PrintJanuary 26, 2010
International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Tomorrow, January 27, is the day the world commemorates the deaths of six million Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany during World War II on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. (Holocaust Memorial Day - the original title of this post - occurs in the Spring in Israel.)
The occasion is made more sobering by the knowledge that today, Jews around the world are as much in danger as they were 60 years ago, if not more so.
The FBI says Jews are more likely to be the victims of religious hate crimes in the United States than any other group.
There were 1,606 hate crime offenses motivated by religious bias in 2008.
A breakdown of these offenses shows:
65.7 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-other religion.
7.7 percent were anti-Islamic.
4.7 percent were anti-Catholic.
4.2 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.7 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.9 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.
A new report by the Jewish Agency this week shows anti-Semitic attacks, from verbal threats to murder, in Western Europe in 2009 were at the highest level since World War II.
The threats go far beyond simple criticism of the state of Israel. Most troubling is the increase of what is called anti-Semitic "blood libel."
Jerusalem Post:
Additionally, the agency data noted that election campaigns in Ukraine and Hungary gave way to public displays of anti-Semitism, which surfaced as tools for the competing political parties. In Ukraine, a story surfaced during that country'selection campaign that Israel had brought 25,000 Ukrainian children to the Jewish state for the sole purpose of harvesting their organs.
(Natan) Sharansky (of the Jewish Agency) also pointed to the Ukrainian story as evidence of the blood libel's return, along with an incident last week, in which an American man posted a video on Youtube accusing the IDF of harvesting organs from Haitian survivors of that country's catastrophic earthquake. The IDF has been in Haiti since the quake struck nearly two weeks ago, providing much-needed medical assistance to survivors.
The report went on to list Iran and Venezuela as the world's most anti-Semitic countries, and warned of the strengthening ties between extreme left-wing activists and Islamists, as well as more tolerance shown to Muslim acts of hate against Jews.
In the United States and on the internet, overt hostile acts against Jews are becoming "accepted."
From the Jewish Internet Defense Force (JIDF) :
International Punch a Jew In the Face Day on Facebook
Kick a Jew Day
Hamas Terrorist TV (Al Aqsa TV) Kids' cartoon show features Jews machine-gunning children and drinking their blood.
YouTube Hamas TV children's show negative stereotyping of Jews HERE
In supposedly "tolerant" and "culturally diverse" San Francisco, California virulent Palestinian street protests in the downtown and major city streets in 2008 and 2009 had hundreds of Muslims threatening acts of violence against Jews and Israel. Police allowed the protests to go on for days. See HERE and HERE. The sole anti-Hamas picketer was surrounded by San Francisco police, ticketed and ordered to leave while the crowd cheered. See HERE
Palestianians burning and stomping on Israeli flag in San Francisco, January 20, 2009 HERE
On the occasion of the Holocaust remembrance today, a Polish Catholic bishop, who was a good friend of Pope John Paul II, says Jews use the Holocaust as "propaganda" to obtain U.S. aid.
The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denies the Holocaust happened and has threatened to wipe Israel off the earth. Iran's nuclear weapons program is nearing completion.
On YouTube: Cleric Muhammad Hussein Ya'qub: We (Muslims) will Forever Fight the Jews till the End of Time Video HERE.
Speaking in Jerusalem at Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said:
"There is an evil that can spread and threaten the security of Jews. We know that this just begins with Jews, and then continues on to the rest of the world."
