Political spot with reference to Moses condemned by Central Jewish Council of Greece

Source: KIS

Screenshot via kis.gr

Opposition party of the Left “SYRIZA” uploaded a political video spot, entitled “How much does Moses Cost?” on the party’s website, facebook and You Tube channel, on June 19, 2020. The video, was produced in an attempt to criticize the Government’s funding of the mass media during the pandemic.

The reference to Moses in the video was strongly condemned by the Journalists’ Union of Athens Daily Newspapers (ESIEA), the frm. President of the Athens Jewish Community Minos Moissis, the Secretary General of KIS Victor Eliezer and many prominent journalists. KIS issued the following announcement (June 22, 2020):

«When we watched SYRIZA’s political spot “How much does Moses cost?” we wondered how was it possible for a party with a determining contribution to the fight against antisemitism to reproduce antisemitic stereotypes in order to serve its opposition policy, linking Moses with the money falling down from the sky as the “manna from heaven”.

Three days after its launch the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece expresses its regret over the fact that -in spite of the massive reactions- SYRIZA did not withdraw this spot, with its only reaction being that of characterizing it as “satiric”.

[…]

Read the full statement here.

Read the statement in Greek here.

Latest antisemitic incidents in Greece

September 8: At least four banners featuring antisemitic signs were displayed by violent protesters against the Macedonia name deal in the northern Greek port city of Thessaloniki (h/t Leon Saltiel). They read “Talmud, Qabballah, the Enemy of the Humanity”, “Against New World Order (with a red line erasing the Star of David), “Here Greece, Here Orthodoxy. Death to Zionism” and “Rothschild, your end is coming”.

“Rothschild, your end ist coming”: One of the antisemitic banners displayed in Thessaloniki. More signs at antisemitism.org.il

Late August: Antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on the wall of a house located in a central street of Sparta. The inscription reads “Death to the Jews” (Θάνατος στους Εβραίους), skalalakonias blog has reported.

Late August: The Ioannina section of leftist “Popular Unity” party opposed in a press release the twinning agreement between the city of Ioannina (northern Greece) and the city of Kiryat Ono calling Israel a “terrorist state”.

August 31: Hate graffiti, propaganda material and several christian symbols were found outside the construction site of a state-funded mosque in Athens, lifo.gr has reported. Some of the flyers posted outside the construction site are clearly antisemitic: “Out with the Freemasons and the Jews” and “All bank are controlled by Zionists,” they read.

August 30: An antisemitic sticker referring to the “Jews and money” stereotype with the slur “Jew dog” was found near the Byzantine Museum of Thessaloniki. The sticker was posted by followers of “Father Cleomenis,” a man who dresses as a monk and posts videos of himself on social media vandalizing monuments, most recently the Holocaust memorial in the Central Greece city of Larissa (h/t Racist Crime Watch).

 

Greece: Leftist newspaper publishes cartoons demonizing Israel

efsyn.gr

Via Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece

Wednesday, 25 April 2018

Two sketches by Michalis Kountouris, with strong messages of demonisation of Israel and unacceptable parallelism with the Holocaust, were published in the “Efimerida Syntakton” (EFSYN. – “Editors’ Journal”) on 10th and 11th April 2018. The sketches were commented on with the following article entitled “Bloody Handprints” – published in the issue of the EFSYN of 16.4.18 – by the journalist and General Secretary of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, Victor Is. Eliezer.

The sketches also stirred a reaction from Israel’s Ambassador to Greece, Ms. Irit Ben-Abba (letter to the EFSYN 11/4/2018), and journalist Dimitris Psarras (through his article “We do not Forget the Holocaust” EFSYN  16/4/2018).

