Virulent new strain of anti-Semitism rife in UK, says Chief Rabbi

Britain is in the grip of a “virulent” new strain of anti-Semitism, according to the Chief Rabbi. Sir Jonathan Sacks told The Times in an interview that in January the number of anti-Semitic incidents reached the highest level since records began.

Jews have been physically attacked, schools targeted and cemeteries desecrated.

“I was in the synagogue a few months ago when one of the members came in visibly shaken: somebody had just shouted at him, ‘It’s a pity Hitler didn’t finish the job’,” the Chief Rabbi said.

Although the new “mutation” was different from the anti-Semitism promoted by Hitler, it was dangerous because it was international, he said. “The internet means that we no longer have national cultures; we have global cultures and the new anti-Semitism is very much a phenomenon of the global culture.”

Whereas in the past, hatred was focused against Judaism as a religion or Jews as a race, the focus this time was on Jews as a nation. The rise in the number of attacks in January took place at the same time as Israel’s assault on Hamas in Gaza.

“It begins as anti-Zionism — but it is never merely anti-Zionism when it attacks synagogues or Jewish schools,” Sir Jonathan said. “In the post-Holocaust world the single greatest source of authority is human rights — therefore the new anti-Semitism is constructed in the language of human rights.”

In a new book, Future Tense, he describes a “virulent new strain of anti-Semitism”. A worrying alliance had developed between radical Islamists and anti-globalisation protesters, he said.

The UN had also fanned the flames. At the World Conference against Racism in Durban in 2001, he said, “Israel was accused of the five cardinal sins against human rights — racism, apartheid, ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity and attempted genocide. So the old myths are recycled they are alive and well but they are done in a new kind of vocabulary.”

The media should also be more careful in coverage of the Middle East: “I do think too little of the history has been set out and people don’t really understand what’s at stake, so the Jewish community has felt quite vulnerable because of that.”

Asked whether he thought the BBC had shown anti-Israeli bias, he replied: “No comment.”continues here

Sssh don't say a word its anti-semitic...

French cartoonist fired for anti-Semitic remarks towards Sarkozy’s son

French Culture and Communication Minister Christine Albanel expressed support on Monday to the director of a satirical political magazine who fired a cartoonist –columnist for writing anti-Semitic remarks towards the son of French president Nicolas Sarkozy.
Earlier this month, 79-year-old caricaturist Siné suggested in the weekly Charlie Hebdo magazine that 21-year-old Jean Sarkozy, who became engaged with Jessica Sebaoun-Darty, the Jewish heiress of a family which owns the Darty group, the largest consumer electronics chain in France, intended to convert to Judaism before the marriage.  
 
The caricaturist suggested also that the President’s son was “an opportunist who would go far in life."
 
In the Charlie Hebdo column, which took the form of a "talking" cartoon in the cartoonist's own hand-writing, Siné wrote: "Jean Sarkozy, worthy son of his father and already a UMP councillor, emerged almost to applause after his court case for not stopping after an accident on his scooter." 
 
"The prosecutor even asked for him to be cleared. You have to remember that the plaintiff was an Arab. And that's not all. He has just said that he wants to convert to Judaism before marrying his fiancée, who is Jewish, and heir of the founders of Darty. He will go far in life, this boy!"
 

Jean Sarkozy had appeared in court last month, accused of running his scooter into the back of a car and driving away without giving his name.

The Sarkozy and Darty families threatened to sue the magazine for anti-Semitism.
 
Philippe Val, the magazine’s director, who criticised the cartoon/column as "peddling a falsehood," asked the cartoonist to retract. He reportedly replied:"I would rather cut off my balls."
 
Siné was then fired by Val on the ground that the column had "anti-semitic undertones"
and could be interpreted as making a link between conversion to Judaism and social success.
 
“This is neither acceptable nor defendable before a court,” Val stressed.
 
The International League Against Racism and Anti-semitism (LICRA) as well as CRIF, the umbrella group of French Jewish Organizations, expressed their support to the director decision.
 
Culture Minister Christine Albanel declared that the caricaturist’s cartoon and remarks "echoed clichés and cartoons from another time that one would like to see disappear once for all.” continues here