Indianapolis Star
U.S. News & World Report's John Leo asks in his latest column: Is America's campus culture becoming antisemitic? One sign of the times, he writes, is a pig's head left at the door of the Hillel Building at Indiana University. That didn't happen, says the Hillel center's longtime director. "I'd know, I would definitely know," says Rabbi Sue Shifron. Leo, a syndicated columnist, tells Marcella Fleming: "All I know is it was in the Jerusalem Post. If that's what you got, that's what you got. We'll certainly try to check it ourselves."

NZ cemetery

Wellington, New Zealand, Saturday, August 7, 2004

Vandals wreak havoc in Jewish cemetery

By HAYDON DEWES

SHE experienced the horrors of Nazi Germany as a child but found safety in New Zealand. Yesterday, as Inger Woolf (right) stood in the rain and wept by her husband's desecrated grave, the nightmares came flooding back ...

THE Jewish community has been left in a state of shock by the violent desecration of a burial site, the second attack in Wellington in less than a month.

The incident has also provoked outrage from political, religious and social groups, including the right-wing National Front, which have condemned the vandalism.

As daylight broke yesterday at the isolated Makara Cemetery, about three kilometres west of Karori, the extent of the early-morning rampage became obvious.

Ninety-two gravestones had been knocked over. A small chapel, used for prayers during funeral services, was reduced to a smouldering shell.

A swastika etched crudely on the chapel wall greeted members of the Jewish community as they began arriving to witness the damage. A second swastika was gouged into grass between two rows of headstones.

The incident comes three weeks after 16 historic Jewish headstones were smashed at central Wellington's Bolton St Cemetery when swastikas and Nazi slogans were etched in the ground. Police are investigating the two incidents together, but have no clues to the culprits.

For Inger Woolf, who survived the horror of the Nazis, finding the vandalised grave of her husband, Wellington photographer Ron Woolf, awoke painful memories.

After coming to New Zealand in 1957, she found a safe haven from anti-Semitism. Her earliest memories -- of being frightened by Nazis marching into her birthplace, Vienna, and putting up swastikas and of having to deny being a Jew -- were pushed to the back of her mind.

Yesterday, all the memories came flooding back as she experienced first-hand the effects of race-hate, the first in almost 50 years in New Zealand. "I didn't think that it could happen in New Zealand."

Ruth Gotlieb, a former city and regional councillor of 18 years, was one of the first to arrive at the cemetery yesterday. The grave of her son, Jake, who died 22 years ago after committing suicide, was untouched, but all around it gravestones lay scattered.

Comforted by her sister, Blanche Weinstein, a distraught Mrs Gotlieb repeatedly cried out "so many, so many" as she walked through the graves.

She had a strong message for the vandals.

"I think they are the scum of the earth, the scourge of mankind. I am disgusted that it could happen in this wonderful country. I can hardly believe that a human being could do the terrible things that I have just seen."

David Schnellenberg, of Island Bay, said the desecration was a problem for all New Zealanders and called for leadership from politicians, the churches and the wider community to prevent further attacks.

Detective Sergeant Tim Leitch of Wellington said police had little to work with, as heavy rain had washed away evidence. He was keen to hear from anyone who saw people or vehicles in the area, particularly about 4am, or knew the offenders.

A newspaper delivery man for The Dominion Post raised the alarm after he spotted a glow coming from the cemetery during his morning run.

Police believe the vandals entered through an unlocked gate at the south side of the cemetery. Wellington City Council cemeteries manager Stuart Baines confirmed the gates had not been locked by the caretaker as they should have been.

A security review was under way, and nightly patrols could be introduced, as at Karori Cemetery. A guard would be at Makara during the weekend while long-term arrangements were made. Security would be stepped up at Karori Cemetery.

Acting Prime Minister Michael Cullen, Mayor Kerry Prendergast and other political, religious and social leaders moved swiftly to condemn the attack. Dr Cullen said: "Racism of any sort is ugly and unforgivable and has no place in New Zealand."

