant has been issued, he can be detained and potentially held over for trial, Ha’aretz reported.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry responded by saying that “The ministry is aware of efforts undertaken by Palestinian groups and their supporters to harm IDF officers through legal and public relations means, and is working to prevent such efforts.”
Alleged Nazi Zentai Arrested
An alleged Nazi war criminal living in Australia was taken into police custody.
Charles (Karoly) Zentai, 88, was arrested Thursday by police in Perth following the expiration of a two-week stay granted by the Federal Court.
The federal government will decide whether or not to uphold the court’s view that Zentai is eligible for extradition to his native Hungary.
Zentai is accused of helping murder an 18-year-old Jewish boy, Peter Balasz, in Budapest in November 1944 for allegedly not wearing the mandatory yellow Star of David.
Zentai has vehemently denied the charges, claiming he left the Hungarian capital the day before Balasz’s death, since an arrest warrant was issued in 2005 after he was flushed out by the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Operation Last Chance.
The center’s Jerusalem director, Ephraim Zuroff, has led the campaign against Zentai, whom he accuses of trying to elude justice.
“In a case like this when the person is not young, every day that goes by only brings that person a day closer to eluding justice,” Zuroff told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.