The verbal and written attacks have included hints that the Jews are damaging the country's economy and are following the notorious anti-Semitic fabrication "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." It is likely related to the rising tensions ahead of the country's parliamentary elections, which are set for later this month.

"This anti-Semitism is troubling us all and it needs to cease immediately," said David Bittan Obadia, deputy chairman of the Jewish community of Venezuela Friday. "We are not saying this is the government policy; however, [the government] is capable of putting a stop to the phenomenon. It has the tools. We will be very direct and adamant in the things we will tell President Chavez."

Bittan Obadia said the attacks had come from the media, but the community's real concern was that the phenomenon would spread.

He said the president's staff had promised a meeting with Chavez in about 10 days.

A member of Caracas' Jewish community told Haaretz yesterday, "Chavez and his supporters will not give up power, irrespective of the election result, and many members of our community are concerned that if there are disturbances, we will be targeted. When there is anarchy, there are always people who use it to attack Jews."

She added, "When the mood intensifies, like during the current election campaign, there are politicians who immediately bring out the incitement against the Jews. Is this by order of the president? I don't know, but the president sees and hears everything in the government-controlled area. Many Jewish families in my area have left or are leaving."

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The ayatollah, speaking in the city of Qom, was quoted by the IRNA news agency.

Shirazi, who is considered one of the great Shiite rulers in Iran, said the Holocaust was "a superstition. But the Zionists say that all peoples of the world must accept that.

"The truth about the Holocaust is not clear, and when researchers want to determine if (the event) is true or whether the Jews have invented it to make themselves look like victims, they are imprisoned.

"Americans and Westerners," he continued, "Are affected by a newly emerging superstition like the Holocaust".

Interviewed by Belgian Flemish public radio VRT, Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade, declared: "I see few reasons to think that there is this time more reasons for success."

Asked about the fact that the EU is not directly involved in the Washington talks, he said: "The United States are the only capable to play a significant role because they can pressure Israel."

He added: “And also do not underestimate the Jewish lobby on Capitol Hill. It is the best organized lobby there. In other words, don’t underestimate the influence of this lobby on American policy, whether on Republicans or Democrats. “

"Apart from this lobby, don’t underestimate the opinion of the average Jew outside Israel. There is a belief among most Jews, religious and secular alike, that they are right."

"And belief is something difficult to fight with rational arguments," the Commissioner said

"It is therefore not easy even when you have a conversation with a moderate Jew to speak about what is happening in the Middle East."

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A lawyer acting for Catherine Pederzoli, a 58-year-old secondary teacher in the eastern town of Nancy, said her client had been accused by administrators in Henri-Loritz de Nancy of teaching the World War II massacres with insufficient "neutrality".

"If this teacher had been a Christian, no-one would have accused her of brain-washing," alleged lawyer Christine Tadic. "Isn't it the case that this teacher's fault is to have been Jewish?"

Nancy local education authorities were not immediately available to respond to the charge, but a report compiled by school inspectors revealed that they did have concerns over Pederzoli's teaching of the Holocaust.

The report, compiled last month, alleged the teacher took up too much time preparing pupils for annual school trips to Poland and the Czech Republic to visit sites like the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp.

A copy of the report, seen by AFP, accuses Pederzoli of "lacking distance, neutrality and secularism" in teaching the Holocaust and of manipulating her charges through a process of "brain-washing".

Tadic said that her client had organised the trips without facing any complaints for 15 years before she found herself unfairly targeted by a new school management team that arrived in 2007.

The lawyer lodged a complaint on Tuesday seeking a court injunction to annul the suspension. Judges have two weeks to make a ruling.

The fire smouldered against the front door of the funeral parlour where bodies await burial. Firefighters quickly put it out. The cemetery is located east of the city centre.

Police said they were looking for witnesses and believed a right- wing motive for the attack was possible.

"All Jews share a particular gene," Sarrazin said in an interview published on Sunday, August 29. "That makes them different from other peoples."

Sarrazin, who is currently promoting his book "Deutschland schafft sich ab" ("Germany does away with itself"), remained undeterred in expressing his views despite criticism and calls for his resignation from the board of the Bundesbank.

"The cultural peculiarities of the peoples is no myth, but determines the reality of Europe," Sarrazin told the newspapers Welt am Sonntag and Berliner Morgenpost.

Berlin's former finance chief has said in the past that Muslims living in Germany do not contribute to the country's economic prosperity, reducing their role to the running of fruit and vegetable stands.

He reiterated his view that Muslim immigrants all over Europe were integrating more poorly than other immigrant populations into the societies of their host countries.

In 2009, the central banker, who is a member of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), had said he would prefer immigration "if it was by eastern European Jews with a 15-percent-higher IQ than the German population."

The Jewish community in Germany reacted with indignation to Sarrazin's attempts at racial profiling.

"Whoever tries to define Jews by their genetic makeup, even when it is superficially positive in tone, is in the grip of a race mania that Jews do not share," said Stephan Kramer, secretary of the Central Council of Jews in Germany.

