Visiting Israel this week, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz minced no words in fully accepting Austria’s responsibility for its role in the Holocaust. For decades after World War II, Austria basked in the blithe, blissful belief that it was a victim of German Nazism rather than an active collaborator in Germany’s crimes against humanity. But in […]
Hamid Dabashi, a professor of Iranian Studies and comparative literature at Columbia University in New York City, has placed himself beyond the pale by having written a problematic Facebook post and a scurrilous tweet, both of which have been rightly condemned by students and faculty alike. In a Facebook post last month, which he has […]
Alexander Gauland, the co-leader and a founder of the far right-wing Alternative for Germany Party (AFD), has trivialized the Nazi interregnum in his country. “Yes, we plead guilty to those 12 years,” he said of the Nazi era. “But we have a glorious history and one, my friends, that lasted a lot longer than those […]
A few days ago, Reiko Fuentes, the principal of Forest Hill Collegiate Institute, a Toronto high school with a considerable number of Jewish students, took it upon herself to remove a Jewish Heritage Month banner from the main foyer of the mid-town school. She did this without bothering to consult the students who had been […]
At the risk of sounding monotonous, I return once more to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hasty decision to allow more than one million Muslim migrants to flood into Germany since 2015. Much to her probable astonishment and disappointment, it has had unintended consequences. The majority of the newcomers are from Syria, an Arab police state whose […]
Late last month, in concert with several Western nations, Canada expelled a number of Russian diplomats stationed here. The federal government explained it had acted in solidarity with Britain, which blames Russia for a deadly chemical attack on a former Russian double agent and his daughter residing in the country. Shortly afterwards, Canadian Foreign Minister […]
Jeremy Corbyn, the embattled 68-year-old leader of Britain’s left-of-center Labor Party, is under fire again. Corbyn, a dark horse candidate from the hard left of the party, succeeded the middle-of-the-road Ed Miliband in 2015. Since then, he has been busy fending off accusations of being anti-Israel and soft on antisemitic members of the party, which […]
An arts festival in Oslo, Norway, which focuses on gender identity and femininity has unjustly penalized six Israeli choreographers purely on the basis of their nationality. The Feminine Tripper Festival, which took place earlier this month, rejected their applications just because they are Israeli citizens. Political correctness has reached a new low. Shame on the festival. […]
Antisemitic myths are deeply-rooted and endure from one century to the next, causing verbal abuse and outright violence. This came to mind in the wake of comments made recently by Trayon White, a member of City Council in Washington, D.C. In an inane video he posted on Facebook, he aligned himself to a well-worn conspiracy […]
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Last month, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki stirred indignation and outrage when he falsely asserted that Jews were among the perpetrators of the Holocaust. This absurd claim was widely regarded as an affront to the historical record. Several days ago, Morawiecki’s father, Kornel, a former senator, claimed that […]