Comments (0)Moldovan Christians Tear Down Public Menorah
December 17, 2009Budapest
JTA Wire Service
Some 200 fundamentalist Orthodox Christians in Moldova took down a public Chanukah menorah and planted a wooden cross in its place.
News footage showed a bearded priest leading the group in chanting anti-Semitic slogans during Sunday’s incident. The menorah had been installed by the Jewish community in the Moldovan capital, Chisinau.
The group removed the large, metal menorah, which had been set up on downtown Europe Square, and placed it upside down on Stefan cel Mare Square, at the base of a statue of King Stephen the Great. Neither police nor onlookers intervened.
“The Jews can try to kill us, to traumatize our children,” but Moldovan Orthodox believers will resist, the priest said, speaking into a sound system. Moldova, he said, was an Orthodox country, and the Jewish people are trying to “dominate people.” Allowing the menorah to be set up had been “a sacrilege, an indulgence of state power today,” he said.
Justice Minister Alexandru Tanese condemned the incident. The Orthodox Metropolitan promised to investigate and take action, according to reports.
Incitement to racial and religious hatred in Moldova is subject to a fine or imprisonment of up to three years.
“It’s a despicable act. We hope the government will take appropriate action against the perpetrators,” said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, an advocacy group for Jews in the former Soviet Union. “This is obviously something that should never have been allowed to happen.”
In neighboring Romania, the Center for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism issued a statement urging authorities to take “immediate measures” against the perpetrators.
“Such an act committed by a priest with the Orthodox Church is totally inconceivable, and it takes us back to the days when the local population, if it did not participate, witnessed with indifference the crimes committed against the Jews,” the center’s statement said.
“The Moldovan government and the Orthodox Church must punish the perpetrators of this despicable anti-Semitic crime and send a clear signal to Moldovan society and to the Jewish community that the government and the church will not tolerate anti-Semitism,” said Abraham H. Foxman,National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.
In a letter to Nicolae Chirtoaca, Moldova’s Ambassador to the United States, ADL called on his government “to apprehend and punish the perpetrators of this anti-Semitic crime.” The ADL letter said it was particularly shocked at reports that 15 to 20 police officers were at the site during the protest, but did little to intervene.
Spanish Soccer Fans Shout Anti-Semitic Slurs
Fans shouted anti-Semitic taunts at an Israeli goalkeeper for a Spanish soccer team.
Real Mallorca’s Dudu Aouate was harassed by fans of Club Atletico Osasuna sitting behind the goal during a match Sunday in Pamplona, according to reports.
“From the 14th minute and on five other occasions in the first half, [anti-Semitic] chants ... were directed at the visiting goalkeeper by the home fans behind the goal, every time he touched the ball,” referee Alfonso Alvarez Izquierdo said in his match report.
Fans were warned over the stadium public address system to stop the chants, and they ceased during the second half, Reuters reported.
The Osasuna fans also waved Palestinian flags and shouted “murderer” at Aouate.
“This happens to me every time I play here in Pamplona,” Aouate told the local media, according to the World Jewish Congress. “It really makes me happy that we won.”
Brazilian Teachers to Study Shoah
A group of Brazilian public school teachers will travel to Israel to learn about the Holocaust.
Some 15 non-Jewish teachers from Brazilian public schools will join educators from Jewish schools and B’nai B’rith next month for a course at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
For the first time, the course will be taught entirely in Portuguese and will look at the history of the Holocaust, intolerance, human rights and respect for minorities.
On Dec. 6, participants gathered at the Jewish Cultural Center in Sao Paulo for an immersion session with Holocaust survivors, organizers of the March of the Living and a Yad Vashem director. The course in Israel is set to begin Jan. 7.
According to a 2001 public opinion poll conducted by the local opinion-research organization IBOPE and the American Jewish Committee, some 89 percent of Brazilians are unfamiliar with the Holocaust, including 12 percent who gave wrong answers and another 77 percent who answered “I don’t know.”
Rabbi Attacked at Vienna Menorah Lighting
A Chabad rabbi was attacked after presiding over a public Chanukah menorah lighting in Vienna.
The assailant who punched Rabbi Dov Gruzman and bit off part of the rabbi’s finger following the lighting Saturday night in Stephansplatz Square was Muslim, according to reports.
Gruzman, principal of the Lauder Chabad High School in Vienna, underwent a partial amputation of his finger, Chabad.org reported.
More than 1,000 people were in attendance at the menorah lighting.
Security has been increased at public menorah lightings in the city, according to Chabad.org.
This story reprinted courtesy of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.