• Victor Is. Eliezer: “Bloody Handprints” EFIMERIDA SYNTAKTON  16/4/2018

Yom Hashoah. Holocaust Day, 11th April 2018. The Jews mourn for their 6,000,000 fellow Jews who were unjustly and brutally killed in the gas chambers of the Nazi camps! On the same day, in Greece, the “EFSYN”, known for its merciless struggle against anti-Semitism and neo-Nazism, hosted a sketch in which an Israeli soldier leaves the prints of his bloodied hands on the Wailing Wall, next to many other bloody handprints of other people who apparently prayed before him. You know, all the Jews have visited the Wailing Wall, many of us pray and touch the Wall that is what is left of the Temple of Solomon. The bloody handprints, according to the cartoonist, could be the bloody handprints of every Jew who has visited the Wailing Wall!  One day earlier, another sketch (by the same cartoonist) appeared in the newspaper, where the Gaza Strip was identified with a prisoner of Nazi concentration camps.

[…]

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Greek Communist Party calls Israel a “state-killer”

Demonstrators protesting “the imperialist attack on Syria” in Athens. Screenshot via inter.kke.gr

The Greek Communist Party (KKE) organized a rally in central Athens to protest the US-led airstrikes against Syria on Saturday. The protesters chanted anti-U.S., anti-Nato and anti-EU slogans and even set an American flag on fire right in front of the American Embassy.

The Greek Communist Party issued a statement in which it blasted the SYRIZA-ANEL coalition government for “implicating” Greece “deeper in this massacre, on the account of the Greek capital, that is claiming its participation in the distribution of the loot and of the market shares.” It also accused the Greek government of cooperating militarily “with states-killers such as Israel.”

Communist Party chief Dimitris Koutsoumbas has accused Israel of engaging in “genocide” against Palestinians.

“Despite the problems facing our people, we must not underestimate the fact that a genocide is taking place in our neighborhood. Innocent children, women, families are being killed,” Koutsoumbas said during a meeting with former Greek President Karolos Papoulias in Athens four years ago.

 

 

Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki desecrated with “Free Palestine” graffiti

Vandals desecrated the Thessaloniki Holocaust memorial with “Free Palestine” graffiti.

Back in 2014, the monument in commemoration of the old Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki was desecrated with the same graffiti, just weeks after it was dedicated.

Appalling: Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki, Greece desecrated with "Free Palestine" graffiti. 94% of the city's 50,000 Jews were murdered by the Nazis, virtually wiping out the Jewish community; today only about 1,000 Jews remain. pic.twitter.com/GuAtnDskfw

— Avi Mayer (@AviMayer) January 10, 2018

Antisemitic graffiti by left-wing party on the island of Andros

On the road leading into Hora, the capital of Andros, Andrea Gilbert from Greek Helsinki Monitor found in July 2016 a wall covered with graffiti. This was leftist graffiti, the red by supporters of the Laiki Enotita (Popular Unity), the breakaway farther left party that spun off SYRIZA after the referendum, one year ago. Briefly, the slogans support the past glory of the OXI (or NO) vote, purporting to shed the yoke of EU occupation. The black writing is the work of Antifa (far left ‘antifascist’ group), purporting to denounce the existence of ‘fascists’ everywhere, “even on Andros”. The Star of David is used in association with the evils of NATO, capitalism, the EU, etc… all linked to force of Zionism.

Andros, July the 14th, 2016. Photo courtesy of Andrea Gilbert.

The Star of David has been painted with the slogans: “Do you want to vote for them? [the Greek pro-Memorandum parties are meant] No!!! Wake up!!!” Andros, July the 14th, 2016. Photo courtesy of Andrea Gilbert.

Andrea Gilbert commented on Facebook: “The slogans are old, but is this graffiti? The paint should have faded in the elements over the course of a year. No matter, though. The real offense here is not so much that this graffiti was done, so much as the fact that the administration of this manicured village and pristine island has allowed them to remain, for anyone entering the town to see. For even a day, much less for over a year!”

The black writing is the work of Antifa (far left ‘antifascist’ group), purporting to denounce the existence of ‘fascists’ everywhere, “even on Andros”. Photo courtesy of Andrea Gilbert.

Greek anarchists shout “No to the agents of Mossad” near the check-in desks of El Al

Kathimerini reports:

Police early on Wednesday detained 10 suspected members of the anarchist group Rouvikonas – the Greek name for Rubicon – who barged into the departures area of Athens International Airport and started shouting slogans near the check-in desks of Israeli airline El Al.

