Many of the Worst Anti-Semites Are European
The Verdict Is In

by Guy Millière
January 14, 2013 at 5:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3538/european-anti-semites

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Many even have good consciences and feel they are on the side of The Good. If they would begin began to read some books on history, they will see that anti-Semites have always thought they were on the side of The Good.

A few days ago, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, one of the leading Jewish human rights organizations today, published its "Top 10" list of the world's worst anti-Semitic/anti-Israel slurs. The usual suspects are named and in the top spots : Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of the Islamic Republic of Iran; Mohammed Badie, the "moral guide" of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt; and Louis Farrakhan, the leader in the US of the Nation of Islam. It is not exactly a secret that the hatred of Jews and Israel has permeated Iran's "Islamic revolution" from the beginning; that the doctrine of the Muslim Brotherhood is radically anti-Semitic, and that Louis Farrakhan himself is an obsessive anti-Semite who has described Hitler several times as a "very great man."
But, apart from a Brazilian cartoonist whose drawings resemble those found in the anti-Semitic press in Europe in the 1930s, all the others mentioned are European. Nikolaos Michaloliakos, the founder of the Greek neo-Nazi party, Golden Dawn, a man who denies the existence of the Holocaust in front of enthusiastic crowds, appears in the report beside Marton Gyongyosi, a leader of the far right Jobbik Party in Hungary, who said in front of Parliament that the government should "draw up a list of Jews representing a national security risk for the country". A Norwegian convert to Islam, Trond Ali Linstad, owner of a website warning readers to "beware the Jews" and condoning suicide bombing, is named, as well as Oleg Tyagnibok, founder of the "All Ukrainian" Svoboda Party, who called for purges of the Jews living in Ukraine; and German journalist Jakob Augstein, writing for Der Spiegel online, who was described by another German journalist, Die Welt columnist Henryk M. Broder, as a "pure anti-Semite, who only missed the opportunity to make his career with the Gestapo because he was born after the war".
None of those who are mentioned protested, except the German journalist, who said what many Jew haters in Europe constantly repeat: that he is not an anti-Semite, that he just despises Israel. But, in the reading what he wrote -- Jewish fundamentalists "follow the law of revenge," the Israeli government is "insane" and "keeps the world on a leash with an ever-swelling war chant" -- it is possible to have doubts.
Anti-Semitism is rising again in Europe, and it it is rising fast. Many others -- politicians, activists, journalists and writers -- could be on the list. The anti-Semitism in Hungary, the Ukraine, and Greece is mostly the old-style anti-Semitism, which carries essentially National Socialist themes, in Norway, Sweden, Belgium, and the Netherlands, however, what permeates the air is more and more an Islamic anti-Semitism; and converts such as Trond Ali Lindstad play a more and more important role in disseminating the hatred of Jews now spreading in Europe. A third component is taking an increasingly significant place, the aim of which seems to be a noxious general context : anti-Semitism hiding under the mask of "anti-Zionism".
In some ways, Jakob Augstein was right to protest : he is not the only one to do what he does and to write what he writes. He belongs to a trend so dominant in Europe now that to European readers, his articles seem normal. Many in Europe are so contemptuous of Israel that they do not even discern anymore that they are contemptuous. They do not even see that the words they readily use to describe Israel -- and the Israelis -- are from the vocabulary used in the 1930s to describe Jews. They often borrow their words from the Islamic anti-Israeli propaganda without seeing that these words were borrowed by the Islamist movements from the Nazis.
An anti-Semitic and "anti-Zionist" nebula takes shape, in which old style anti-Semitism, Islamic anti-Semitism and "anti-Zionism" coexist and interpenetrate.
It is dangerous to be a Jew today in Europe. And it is very unsafe to defend Israel. Jews who take care to be discreet can live an almost normal life. Jews who are visibly Jews take more risks. Jews who defend Israel take extreme risks.
Organizations that are supposed to fight anti-Semitism see only one kind of anti-Semitism: the old-style one. They almost never speak of Islamic anti-Semitism. They even lull themselves into the belief that "anti-Zionism" is not an anti-Semitism. Their undertakings, therefore, are doomed to defeat.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center's "Top 10" list was not quoted or commented on in Europe, except in Germany, where all the friends of Jakob Augstein and Der Spiegel expressed their indignation, and said that the list was "preposterous" and "baseless ." A column published on January 7th in Der Spiegel online speaks of a "scandal," and blames Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Center, who established the final version of the list, for refusing to debate Jakob Augstein. Cooper said that Augstein first had to "publicly apologize for the statements that earned him his designation." Der Spiegel answers that Abraham Cooper's demands are absurd and "seem to stem from a different world."
Abraham Cooper's demands do stem from a different world: in the United States, people such as Louis Farrakhan are still the exception; and journalists who write what Jakob Augstein writes are published mostly in extremist journals, not in mainstream publications. Europe has never really drawn the lessons from her past.
Anti-Semitism has been present on the European continent for nearly two millennia. It seemed to disappear after the Holocaust, but was apparently just hidden. It returns, in full light. Most of those who embody it do not even try to disguise what they think. Others dress it in new rags. Many even have good consciences and are sure they are on the side of The Good. If they would begin to read some books on history, they will see that anti-Semites have always thought they were on the side of The Good.

