…The substance is drearily familiar, though it is particularly gratuitous. It is (yawn) an “Israel-Apartheid” story, and it pegs off moves by the Israeli authorities to take the completely reasonable step of introducing extra Palestinian buses to ferry Palestinian workers into Israel from the West Bank.

There are two reasons for the move. First, there’s the obvious security issue: there is a dreadful history of Palestinian suicide bombing on Israeli buses. Israelis are understandably afraid, especially in the context of mass incitement by the Palestinian Authority, and would rather Palestinians took their trips to Israel on their own buses. (Are you absolutely sure you wouldn’t feel the same way?)

The second reason, which explains why Israel has made its move now, is that due to more generous arrangements for the Palestinians, Israel is now granting more work permits. More workers, more buses. More Palestinian workers, more buses for Palestinians. Not one of life’s great mysteries… unless you smell a conspiracy.

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Researchers at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum have discovered the scale of the Holocaust is more extensive than previously known, the New York Times reports.

Over the past 13 years all the Nazi ghettos, slave labour sites, concentration camps and killing factories have been catalogued and found to number an astonishing 42,500, the newspaper reports. The sites spanned Nazi-controlled areas from France to Russia and Germany from 1933 to 1945.

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The core characteristic of anti-Semitism is the assertion that everything the Jews do is wrong, and everything that is wrong is done by the Jews.  For the anti-Semite every rich Jew is exploitive, every poor Jew a burden on society.  For the anti-Semite, both capitalism and communism are Jewish plots.  For the anti-Semite, Jews are both too docile, allowing themselves to be led to the slaughter like sheep, and too militant, having won too many wars against the Arabs.   For the anti-Semite, Jews are too liberal and too conservative, too artsy and too bourgeois, too stingy and too charitable, too insular and too cosmopolitan, too moralistic and too conniving.

To the anti-Semite, every depression, war, social problem, plague must have been the fault of the Jews…

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Prime Minister John Key shared tales of his Jewish mother’s escape from Nazi-controlled Austria at the United Holocaust Memorial Day event this morning.

Mr Key addressed a crowd of about 200 people, which included Holocaust survivors, politicians and Israel’s Ambassador to New Zealand, Shemi Tzur, in Auckland.

His mother, born in Vienna, Austria, moved to the United Kingdom in 1938…

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Richard Prosser, MP

Friday, 15 February 2013, 8:31 am
Press Release: Wellington Council of Christians and Jews

Media Release
Wellington Council of Christians and Jews

Christians and Jews Condemn Prosser’s Statements

14 February 2013
Wellington

The Wellington Council of Christians and Jews today formally denounced the statements made by New Zealand First MP Richard Prosser in his recent article in Investigate magazine.

Christian Co-Chair Reverend Jenny Chalmers said, “We are astounded that a New Zealand magazine would publish such bigoted nonsense. Mr Prosser’s writing could influence and incite hatred based on a person’s appearance or religious adherence. Not only is that morally wrong, it places in jeopardy the freedoms that we New Zealanders, including over 50,000 Muslims, cherish.”

Jewish Co-Chair Dave Moskovitz added, “We would like to invite Mr Prosser to visit the Wellington Islamic Centre with us to meet some real Muslims, and dispel his stereotypes. If he wants to make further comment after that, so be it, but it would be after having had a chance to meet some of the good citizens that are affected by his writing.”

ENDS

Jews marching in Marseille

Following the release of a report that shows acts of Antisemitism in France jumping dramatically in 2012, we thought we would bring you this remarkable article which gives a perspective on French culture and its relationship with Jews:

Taken aback, my Jewish friend and I both looked at each other,…

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France saw an increase of 58 percent in anti-Semitic incidents in 2012 compared to the previous year, according to a report released Tuesday by the SPCJ, the security unit of France’s Jewish communities.

The report showed that 614 anti-Semitic acts were documented in the country last year compared to 389 in 2011.

Incidents in which the victims were accosted physically or verbally on the street increased 82 percent, to 315 last year from 177 cases in 2011, SPCJ said. A fourth of the 96 physical anti-Semitic assaults involved a weapon.

The head of France’s CRIF Jewish representative group, Richard Prasquier, said…

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Sally Sara, ABC

Now, to the unfolding case of Ben Zygier, the 34-year-old Australian man accused of being a spy who died in mysterious circumstances in an Israeli jail in 2010.

Theories are starting to emerge about why Israel arrested him and held him in such secrecy. One is that he was about to expose Israel’s use of Australian passports.

That’s an issue that New Zealand authorities know all about after their own Israeli intelligence scandal several years ago.

But the response of the New Zealand government to Israel stands in stark contrast to Australia’s approach.

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The level of anti-Semitic incidents occurring in the United Kingdom rose slightly in 2012, with 640 attacks, up from 608 in 2011.

While there has been some debate over the numbers – with some critics alleging that certain incidents were counted twice – Jewish leaders have been watchful.

However, speaking with The Jerusalem Post on Thursday, , president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the primary body representing that country’s Jewish community, said he did not believe the security situation was as bad as some made it out to be.

“It’s not drastic,” he said. “We are not in crisis, but the situation needs watching.”

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In a letter to the editor of the Miami Herald, Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said that one of the leading candidates to replace Pope Benedict XVI is an anti-Semite.

Responding to a list published last week after the resignation of Benedict, which identified Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga of Honduras as a possible successor to the current pope, Dershowitz wrote, “He has blamed the Jews for the scandal surrounding the sexual misconduct of priests toward young parishioners!

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