June 14, 2014

Jim Keegstra, Holocaust denier who took hate speech battle to Supreme Court, dead at 80

Jim Keegstra, who has died aged 80, was a Holocaust denying high school teacher, mechanic, and mayor of Eckville, Alta., whose prosecution for the wilful promotion of hatred went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the controversial law was upheld as a fair limit on free speech.

He died June 2, and his funeral was last Friday in Red Deer, where he worked for many years as the custodian of an apartment building. The cause was an enlarged heart after a prolonged illness, according to his son, Darren Keegstra.

Fixated on the anti-Semitic forgery, the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion, Mr. Keegstra denigrated Jews to his students in the 1980s.

“I got onto this through the scripture,” he told the journalist Robert Mason Lee in 1985. “Here was a people who denied everything about Christ, yet they were called the chosen people. That is a contradiction.”

more: http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06/13/jim-keegstra-holocaust-denier-who-took-hate-speech-battle-to-supreme-court-dead-at-80/

June 5, 2014

Seven-Year-Old Boy Launches Anti-Bully Club To Repent For His Days As A “Former Bully”

A seven-year-old boy in Beaumont, CA is employing a bit of “positive peer pressure” to help his classmates understand the damaging effects of adolescent bullying.

Cameron Thompson, a second-grader at Tournament Hills Elementary school, recently found himself in hot water after making fun of another boy for bringing a Barbie doll to school for show-and-tell. “I didn’t really mean to tease him so much that I made him cry,” Cameron told Today.

His punishment was to write an apology letter to his classmate, but according to his mother, Cameron’s guilt didn’t fade over the following weeks. “He came to me a couple of weeks later and he said, ‘I still feel really bad about what I did to him,’” Cameron’s mother Jessica Southard recalls. “He said, ‘How do I get that feeling to go away?’”

To help others learn from his mistakes, Cameron and his mother joined forces with the boy Cameron bullied to form an “anti-bully club,” which drew a whopping 76 kids in to its first meeting, far exceeding the school’s expectations. “Since I was sad, I thought I could make it up to him and he could feel better and I could feel better too,” Cameron said.

more: http://www.queerty.com/seven-year-old-boy-launches-anti-bully-club-to-repent-for-his-days-as-a-former-bully-20140605

June 5, 2014

Anti-Semitism: Not a Threat to American Jews

There are plenty of things for American Jews to worry about, but anti-Semitism is not one of them.

Anti-Semitism is not a threat to the security and well-being of the Jews of America.
This is not to deny the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe or the explosion of Jew hatred—often disguised as anti-Zionism—in much of the Muslim world. The reappearance of these murderous lunacies in certain regions of the world is a solemn reminder that anti-Semitism never disappears from the human heart.

Nonetheless, a little perspective is in order. The just-released study by the Anti-Defamation League on global anti-Semitism, which suggests that one-quarter of the world’s population is anti-Semitic, argues that 21 million Americans can reasonably be classified anti-Semites. This has caused much dismay among some American Jews. Twenty-one million may be fewer than 10% of all Americans, but it is still a very large number.

Nonetheless, I am counted among those who see no cause for alarm. It is important to remember that the ADL survey is an attempt to measure anti-Semitic attitudes, which are notoriously difficult to gauge; and it does so using methodologies that are much in dispute. What it does not do is measure anti-Semitic behaviors, which are a reasonably objective matter and the means by which Jews traditionally determine their progress in gaining full acceptance in America.

more: http://time.com/2798435/anti-semitism-not-a-threat-to-american-jews/

[hr]

I call "bullshit!" It may not be at the level of Europe, but to pretend, and that what this is, that we shouldn't be concerned is naïve at best and flat-out suicidally stupid at worst. There are no train carts on the rails, but to act as if there isn't a problem worth concern is myopic. I find it interesting the Rebbe doesn't mention the shooting at the Jewish Centers in Kansas. According to FBI stats, 'attacks' against Jews are higher than other groups, and a few years, higher than all other groups combined!

He says:

But these are not the things that make anti-Semitism a real danger; it becomes truly ominous only when those in authority sanction anti-Semitism or choose to remain silent and look the other way. And that does not happen in America.

BULLSHIT! "Kill the Jew" in Chicago based on a video game (one day suspension for the students involved); The "Is the Holocaust a Hoax?" in California and Massachusetts; "Getting Jewed" as stated by an Oklahoma legislator and the list goes on and on. It starts at the ground-level, just like every other movement, not top down as the Rabbi seems to suggest.

June 5, 2014

D-Day: A German Jew survives the Holocaust to fight the Nazis

His is a different war story, one of survival long before he got into World War II.

Henry Hirschmann was born a Jew in Grossauheim, Germany, in 1920, shortly after the end of World War I. Germany’s economy was in shambles and Hitler used his country’s vulnerabilities to rise to power in 1933.