The protesters shouted “No to the agents of Mossad” and “No tolerance to the bullying of Mossad” as travelers were waiting to check in to their flight.

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Protest flyer thrown by members of Rouvikonas during the anti-Israel protest at Athens International Airport. Source: iefimerida.gr

Antisemitic banner displayed by members of Rouviconas near the check-in desks of Israeli airline El Al. It reads: “No tolerance to the bullying of Mossad.” Screenshot via: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNUvv5PhPU4

 Update: In a posting online, they claim that the security staff working for El Al are Mossad agents and that other Mossad agents are among the passengers during the El Al flights They also stigmatize Israel as the „oppressor“ in the Middle East while considering Palestinians as inherently oppressed.

Ariel Sharon in Nazi uniform on the cover of a collection of cartoons

Via XYZ Contagion blog

Ariel Sharon dressed like a Nazi with a swastika on his arm stating “Fascism is not only the logic of killing, but primarily killing logic” appears on the cover of Stathis Stavropoulos’ new collection of cartoons. It is entitled “The anti-fascist, anti-racist [cartoons]” (Kapsimi Editions, Athens 2016).

The cartoon was initially published in the leftwing daily newspaper Eleftherotypia in March 2004.

See also: Anti-Semitic Caricatures in Greece Following Yassin Operation (Anti-Defamation League).

Stathis Stavropoulos’ new collection of cartoons (2016)

Eleftherotypia March 24, 2004: A caricature (above) by Stathis Stavropoulos shows Ariel Sharon dressed like a Nazi with a swastika on his arm stating: “Fascism is not only the logic of killing, but primarily killing logic.” Via adl.org

Anti-Israel banner at Democritus University

Members of Left Anti-capitalist Group (Aristeri Antikapitalistiki Syspirosi) have displayed at the entrance of the Law Faculty at Democritus University (Thrace, Northern Greece) a banner which suggests that Israel is commiting genocide against Palestinians, grassrootreuter blog has reported. It reads: “Not another Holocaust. Solidarity to the Palestinians.”

Photo credit: MotionTeam / Vassilis Ververidis, undated

The photo featuring the antisemitic banner has been published in the leftwing daily newspaper Efimerida ton Syntakton to illustrate an article about a discrimination issue at Democritus University.

Far-right Golden Dawn MP calls Israel ‘eternal enemy’ of Greeks

Golden Dawn MP Christos Pappas wearing a nazi fez (tn: actually this “fez” was part of the uniform of the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar) and a T-Shirt calling for “Uprising For An Independant Palestine.” Via I Can’t Relax In Greece & Abravanel, the Blog

 

Via The Times of Israel

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos called on the Justice Ministry to take action against a neo-Nazi lawmaker after he made anti-Israel comments in parliament.

Speaking during a debate in parliament on Monday, Christos Pappas, from the Golden Dawn party, called Israel an “eternal enemy of Greece and Orthodoxy,” a reference to Greece’s official church.

[…]

Kammenos has himself in the past been criticized for anti-Semitic comments, after claiming in 2014 that Greek Jews paid fewer taxes than other Greeks, but since taking up the position of defense minister has overseen increasingly warm ties with Israel.

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• The leader of the right-wing Independent Greeks Party, Panos Kammenos, is not the only Greek politician who has been accused of disseminating antisemitic rumors or trivializing the Holocaust. To mention but two examples: Dimitris Kammenos of the Independent Greeks Party was forced to resign after receiving ministerial post in September 2015 over an outcry about a series of anti-Semitic and homophobic tweets. Panagiotis Sgouridis, another Independent Greeks MP, abused the memory of the Holocaust in June 2015 by mentioning Gaza during a speech about the murdered Jews of Kavala and saying that “victims become bullies.”
• Syriza Party has called Israel’s Operation Protective Edge against Hamas in Gaza two years ago “a crime against humanity”. Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled met with Dimitris Papadimoulis, Syriza MEP and Vice-President of the European Parliament, in its headquarters in Brussels in February 2016. Syriza, a left-wing party that despite its past support for the Palestinians has sought to strengthen ties with Israel, has called Khaled in a statement issued after the meeting an “activist with a historical role in the Palestinian Resistance.”