Ms Prendergast called on all Wellingtonians to support the Jewish community. "This is an appalling act of vandalism . . . and I am disgusted and ashamed that it has happened in our city."

jew arrested

16 graves attacked in historic Wellington cemetery
(Click here to join a discussion on anti-Semitism)
Sixteen graves were attacked overnight in the Jewish part of a cemetery in Wellington that dates to the 1880s, a city council spokesman said.

"Someone's used some sort of stick or tool to gouge swastikas into the grass around the graves. Words like 'Sieg Heil' have been scratched into the footpath," he said. Sieg Heil was a common Nazi salutation.

Wellington Botanic Gardens manager David Sole said the Jewish section of Bolton St. cemetery near the center of the New Zealand capital was a sea of broken marble and overturned tombstones when he visited Friday morning.

"People are speculating the attack may have been sparked by the two Israeli men and the passport case," a council spokesman said, speaking on usual condition of anonymity.

The head of the New Zealand Jewish Council said there was a direct link.

"I think there is a direct connection between the very strong expressions against Israel and people here feeling they can take it out on Jews," David Zwartz told New Zealand's National Radio.

"It seems to me Israel-bashing one day, Jew-bashing the next day."

Rabbi Antony Lipman said the desecration on the graves, some of them 100 years old, had shocked New Zealand's Jewish community.

"We hope Wellington is not going the way of some other communities in the world, where this has unfortunately become a frequent occurrence," he said.

Clark condemned the desecration, but said any link to the passport affair was "not an open and shut" matter.

"We condemn without reservation people desecrating graves - it is a horrible thing to do," she told National Radio.

New Zealand has small Jewish communities, but has no history of anti-Semitic behavior, with only occasional acts of vandalism of Jewish buildings.

New Zealand suspends top-level visits
Under the sanctions, all Israeli officials wishing to enter New Zealand are now required to acquire entry visas prior to arrival.

Clark also announced that New Zealand was unwilling to receive President Moshe Katsav during a visit that he planned to Australia and New Zealand in August.

The visits of senior delegations to and from New Zealand have also been canceled, and the credentials of the new Israeli ambassador will not be approved, while contacts with the local honorary consuls of Israel in New Zealand will be severely limited.

Goff said, "We know this [the Mossad role in the affair], the government of Israel knows this and it knows why we know" that they are agents of the Mossad.

The minister suggested in an interview with Israel Radio that the arrest of the two Israelis was not an isolated incident and hinted at claims made to Haaretz by New Zealand police that the Mossad had allegedly sought to acquire as many authentic passports as possible in a long-term operation.

The New Zealand sources pointed to the fact that Cara, who claims to be a tourist agent based in Australia, entered New Zealand 24 times during the past three-and-a-half years.

Australian daily The Age reported that Canberra had also initiated an operation to uncover whether its sovereignty had also been compromised by alleged Israeli agents.

The sanctions announced by the government of New Zealand had been decided in March, soon after the two men were arrested. The government of New Zealand refrained from making the sanctions public to avoid interference with the trial of the two suspects.

Foreign Ministry sources said Thursday night that the policy of ambiguity regarding the affair was imposed on them by the Prime Minister's Office and the Mossad.

As a result of the pressure, the sources say, the handling of the matter was left to a low-level diplomat, Orna Sagiv, who is responsible for relations with New Zealand and operates from Israel's embassy in Australia.

Sources in New Zealand told Haaretz that the sanctions are purposely directed against the government of Israel and not the Israeli people.

The strongly-worded announcement of the government of New Zealand stated: "Israel is a country with which New Zealand has had friendly relations for a long time. The government of New Zealand relates to the activities of the Israeli intelligence agents not only as utterly unacceptable but also as a violation of the sovereignty of New Zealand and international law."

