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Charges dropped against offensive
sign-writer
Oryana Kaufman
THE case against the man who put
up a string of offensive signs on a massive billboard in North
Sydney has been dropped.
NSW Anti-Discrimination Board (ADB) president Stepen
Kerkyasharian told the AJN this week that the director of public
prosecutions believes there are “insufficient grounds to
prosecute” Mike Barclay.
“Also the complainant does not wish to pursue it through the
board or the tribunal. The board itself does not have any powers
to prosecute on its own initiative,” he said.
“No more action will be taken. The file is closed.”
The complaint was lodged at the ADB in June after local residents
took particular offence to one of Barclay’s signs — “Jews make
fantastic lampshades. Why is Israel above the law?”
For almost three years, Barclay has used his Spit Road billboard
to peddle his views to an estimated 70,000 passing cars each day.
Two weeks ago Barclay's billboard was
back carrying a message to the effect of "Will Jews again
vandalise this board and my home? Freedom of Speech?"
MP honours Holocaust past in
inaugural address
AVIVA BARD
NSW ALP MP Eric Roozendaal spoke
at length of his family’s Holocaust history in his inaugural
speech to the NSW State Parliament on Tuesday evening.
The former general-secretary of the NSW Labor Party told the
chamber he was named after his grand-father, who perished in
Auschwitz in 1944, and recalled how his family was hidden from
the Nazis.
“I am here today because in 1942, at great risk, a kind Dutch
policeman hid a little Jewish seven-year-old boy, his
four-year-old sister and mother for over 15 months. That
seven-year-old was my father. In those 15 months, he never saw
daylight. Eventually my father’s family was able to escape to
Renkun, where they remained hidden until being liberated by
Canadian forces in May 1945.”
Involved in politics since his days as a student at Macquarie
University, Roozendaal took over the position from Tony Burke,
member for Watson. He is the second Jewish person to become a
member of the NSW Legislative Council, alongside Greens MLC Ian
Cohen.
“My presence in this place owes everything to the two great
causes to which I’ve devoted my life: my family, and the Labor
Party,” Roozendaal said.
Worrying signs of antisemitism in
Ukraine
Vladimir Matveyev
KIEV, Ukraine — One of Ukraine’s
most powerful politicians has refused to denounce a leading
Ukrainian newspaper for publishing a virulently antisemitic
article asserting that 400,000 Jews joined the SS during the Nazi
invasion of Ukraine in 1941.
Aleksandr Moroz, leader of the Socialist Party of Ukraine and a
candidate for president in next month’s elections, said he was in
no position to determine the veracity of the article in Silski
Visti (Village News).
“I have defended Silski Visti and will continue to do so,” said
Moroz. “I personally think the argument of the author of the
article, Vasily Yaremenko, citing 400,000 Jews in the SS is
incorrect, but I am not in a position to know all the facts.”
Moroz’s comments, along with statements by other leading
Ukrainians, indicate a worrisome acceptance of a surge of
antisemitism in the mass media as Ukraine gears up for the
elections.
Although Moroz is unlikely to win the election — he is currently
drawing about 10 per cent of the vote — his refusal to condemn
Silski Visti is significant because he is a respected figure here
who has led the charge in accusing the government of corruption
and complicity in the murder of an opposition journalist.
Iranian pulls out of Israel game
AN Iranian player pulled out of a
soccer game against Maccabi Tel Aviv last week.
Officially, Vahid Hashemian, who plays for Bayern Munich, pulled
out of his German team’s Champions League group stage match
against Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel on Rosh Hashanah because of an
injury.
But an Iranian official had warned of consequences for athletes
who travel to Israel. The move comes after an Iranian athlete was
rewarded for not competing against an Israeli athlete during the
recent Olympic Games in Athens.
Meanwhile, Iran has paid judoka Arash Miresmaeli, who avoided an
Olympics match against an Israeli, the same prize-money as to its
gold medallists, the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.
Though Miresmaeli did not get a gold medal, “he earned eternal
honour by his refusal”, said Tehran’s mayor, Mahmood Ahmadi Nejad.
Miresmaeli had reportedly said that he would not meet Udi Vaks in
Athens as a gesture of sympathy with the Palestinian people. On
the day of the bout, Miresmaeli, a favourite in the
under-66-kilogram class, was declared overweight and
disqualified.
Praise, protests as ‘Material Girl’
goes spiritual in Israel
POP diva Madonna drew both praise
and protest during her five-day tour of Israel over Rosh
Hashanah.
The Material Girl, who has since found spirituality in the form
of kabbalah, was attending a seminar in Tel Aviv run by the Los
Angeles-based Kabbalah Centre along with more than 2000 other
participants.
Together with her husband, film director Guy Ritchie, she visited
the grave of the kabbalist sage Rabbi Yehuda Ashlag, who wrote a
commentary on the Zohar. She also arrived in her cavalcade at the
Western Wall, but did not visit the holy site after a group of
ultra-Orthodox men surrounded her convoy shouting “Shabbes”.
Outside her Tel Aviv hotel, some protestors welcomed her, others
criticised her, and yet others used the occasion to protest the
security barrier.
Born a Roman Catholic, Madonna, now 46, has adopted Esther as her
Hebrew name and wears a diamond-studded necklace with the letter
“E” around her neck as well as a red thread on her wrist to ward
off the evil eye. According to Israeli media reports, she even
requested kosher meals.
AJN Archive on Pauline Hanson
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