Third of French people are racist, study says
Some 30 percent of French citizens are racist, a new study concluded.
According to research conducted by the French Consultative Commission for Human Rights, 48 percent believe there are too many foreigners in the country, 54 percent blame immigrants for not doing enough to integrate into French society and 58 percent believe that some situations might justify racist behavior.
The report states that xenophobic, anti-Semitic and racist acts generally are on the decline in France. During 2006, 885 racist threats and actions were registered, 10 percent less then in 2005. Still, anti-Semitic violence and threats increased, with 541 incidents in 2006 compared to 508 in 2005. In spite of the general improvement, the commission stated that the government has a long way to go, and called for better educational programs and an Internet campaign. — jta
Irving denies Auschwitz gas chambers on Italian TV
Holocaust denier David Irving was shown on Italian television claiming there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.
During a program that aired Friday, March 23, Irving was shown at the former German Nazi death camp in Poland, which he apparently visited recently. During the Italian documentary, Irving explains that engineering techniques at the time weren’t sufficient to allow the Nazis to gas people en masse.
A spokesman for the Auschwitz museum, Jaroslav Mensfelt, said Irving likely visited there a week or two ago, but without the knowledge or consent of museum officials. “He is a persona non grata here,’’ Mensfelt told the Associated Press. “It would be best if he never came here. Such people desecrate the place and are not welcome.”
Irving was released from jail in Vienna in December after serving 13 months of a three-year sentence for Holocaust denial. — jta
Lawyers want artwork returned to survivor
Sixty lawyers signed a petition calling on the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum to return seven pieces of art to the survivor who painted them.
Dina Babbitt, who now lives in Santa Cruz, was forced to paint gypsy prisoners in Auschwitz on whom Dr. Josef Mengele, a notorious Nazi war criminal, was conducting experiments. The petition, circulated close to Passover by the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust studies, urged the museum to “let her paintings go!”
Museum authorities have suggested that the paintings belonged to Mengele, according to the Wyman Institute. The petition calls the museum’s stance “shocking and offensive,” arguing that “a war criminal does not deserve to enjoy the fruits of his crimes.” — jta
Saudis bar Israeli reporter accompanying U.N. chief
Saudi Arabia reportedly barred an Israeli journalist traveling with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon on his Mideast tour.
The New York Times reported that Orly Azoulay, 53, Washington bureau chief of Yediot Achronot, was to be part of a group of 11 reporters accompanying Ki-Moon. A dual citizen, she applied with the other journalists using her French passport.
Despite requests from Ki-Moon’s office, the Saudi consulate in New York returned the journalists’ passports, but didn’t stamp Azoulay’s. Ki-Moon was to go to Riyadh on Tuesday, March 27, to attend an Arab League summit meeting. He arrived in Israel on Sunday; the Jewish state granted visas to all 11 journalists, including at least three who were Arab- or Iranian-born and traveling on European passports, the Times reported. — jta
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California