Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

ANTI-SEMITISM

New French anti-Semitic posts on Twitter

France's Union of Jewish Students (UEJF), which last week forced Twitter to remove anti-Semitic posts under threat of legal action, said on Monday it wanted the micro-blogging site to take off a new volley of hate messages.

Published: 22 October 2012 12:49 CEST

New French anti-Semitic posts on Twitter

Photo: Spencer E Holtaway

The UEJF on Friday said that Twitter had agreed to take down many offending tweets that have recently flooded the site.

They bore the hashtag #unbonjuif (#AGoodJew), frequently followed by comments such as: "#AGoodJew is a dead Jew".

But UEJF lawyer Stephane Lilti told AFP Monday that 50 new messages were sighted over the weekend using a new keyword #unjuifmort (A Dead Jew).

"We are giving a few days for these tweets that we have drawn attention to to be taken off," Lilli said.

France's SPCJ Jewish security watchdog said two weeks ago that anti-Semitic acts surged by 45 percent since the start of the year and were given fresh impetus by attacks by Islamic extremist Mohamed Merah.

Merah went on a shooting rampage in March in and around the southern city of Toulouse, killing a rabbi, three Jewish children and three French paratroopers — two of them Muslim — before being shot dead in a police siege.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Jewish scholar Max Friedlaender's grave stone in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, on October 12th.

Jewish scholar Max Friedlaender's grave stone in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, on October 12th. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-Zentralbild | Jens Kalaene

The remains of the neo-Nazi were buried at the grave of Max Friedlaender in Stahnsdorf, just outside Berlin, with several figures from the extreme-right scene in attendance at the funeral on Friday.

Samuel Salzborn, anti-Semitism official for Berlin, said late Tuesday that he had filed a criminal complaint because “the intention here is obvious – the right-wing extremists deliberately chose a Jewish grave to disturb the peace of the dead by burying a Holocaust denier there”.

He added that “it must now be quickly examined how quickly the Holocaust denier can be reburied in order to no longer disturb the dignified memory of Max Friedlaender”.

Friedlaender died in 1934 – when Adolf Hitler was already in power – and was buried in the graveyard as his religion was given as ‘Protestant’ in the burial registration slip

His grave was cleared upon expiration in 1980 and opened up for new burials, under common practice for plots after a certain amount of time has passed.

Friedlaender’s gravestone however remains standing as the entire cemetery is protected under monument conservative rules.

‘Mistake’

The Protestant Church managing the graveyard voiced dismay at the incident.

In a statement, it said it had accepted the request for burial at the empty grave because “everyone has a right for a final resting place”.

“Nevertheless, the choice of the former grave of Max Friedlaender is a mistake. We are looking into this mistake now,” the church said in a statement.

At the funeral, a black cloth was laid over Friedlaender’s tombstone while wreathes and ribbons bearing the Nazi-era iron cross symbol were laid on the grave for the neo-Nazi Henry Hafenmayer.

Prominent Holocaust denier Horst Mahler, who has been convicted for incitement, was among dozens at the funeral.

Police deployed at the funeral were able to arrest a fugitive from the far-right scene there, German media reported.

Several war graves stand at the cemetery at Stahnsdorf, and these sites are known in far-right circles, the Protestant church administrating the graveyard admitted.

It added that it has worked closely with police to hinder several neo-Nazi marches there in recent years.

READ ALSO: German hotel workers probed after singer’s anti-Semitism complaint

Url copied to clipboard!