Tag: Germany

Fighting during World War II took on special significance for U. S. Jewish servicemen and women in the 1940's. They understood that they were fighting a double war - one against the Axis of Evil, and one against blatant world anti-semitism. As Americans, they fought to protect their country, and as Jews they fought to protect their brethren suffering Nazi persecution.

Around 20 organizations representing four million Muslim residents of Germany, announced that the parliament must ensure religious freedom by removing legal doubts about circumcision since the June 26 court ruling. The ruling was also criticized in no uncertain terms by the head of Germany's Central Council of Jews, Dieter Graumann.

The Jewish Hospital in Berlin has suspended all religious circumcisions of children following a ruling delivered by a German court banning the practice.

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle weighed in Friday on a controversial German court ruling on circumcision, saying the country protected religious freedom and traditions,...

Head of the Religious Community of Islam in Germany Ali Demir predicted that a ban on circumcisions in Germany would lead to the development of "circumcision tourism in neighboring countries in Europe." ADL's Abe Foxman called on Germany's parliament to change the law, lest Jews again feel unwanted in Germany.

The French traveler Nicolay, who in 1551 accompanied Jews exiled from France to Constantinople, depicted the life, activities, trade and traffic, culture, and the social setting of the Jews in the following manner:

Normally I hate the Germans, but I have to give them credit on this one! Let their banning of brit milah be a reminder to our Jewish brothers and sisters in the Diaspora that we don’t belong in foreign lands. Unfortunately, I doubt whether the new law will affect the Jews of Germany in any meaningful way. After all, if the slaughter of 6 million didn’t make them think twice about living in that polluted, blood-stained gentile land, this new measure isn’t liable to wake them up either.

The anger that burns inside me has come to a boil and I cannot be diplomatic so I will be honest. I have nothing to say to the Germans - they are men, nothing more. They can make all the laws they want. They did in 1933, in 1938, and they will in 2012. Their laws are nothing when compared to the laws of God. Germany has outlawed circumcision. All that means is that it is time for Jews to leave Germany - not just the young ones contemplating having children, but all Jews.

A Cologne district court ruled on Tuesday that parents may not have their sons circumcised for religious reasons, essentially criminalizing religious circumcisions.

If Obama and other world leaders want Merkel to keep propping up the euro with German taxpayers' money, they will have to share some of the burden. Soon, the world will have to come to the rescue of Europe, and help to bail out the eurozone. So until November, the euro's problems are Obama's problems, too.

EJP reports that eight extreme-right politicians on Wednesday were expelled from the Saxony, Germany, state parliament for wearing neo-Nazi T-shirts. The lawmakers, from the controversial...

The BDS movement against Israel is growing in Germany, hitting the transportation, tourism, music, agriculture, . Critics say the obsession with Israel while human rights are being systematically abused in Muslim countries such as Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia is a reflection of anti-Semitism.

Israel is equipping submarines built in Germany with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles, according to an in-depth report in Der Spiegel magazine. The magazine also reported Sunday...

European Turkey in its present form consists of the small region around Istanbul, Adrianopolis, Kirkilisse, and Rodosto. For the history of the Jews, the cities Adrianopolis – today’s Edirne, and the capital from 1361 – 1453 – and Constantinople – today’s Istanbul, capital since 1453 – come into consideration. Both cities once had thriving Jewish communities, but show signs of going under today.

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The extreme-left Greek Syriza party became the second biggest party in the country on May 6, surpassing the socialist Pasok party. Syriza has a party platform which includes "disengagement from NATO" and "termination of the military cooperation with Israel."

After releasing all but two of the Salafists responsible for the brawl on May 5th, the Interior Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia, Ralf Jäger, cast blame on the democratic -- and peaceful -- political party PRO NRW. He ordered police to prevent PRO NRW from displaying anti-Islam any more cartoons during the final phase of the state's regional election campaign, to be held on May 13th.

The virus of antisemitism persists in haunting Europe. In recent months, antisemitism has been exhibited all too often in European countries, not just in theory but in practice.

The INS Tanin cost approximately $500 million, one-third of which was funded by the German Government, and is slated to arrive in Israel next year.

The comparatively small Jewish population of India – after the census of 1921 there were hardly 20,000 out of a general population of 352 million – fell into four groups: the Cochin Jews of the Malabar Coast, the Bene Israel, the fore-Asian Jews, mostly of Sephardic ancestry, and immigrants from various regions of Europe.

Among its results, the study found that 72% of Polish citizens agree or strongly agree that "Jews try to take advantage of having been victims during the Nazi era," and that 68% of Hungarians share this sentiment. Nearly 70% percent of Hungarians also think that "Jews have too much influence" in their country.

The Israeli band Balkan Beat Box will continue its successful world tour with a concert on Wednesday evening in Munich, Germany – striking a nerve for some in Israel because it is the start of Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. All entertainment venues, from shows to restaurants, are shuttered in Israel on this day.

In a letter to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, two congressmen said a medal awarded to veteran journalist Helen Thomas could hurt U.S. assistance...

Günter Grass, Germany's most celebrated living author, became the center of a news hurricane on Wednesday, after he published a poem titled "What must be said," in which he blames Israel for destabilizing world peace with its plots against Iran. The Israeli Embassy in Berlin said it is a European tradition to accuse the Jews of ritual murder before the Passover festival.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Iran and the group of five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany have...

Libya lies in North Africa between Egypt and Tunisia and consists of Cyrenica and Tripoli. Even in the 3rd century before the Common Era, Cyrenica was a destination for Jewish emigration. Over the next century the Jewish population grew in numbers but was strongly Hellenized.

When Sigmar Gabriel wrote on his Facebook page that Hebron was “an apartheid regime for which there is no justification,” the chairman of Germany’s main opposition party sparked an outcry that reverberated beyond his virtual wall. But such a conclusion is inevitable when one relies on sources and organizations that present Hebron in an extremely skewed light, like the Temporary International Presence in Hebron (TIPH).

Israel and Germany signed a contract purchasing the Israeli Navy's sixth submarine Wednesday. It is an SSK Dolphin Class submarine. Last year the newspaper The Welt am Sonntag reported that German chancellor Angela Merkel conditioned the sale of the Dolphin on Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, which Netanyahu obliged.

Israel Defense reports that Eurospike, a subsidiary of weapons manufacturer Rafael, has signed a contract to supply Spike missiles totaling hundreds of millions of dollars to Germany.

The stories in this column are translations by Mr. Nollet from Die Juden In Der Welt (The Jews in the World) by Mark Wischnitzer, a long out-of-print book published more than seven decades ago in Germany. The book examines Jewish communities, one country at a time, as they existed in 1935.