Related Topics: Guy Millière

Cyprus: Russia's Next Lunch?

by Peter Martino
January 14, 2013 at 3:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/3539/cyprus-russia

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Cypriot banks cater almost exclusively to Russian oligarchs; as a consequence, tiny Cyprus is Russia's largest foreign investor. The impending fall of the Assad regime in Syria is forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to look for an alternative to Tartus [for Russia's naval base] – leaving him with only one option: Cyprus.

Cyprus's banks are on the brink of collapse. As a result of a crisis that began in Greece, and as one of the 17 European countries that use the euro as their currency, Cyprus, a victim of the euro's domino effect, is being dragged down by the eurocrisis, along with the entire southern rim of the eurozone. Since last spring, Cyprus, a small country with barely one million inhabitants, has been negotiating with the other members of the eurozone about a financial bailout. When Greece was given an 85% haircut on its debts, the Cypriot banks suffered heavy losses on top of the huge losses already incurred as a result of a domestic real estate bubble. To stay afloat, Cyprus's banks currently need some €17 bn ($23 bn) -- an immense sum for a country with a 2011 GDP of only €19 bn ($25 bn) and a contracting economy.
Cyprus's fortune, however, is its location. It is the easternmost island in the Mediterranean and of considerable strategic importance. Cyprus is like a huge aircraft carrier situated in front of Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel and Egypt. In addition, huge offshore fields of gas and perhaps oil have recently been discovered in Cypriot territorial waters.
Cyprus is also the place where the Arab Spring meets the Eurocrisis. The Syrian port of Tartus hosts Russia's only naval base in the Mediterranean. The impending fall of the Assad regime in Syria is forcing Russian President Vladimir Putin to look for an alternative to Tartus -- leaving him with only one option: Cyprus.
Politically and economically, Russia and Cyprus are already tied closely together. Cyprus's President. Demetris Christofias, is the leader of the Cypriot Communist Party. He met his wife during his studies at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow in the 1960s. When Russia became "capitalist," the ties between the two countries became even closer. Thousands of wealthy Russians have put their "black money" in Cypriot banks. Although Cyprus joined the eurozone in 2008, its banks have almost no clients from other EU countries. With the exception of Greece, with which the Greek-speaking Cypriots share close cultural and historic ties, Cypriot banks cater almost exclusively to Russian oligarchs; as a consequence, tiny Cyprus is Russia's largest foreign investor.
In November 2011, Cyprus was bailed out by a €2.5 bn loan from Russia. The eurocrisis has since deepened and more money is now urgently needed. Last June, Cyprus turned to the European Union (EU), the eurozone's European Central Bank (ECB) and the IMF, asking for emergency aid of at least €10 bn. In return, however, the EU, ECB and IMF – the so-called Troika – have asked Cyprus to reform its economy. Negotiations over these "structural reforms," such as privatization of state-owned enterprises and reduction of wages, have been dragging on for almost eight months.
No agreement could be reached between the ruling Cypriot Communists, who refused to implement the reforms demanded by the Troika, and Germany, the euro's major paymaster. Next fall, general elections will be held in Germany. With an electorate that is tired of bailing out banks and governments in Greece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain in order to save the euro – a currency which many Germans feel was forced upon them – Chancellor Angela Merkel is reluctant to come to Cyprus's aid.
Last November, a leaked intelligence report of the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND), the German equivalent of the CIA, made matters even more difficult for Merkel. The report asserted that a bailout of Cyprus would boil down to using German taxpayers' money to save the funds of rich Russians, who deposited up to €26 bn in "black money" in Cypriot banks, which are now on the brink of bankruptcy. The BND accuses Cyprus of creating a fertile ground for Russian money laundering, a charge further exacerbated by the ease with which Russian oligarchs can obtain Cypriot nationality and thus gain automatic access to all the EU member states. The BND said 80 oligarchs have managed to gain access this way to the entire EU.
As the financial blog Testosterone Pit writes: "Taxpayers in other countries, including those in the US – via the US contribution to the IMF – will be asked to [bail out] tiny Cyprus." However, given that Chancellor Merkel has already decided that the euro must be saved at all costs, she has no other option but to bail out Cyprus, including the investments of Russian oligarchs.
In all likelihood, the Cypriot bailout is to be agreed on in principle at a meeting in Brussels next week, and formally approved on February 10. Meanwhile, Cypriot Finance Minister Vassos Shiarly has indicated that Russia might be asked to join the efforts to save Cyprus if the EU approves the bailout. "First there must be an EU agreement, then we might ask them [Russia] to join," Shiarly said.
Some think that it is in Putin's interest to do so, to avoid investigations into the role of Cypriot banks in Russian money laundering. However, Russia's strategic geopolitical interests are a much more important reason for Russia to gain a foothold in Cyprus.
The same applies to Israel. The Jewish state and Cyprus are also currently strengthening their ties. Israel is seeking to work with Cyprus on national gas exploration and extraction. The Cypriot-Israeli rapprochement has already angered Turkey, which is bullying both Nicosia and Jerusalem.
Israel is also collaborating with Cyprus in the EurAsia Interconnector project. This is a undersea cable which will link Israel with Cyprus. The 286-kilometer link will be the world's longest undersea power cable in the world.
If Europe fails to bail Cyprus out, there are at least two countries, Russia and Israel, for whom it makes political, economic and strategic sense to step in. Indeed, while a monetary union between different nations makes little sense, a monetary union between the Cypriot currency and the Israeli shekel would make more sense than the current conflictious monetary marriage between the Cypriots and the Europeans.

Related Topics: Russia | Peter Martino

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