Antisemitism is escalating in eastern Germany. In two
separate incidents Jewish cemeteries were desecrated in a
single night last week. At the entrance to the Jewish
cemetery in Gotha, anonymous vandals hung a bloody pig head
alongside a sign reading, "Six million lies." Inside the
cemetery police found several containers of red paint and
shattered bottles.
In the nearby city of Erfurt unidentified vandals damaged a
memorial at the entrance to the Jewish cemetery and poured
red paint on it.
The police and the Minister-President of the state of
Thuringia promised "quick action" to find the perpetrators.
The state interior minister said the police and the state
prosecutor are working together to locate the criminals and
bring them to trial. Police suspect neo-Nazi organizations
were responsible for the acts. They collected samples of the
red paint to determine which substance was used. According to
a report in Bild, a neo-Nazi group called Combat 18
claimed responsibility for a similar act in 2003.
In Gotha police arrested a 48-year-old man suspected of
hanging the pig head at the entrance to the cemetery.
Investigators searched his home and believe he has committed
similar acts in the past.
The heads of the Jewish communities in both cities expressed
shock over the abhorrent incidents, but noted they were not
the first of their kind. They said the recent call to the
German people by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, speaking at
a the memorial service to mark 70 years since Kristallnacht,
to avoid apathy toward acts of antisemitism has proven
ineffective.
Thuringia has a population of only 2.5 million. After World
War II the Jewish community of Erfurt, the state capital,
consisted of 15 members. The community grew in the 1990s
following the wave of Jewish immigration from the former
Soviet Union and today numbers 550 members. Gotha is home to
350 Jews.
Anti-racist organizations in Germany report Jewish cemeteries
are vandalized at an average rate of one per week. After two
years of decreased antisemitism, since January of this year
800 acts of antisemitism have already been recorded. In
eastern Germany the extreme right and neo-Nazis are rearing
their head. Several antisemitic incidents have taken place in
Berlin recently. Just three weeks ago in a central part of
the city skinheads threw rocks at a rabbi and shouted
epithets. Two suspects have been arrested.
This spring 30 gravestones were desecrated at the Weisensee
Cemetery in Berlin, Europe's largest Jewish cemetery.
The Holocaust memorial located in the center of capital city
is vandalized on a regular basis. The area is soiled and
graffiti is spray-painted on the gray stone slabs, which
symbolize gravestones.
Paris Jewish Community Waiting to See Perpetrator of 1980
Synagogue Attack Brought to Trial
By Arnon Yaffeh, Paris
Reports of the arrest of Hassan Diab, a Palestinian from
Lebanon suspected of perpetrating the bombing of the
synagogue on Rue Copernic in Paris in 1980, which killed one
Israeli, Aliza Shagrir Hy'd, and three French
nationals, have reached the Jewish community in Paris. The
terrorist attack and demonstrations organized by the Jewish
community led to the election defeat of the right-wing
government ruling France at the time.
The alleged terrorist was arrested recently based on concrete
evidence that French judges passed on to authorities in
Canada. A Canadian police unit arrived at Diab's home in an
Ottawa suburb and took him away in handcuffs based on an
international arrest order issued by France. The defendant's
attorney claims that Diab fell victim to a mistake in the
judicial process. But one of the investigators, who asked to
remain anonymous, told Le Monde that Diab is
undeniably the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
(PLFP) terrorist who detonated a bomb hidden in motorcycle
saddlebags parked outside the synagogue. In addition to the
four fatalities, 20 Jews were wounded in the attack and cars
parked nearby were damaged.
The arrest 28 years later shows intelligence services
continue efforts to track down Palestinian terrorists who
perpetrated attacks against Jews in Europe. Last year Le
Figaro revealed that French intelligence agencies were
pursuing leads on a Palestinian terrorist. Since then two
French investigators found he had changed his identity to
become a professor of sociology in Canada. They identified
Diab by his handwriting, his passport from 1980 and testimony
regarding the attack.
According to the investigators Diab perpetrated two other
attacks against Jews: a bombing at Antwerp's diamond exchange
in 1981 and a shooting attack against children outside a
shul, killing one chareidi child.
The French identified Diab in 1999 in a PLFP card index that
fell into the possession of German intelligence and was
handed over to France. Last week he was brought before a
judge, denying any connection with Palestinian terrorism. His
attorney described the case as a "terrible" mistake. France
was given 45 days to file an extradition request.
French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie praised the
cooperation between French security services and the Canadian
police.
Twenty-eight years ago the right-wing government in power at
the time overlooked the attack. President Valerie Giscard
D'Estaing did not even condemn the bombing. Then-Prime
Minister Raymond Barre enraged the public by saying three
innocent people and one Jewess had been killed.
The next day 250,000 French and Jewish demonstrators took to
the streets, carrying Israeli flags and marching on the
Elysees to protest the French government's apologetic stance
regarding Palestinian terrorism. During this period France
collaborated with Palestinian terrorist organizations, opened
the PLO's first bureau in Paris and enabled terrorists to
escape arrest. Giscard released Abu Daoud, the commander of
the vicious attack in Munich. Jews' safety was totally
neglected.
A year later the right-wing government fell along with
Giscard following demonstrations organized by Jews and
Frenchmen.