While Sarrazin made reference in his interview to the alleged unique genetics of social groups, he also claimed he was not racist. It was not ethnicity, he said, but rather the culture of Islam that kept Muslims immigrants from integrating into European societies.

Germany's Foreign Minister, Guido Westerwelle, responded to Sarrazin's latest comments, saying statements "that promote racism or antisemitism have no place in political discourse."

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The series “Jesus” (“Al-Said Al-Masih” in Arabic) has been broadcasted in Lebanon since the beginning of August 2010 by Hizbullah’s satellite channel Al-Manar, as well as by the Lebanese Shiite ABN Channel, which is identified with the Amal Movement and its leader Nabih Berri. The series was broadcasted during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, in which the T.V ratings are particularly high. The series was also broadcasted at the same time in the Arabic speaking Al-Kuthr Channel of Iran.

The series was heavily protested against among Lebanon’s Christians, and the two channels were forced to stop broadcasting it following the first few episodes. Despite the protests in Lebanon, the Iranian Al-Kuthr Channel continues to broadcast the series.

The series is of an anti-Christian and antisemitic nature. The series was produced in Iran in 2008 and dubbed in Arabic. It tells the life story of Jesus from a Muslim perspective, which sees Jesus as one of the prophets, although not the most important of them (Muhammad is considered to be the most important prophet). According to the Islamic perspective, the Holy Trinity concept which depicts Jesus as the son of God is baseless.

The following are several examples of insulting references towards Jesus (based on the series’ first two episodes, which were uploaded to You Tube):

In the first episode Jesus faces the devil, who tries to dissuade him from fulfilling his mission as a prophet. The devil tells Jesus he is the son of God, but Jesus “resists the temptation” and declines.

In another scene, the actor playing the role of Jesus says: “I am much less important than other servants of God” (hence, he is of a lesser status compared to other prophets, and primarily compared to Muhammad).

At the end of the first episode, a friend of Jesus tells him: “Shall we go hunt some fish?”, and to this Jesus replies: “No, let’s go hunt some people”.

Apart from the insulting references towards Jesus, the first two episodes also contain several unmistakable antisemitic expressions. The Jews are depicted as conspirators, liars, traitorous, cowards, vicious, ugly, greedy and diabolical. The Jewish residents of Jerusalem are portrayed as merchants who are willing to do anything to deceive others (It should be mentioned that this assessment relies on the first two episodes. Later episodes, depicting Jesus’ extradition to the Romans by the Jews, will most likely contain similar antisemitic expressions, if not worse).

Right-wing extremism on the Internet is on the rise. The number of neo-Nazi networks has tripled within a year to 90, according to the German youth protection organization, jugendschutz.net.

The number of websites from the NPD (the right-wing German National Democratic Party) rose 30 percent to 242. The extremists are even spreading their message via social networking communities like Facebook, and video sharing platforms such as YouTube.

The content is invariably xenophobic, antisemitic and racist. The form it takes varies: some sites rewrite children's songs into neo-Nazi anthems, others call openly for violence. Often it can be hard at first glance to tell the ideology behind the content.

How to tackle the problem?

Up to 10,000 internet users access neo-Nazi blogs and platforms every day according to jugendschutz.net. The organization is now working to combat the problem by raising awareness among young internet surfers.

Jugendschutz.net also targets the sites themselves, and has succeeded in banning four out of five cases of offensive content. Stefan Glaser is head researcher for right-wing activities at the organization. He is pleased with the success of this strategy, which relies on international partners to ban content.

"If we in Germany have a case that is based in Hungary or Romania, or has a provider that we cannot access, where there may also be language barriers, then we will contact our local partners," Glaser explained. "They contact the operator or try to get the content removed from the network via other means."

Parents often need advice

Another resource in the struggle against online neo-Nazism is an online advice forum led by graduate teacher Martin Ziegenhagen. He encourages people to seek advice over problems with neo-Nazis at school, in the workplace or at home. There is a closed chat room for parents worried about their children.

Ziegenhagen says online consultation can be an important factor in a successful turn-around:

"After over two years, a son left the NPD. The fact that the boy's mother survived the two years and has repeatedly dealt with the topic while remaining in contact with her son, that's largely thanks to the online consultation."

The President of the Federal Center for Political Education, Thomas Krueger hopes that the fight against neo-Nazis on the internet will be more focused in the future.

"I would like to see a bit more strength and creativity from the Internet community. The sort of demonstrations against the NPD which take place in the real world must also take place in the virtual world."

Author: Marcel Fuerstenau (Joanna Impey)

Editor: Matt Zuvela

Source: http:www.dw-world.de/

Simonas Gurevicius, head of the Jewish Community in Lithuania said that the incident should be taken as an assault against believers of all faiths, and not only against Jews.

“We hope that the Lithuanian society will not remain indifferent, as the act of few antisemitic hoodlums does not reflect the general attitude of the Lithuanian society”, he added.