“For the first few years, I didn’t feel the impact of his dictatorship,” said Hirschmann, now 93. “Then on Nov. 9 in 1938, I experienced one of the worst events of my life.”

It was called Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass – the night of Nazi violence that signaled the beginning of the Holocaust. The Nazis torched 200 synagogues, ransacked 7,500 Jewish-owned businesses and murdered scores of German and Austrian Jews. They rounded up 70,000 more Jews – mostly men – for the concentration camps.

They sent Hirschmann to Buchenwald, one of Germany’s first and largest concentration camps. But with sponsorship from an aunt and uncle in New York, they released him after six months.

He arrived in the Bronx in May 1939, four months before Hitler’s army invaded Poland, starting World War II. After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, drawing America into the war, he ached to join the U.S. Army so he could return to Europe and fight the Germans. He got his chance in 1943, and a month after D-Day landed at Normandy, France, with an Army field artillery battalion loaded down with howitzers.

more: http://www.lakewyliepilot.com/2014/06/03/2452912/d-day-a-german-jew-survives-the.html

May 28, 2014

Far-right Rise Unites EU Muslims, Jews

ANKARA – Raising concerns of followers of both faiths, the sweeping victory of far-right parties in the European parliament elections has led to an unlikely unity between European Muslims and Jews against anti-immigration, xenophobic parties.

“We must learn to work together effectively on the both grass roots and leadership levels," Imam Ahmed Miktar, president of the Association of the Imams of France and a member of the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, told Reuters on Tuesday, May 27.

"Muslims and Jews Our communities can no longer afford the luxury of standing apart."

--snip--

After the vote, the Gathering of European Muslim and Jewish Leaders, an interfaith group affiliated with the American Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, vowed to “work closely together to fight Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and xenophobia and prevent the far right parties from realizing their goal of passing a common legislative agenda in the European Parliament severely restricting the rights of religious minorities," FFEU founder Rabbi Marc Schneier explained.

“Just as European Muslim and Jewish leaders joined forces in recent months in successfully combating an effort by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe to outlaw circumcision and to protest Denmark’s new law banning kosher and halal slaughtering, we will now stand together and speak with one voice against efforts by the extremist parties to implement their hateful agenda."

more: http://www.onislam.net/english/news/europe/472977-far-right-rise-unites-eu-muslims-jews.html

May 23, 2014

The frightening popularity of Golden Dawn's anti-Semitism in Greece

In the cradle of democracy, next week’s elections are not looking good — for Greeks, European unity or NATO..

In local elections held Sunday, 16% of Athenians voted for Ilias Kasidiaris, the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn’s candidate for mayor of Athens. Kasidiaris, who sports swastika tattoos and once read from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” on the floor of Parliament, did even better in the neighborhood where Plato founded his Academy, winning 1 in 5 votes there, three times what the party won in 2012.

“The message of the citizens will be even more fierce in the [European Parliament] elections,” Kasidiaris said in an ominous “victory statement.”

---snip---

While Golden Dawn, Hungary’s Jobbik party and other far-right parties are running strong across Europe, they can’t win a majority anywhere — yet. So it would be tempting to dismiss Golden Dawn’s popularity as a protest against the painful cutbacks imposed as a condition of Greece’s financial bailout. It would also be reassuring to view the party’s feisty pushback against government prosecution as a legal oddity that will naturally correct itself.

But that would underestimate the malevolence of Golden Dawn. Like other neo-fascist parties, it can make hateful vitriol against Jews, gays, Roma, socialists, migrants and even Brussels bureaucrats seem acceptable, if only by dint of making it commonplace. But Golden Dawn puts muscle behind its menace. Its leaders deny organizing a terror campaign against migrants, but there are hundreds of reports that migrants as well as Greeks of color have been beaten, tortured, mutilated and killed. Prosecutions have been rare, convictions even rarer.

more: http://www.latimes.com/opinion/opinion-la/la-ol-greece-elections-neo-nazi-golden-dawn-20140522-story.html

May 22, 2014

Soma Mine Disaster: Pro-Erdogan Newspaper Blames Jews for Death of 300 Miners

pro-government Turkish newspaper has been accused of publishing an anti-Semitic article with the lead headline "The boss's son-in-law is a Jew" in reference to the owner of the Soma mine in which 301 people were killed.

Yeni Akit, a controversial conservative paper that has been criticised for its hate speech and extremist agenda in the past, accused Soma Holding CEO Alp Gurkan of a sinister Jewish conspiracy involving Israel in Turkey's worst mine disaster.

"While the cartel media, which have Jewish partners, and the parallel media, which are in love with Jews, and the Western media guided by Jews are accusing the prime minister over the Soma disaster, it has been revealed that the son-in-law of Alp Gürkan, the owner of the mining company that is responsible for the disaster, is a Jew named 'Mario Asafrana,' and he changed his name to 'Mahir'," reads the article according to a translation by Today's Zaman.

