Toby Axelrod
By Toby Axelrod
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Opinion What A ‘Kippah Walk’ In Berlin Doesn’t Tell Us About Anti-Semitism
(JTA) — It’s literally become old hat: Sending a Jew wearing a kippah into the streets of a European city to see how non-Jews react. A so-called “anti-Semitism test,” it’s been done, ad nauseam. So I was a bit surprised last week when I saw yet another article on the topic on the website of the German…
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Fast Forward Switzerland Launching Holocaust Remembrance App
BERLIN (JTA) — A new app to teach youth about the Holocaust will be a centerpiece of Switzerland’s chairmanship of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Switzerland took over the rotating chairmanship of the 31-member inter-governmental group on March 7 from Romania. The app, called Fliehen vor dem Holocaust, or Escaping the Holocaust, allows users to learn about the fate…
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Fast Forward Swiss Parliament Votes To Halt Funds To Anti-Semitic Groups
BERLIN (JTA) — Switzerland’s lower house of parliament voted to halt public funding for organizations that promote racism, anti-Semitism and hate. Submitted by Christian Imark of the right-wing populist Swiss People’s Party, the bill passed Wednesday by a vote of 111 to 78, with all center-right mainstream parties in support. Voting against the measure were the Social Democratic, Green and…
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Fast Forward Anti-Semitic Incidents Rise 16% In Berlin
BERLIN (JTA) – With anti-Semitic incidents reportedly on the rise in Berlin, Jewish leaders in the German capital are renewing their call for an official federal commissioner to deal with the problem. The Berlin-based Research and Information Office on Anti-Semitism, founded in 2015, reported Monday that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in Germany’s capital has risen by 16 percent in 2016 over the previous…
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Fast Forward Brothers Who Survived Auschwitz Barred From Joining Suit Against Nazi Medic
BERLIN (JTA) — A judge in Germany has barred two Jewish brothers from Boulder, Colorado, from being co-plaintiffs in an accessory to murder trial against 96-year-old former Auschwitz SS medic Hubert Zafke. Chief Judge Klaus Kabisch in the Neubrandenburg state court explained on Tuesday that brothers Walter and William Plywaski – themselves Auschwitz survivors – could not join the trial because…
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Fast Forward Germany Right Wing Party Set To Oust Lawmaker Who Denigrated Berlin Holocaust Memorial
BERLIN (JTA) — Germany’s rising right-wing populist party voted to begin proceedings to oust a prominent member for calling Berlin’s Holocaust memorial a “monument of shame.” Bjoern Hoecke, leader of the Alternative for Germany, or AfD, in the former East German state of Thuringia aroused ire nationwide with remarks in January denigrating the memorial and suggesting that…
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Fast Forward Angela Merkel Scraps Cabinet Meeting With Israel Over Settlements
BERLIN (JTA) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has canceled a planned top-level joint Cabinet meeting with Israeli leaders, reportedly out of frustration over Israel’s controversial new settlements law. The binational consultation was set for May 10 in Jerusalem. The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that Merkel’s office offered the September national elections in Germany as the reason for the cancellation, but the chancellor appears…
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Fast Forward German Jews Welcome Election of Steinmeier as Ceremonial President
BERLIN (JTA) – The Central Council of Jews in Germany welcomed the election of Frank-Walter Steinmeier as Germany’s next president, calling him among the “most upright and staunch advocates of our democratic values and our constitution,” as well as a strong supporter of Israel. Steinmeier, a member of the Social Democratic Party who stepped down from his position…
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