Jewish & World News

The Greek neo-Nazi Golden Dawn Party has questioned the country marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day, calling it “unacceptable.” In a question posed in the Greek Parliament last week, Golden Dawn lawmaker Ioannis Lagos asked the Education and Interior ministers why state institutions and schools where commemorating Jan. 27th.

Greek police fear an attack on Israeli tourists similar to the one that occurred on 18 July in the Bulgarian city of Burgas, Greek newspaper To Proto Thema reported on Sunday, ahead of President Shimon Peres' visit to Greece. According to the reports, concerns have increased due to Peres' upcoming visit which is set to begin on Monday and end on Thursday. The report further noted that police have raised the alert level and that Greek intelligence was in constant contact with the Mossad.

Personal letters were sent to members of the Jewish community in Athens in recent months asking them to pay annual community dues. This brash appeal for funds is just one of the previously unthinkable measures taken by Greece's Jewish community in an effort to survive. "This never happened in the past," said Ilana Demetrio, a Jewish resident of Athens. "The practice used to be that each person donated time and money based on his own resources and abilities. But recently, a practice of sending letters specifying concrete amounts has taken root. This happened because of our economic situation."

The Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency, which will convene this week in Jerusalem with the participation of community leaders and representatives from around the world, will grant emergency aid to the Jewish community in Greece to meet the immediate needs raised by the economic crisis that has struck the country. Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky convened an urgent meeting earlier this week of the agency’s executive, during which it decided to grant aid totaling about NIS 4 million over two years to provide for the continued activities of communal Jewish institutions, including programs to strengthen the community’s relationship with Israel and special tracks for those who choose to make aliya to Israel.

Greek Jewish leaders are expressing concern over the move by two far-right lawmakers to the leading conservative party. Makis Voridis and Adonis Georgiadis resigned from the far-right Popular Orthodox Rally, or LAOS, and will run as candidates of the New Democracy party in April's elections. New Democracy is leading in the polls. The lawmakers, who have expressed or associated themselves with insulting anti-Jewish views, stepped down from LAOS after backing a national austerity bill against the party's vote; the measure passed Monday.

In Greece, old stereotypes about Germany are coming back with a vengeance. A Greek newspaper upset over Angela Merkel’s handling of Greece’s debt crisis Thursday ran a Photoshopped image on its front page showing the chancellor in Nazi attire standing before a swastika. Dimokratia newspaper also ran the word “Dachau” with the photo, referencing a Nazi concentration camp, reported Joe.ie, an Irish Web site that first spotted the image. The photo appeared just after the Greek government agreed to new austerity measures. The decision sparked protests and clashes with police in Athens as well as a 48-hour general strike. At the protests, Nazi flags were held high, German flags burned and swastikas displayed. The intense anti-German sentiment was clear. Last week, associations representing doctors, lawyers and structural engineers met in Athens and decided on a boycott of products from Germany. The financial crisis in Greece has pitted the small country against Germany. Germany refuse...

A Greek-Jewish umbrella group asked a United Nations body to make clear when commemorating Bulgaria 's rescue of its own Jews the country's role in the genocide of Greek Jews. "Bulgarians saved their country’s Jews in exchange for the Jews of the other territories under their control," said the letter sent Jan 26 from the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece to the United Nations Department of Public Information/Non Governmental Organizations. "In the name of the historical memory of our brothers, victims of the Bulgarian atrocities in our country during the Holocaust, we ask you to include this small and 'untold' part of history in your briefing."

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) called Wednesday for the Greek Orthodox church to remove the Metropolite of Piraeus, Seraphim, after the high-ranking priest sounded an anti-Semitic rant on Greek TV. Speaking on the morning show on Mega-TV, the largest television station in Greece, Seraphim blamed world Jewry for Greece's financial problems.

An Israel-bound flight was delayed for about two hours at Athens International Airport Wednesday after protesters against the blockade of Gaza blocked check-in counters, airport officials said.

Greece is considering taking legal action against U.S. investment banks that might have contributed to the country’s debt crisis, Prime Minister George Papandreou said.

Thessaloniki,  Greece -  The Jewish cemetery of Thessaloniki, in northern Greece, was desecrated Thursday night by a group of anti-Semites who used rags and gasoline to set fire to a tomb, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece (KIS) announced. 

Athens - It has taken nearly 70 years, but tomorrow, as the sun sets over Athens, a monument to honour Greece's Holocaust victims will finally be unveiled.

In Greece, where rioting is a national sport, protesters have a mascot. A mystery mutt has turned up at every major demonstration in Athens for the past two years and earned iconic status.