Other columns related to the conspiracy read: "Did the 'Jewish son-in-law' play a role in the parallel media's attack on Erdoğan?" and "All info on Soma incident leads us to Israel".

more: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/soma-mine-disaster-pro-erdogan-newspaper-blames-jews-death-300-miners-1449474

May 19, 2014

Canadian Jewish Book Awards Present Diverse Honor Roll

A chronicle of Nazi persecution of gay people, a study of Jews and obscenity, and a haunting artistic collaboration are among the wide-ranging winners of this year’s Canadian Jewish Book Awards. After an announcement last week, the awards will be presented at a May 27 ceremony in Toronto.

With its other accolades for a Holocaust diary, a poetic history of Salonika’s Jews, and a novel about Jewish immigrants in South Africa, this year’s honor roll defies easy categorization. “It was an excellent year for Jewish books,” said Natalie Kertes, director of literary programs at Toronto’s Koffler Centre of the Arts, which runs the awards.

--snip--

What the prize-winners don’t all share, however, is Jewishness. And Ken Setterington, author of “Branded by the Pink Triangle” (Second Story Press), said the award has even more meaning for him as a result.

“I was certainly surprised to receive the honor but, to be quite honest, delighted,” Setterington told the Forward. “My book tells the story of the men who were persecuted in the Holocaust because of their sexuality, not their religion. My challenge was not to compare the numbers or the suffering of the men in comparison to the Jews, or any other persecuted group, but rather to make readers aware that homosexuals were persecuted. It is for that reason that I was thrilled to receive a Jewish prize.”

more: http://blogs.forward.com/the-arty-semite/198359/canadian-jewish-book-awards-present-diverse-honor/?



Branded by the Pink Triangle

Before the rise of the Nazi party, Germany, especially Berlin, was one of the most tolerant places for homosexuals in the world. Activists such as Thomas Mann and Albert Einstein campaigned openly for the rights of gay men and women and tried to repeal the law against homosexuality. But that all changed when the Nazis came to power; existence for gay people became fear-filled. Raids, arrests, prison sentences and expulsions became the daily reality. When the concentration camps were built, homosexuals were imprisoned along with Jews and any other groups the Nazis wanted to suppress.

The pink triangle sewn onto prison uniforms became the symbol of the persecution of homosexuals, a persecution that would continue for many years after the war. A mix of historical research, first-person accounts and individual stories brings this time to life for young readers. Stories of bravery in the face of inhuman cruelty, friendship found in the depths of despair in the camps and the perseverance of the human spirit will educate and inspire.

May 15, 2014

World War II as you've NEVER seen it before!Light-hearted photos of nude British and Allied soldiers

Full Title: World War II as you've NEVER seen it before! Light-hearted photos of nude British and Allied soldiers revealed in eye-opening new book (NSFW? There are photos at the link...hineys only.)

From the horrors of the Blitz to kamikaze attacks in the Pacific, World War II inflicted terrible suffering on troops and civilians alike.

But as these photos reveal, soldiers fighting the war, whether in the Far East or Europe, did enjoy some more light-hearted moments.

Hidden away in the attics of former servicemen for more than 60 years, the pictures, which show soldiers from the UK, Australia and the USA among others, shed fresh light on the friendships fostered between the men who fought.

The photos, which appear in a new book, My Buddy: World War II Laid Bare, are drawn from an archive created by Los Angeles based photographer, Michael Stokes, which contains more than 500 images of off-duty World War II soldiers.

His extensive collection includes snapshots of soldiers and sailors from Australia, the UK, France, Italy, Poland, Russia, and the USA, cavorting on the sand in the South Pacific, shivering in the snow of Eastern Europe, posing solo in the barracks, and in great happy groups.

more: (remember, photos included!!!) http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2622554/World-War-II-youve-NEVER-seen-Light-hearted-photos-nude-British-Allied-soldiers-offer-surprising-snapshot-life-line.html

[hr]

Definitely a different take on WWII. Personally, I think it also gives an insight into how nudity was viewed. I know "Life" published several similar photos throughout WWII.

May 7, 2014

Reaction Time: Keep Holocaust Denial Out Of The Curriculum

This week, eighth grade students in Rialto were assigned an argumentative essay. In this assignment, they were asked to research, cite textual evidence and provide an argument – all things that are pretty standard for a junior high writing assignment.

The subject matter, however, was less than standard. The prompt given to the students was to “Write an argumentative essay, based upon cited textual evidence, in which you explain whether or not you believe this was an actual event in history or merely a political scheme created to influence public emotion and gain wealth…”

Incredibly, the “this” that is referred to in the prompt is the Holocaust.

That’s right. Eighth graders in Rialto this week were assigned an essay asking them to argue whether or not the Holocaust happened or whether it was simply a “political scheme,” created by Jews I assume, to “influence public emotion and gain wealth.”

more: http://www.neontommy.com/news/2014/05/reaction-time-keep-holocaust-denial-out-curriculum