"New Zealand condemns without reservation these actions by agencies of the Israeli government," Clark said in the statement. The Israeli agents attempted to demean the integrity of the New Zealand passport system and could have created considerable difficulties for New Zealanders presenting their passports overseas in future," Clark said.

French investigators skeptical about unknown group that claimed responsibility for attack on Paris Jewish center




By Verena Von Derschau
ASSOCIATED PRESS
4:54 a.m. August 23, 2004

PARIS – French investigators said Monday they were skeptical about claims of responsibility for an arson attack on a Jewish community center by a previously unknown Islamic group.


Still, investigators said they are not ruling out any suspects in the fire early Sunday at a Jewish meeting place and soup kitchen in eastern Paris. No one was hurt.

When the smoke cleared, police found anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas scrawled in red marker. One message read, "Without the Jews, the world is happy," while another said, "Jews get out."

Investigators are studying a claim of responsibility by Jamaat Ansar Al-Jihad, officials close to the inquiry said on condition of anonymity. The group issued a claim of responsibility Sunday night on a Web site known for militant Islamic comment.

The message said "a group of Mujahedeen youth set fire at 4 a.m. Paris time to the Jewish synagogue in Paris in retaliation for the racist acts carried out by the Jews in France against Islam and Muslims, and acts of defiling Muslims' cemeteries."

The posting referred incorrectly to the community center as a synagogue. It said the blaze marked the 35th anniversary of a fire at al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, which gutted the southeastern wing of the holy shrine.

But investigators said they doubted the claim because they did not believe a small neighborhood community center would have drawn attention from international militant groups.

France has suffered a series of anti-Semitic attacks since 2000, coinciding with worsening tensions in the Middle East.

Some of the violence has been blamed on young French Muslims, although the large Muslim community itself is also a frequent target of racist attacks. Both Jewish and Muslim cemeteries have been desecrated in France recently, with swastikas painted across headstones.


 
Act of hatred or just an act?
Neighbors accused of terror
Sunday, January 01, 2006


John Beale, Post-Gazette
Paula Barber stands in the kitchen of her vandalized home.



By Milan Simonich, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
LUZERNE TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Barber family says neighborhood antagonists have poisoned their dogs, defaced their property with swastikas and tried to burn down their house. They claim they are under attack because they are Jewish.


John Beale, Post-Gazette
Rollin "Mike" Barber says his home was vandalized, a fire was set in the basement, and dogs in his wife's dog shelter were injured. Mr. Barber and his wife, Paula, think that they aren't liked because they're Jewish and because of the kennel. He's seen in a bathroom mirror that was vandalized in their home in Luzerne, Fayette County.
Click photo for larger image.

"Have you ever seen 'Deliverance?' " said Rollin "Mike" Barber, who equates his family's situation with the movie depicting four city men who are terrorized by hoodlums from a backwater. "That's what we're up against."

Residents of the Fayette County hamlets of Luzerne and Redstone say Dr. Barber's claims are false and absurd.

"Every crime they have reported to the police has been staged. They're doing it themselves," said Henry Friend, 49, a resident of the area for 22 years.

Mr. Friend says the Barbers are trying to whip up public sympathy with their claims of ethnic intimidation. He contends that the real issue with the Barbers is not their Judaism, but their operation of a noisy kennel that has housed between 40 and 130 dogs.

Fayette County court records show that Dr. Barber's wife, Paula, was convicted 15 times last year of causing excessive noise. Each case stemmed from complaints about the kennel, situated near the family home. Mrs. Barber is appealing, saying decibel readings show noise created by the dogs is minimal.

Mrs. Barber said many of the attacks on her home and animals seemed to coincide with court hearings. Her neighbors, though, said they have made a point of avoiding her, for fear that any innocent crossing of paths could lead to more allegations.

"She wants to make this an anti-Semitism issue, but the truth is that nobody cares what religion she is," Mr. Friend said. "I guarantee nobody in this neighborhood has done a thing to them."

Bruce Rechichar, 51, another neighbor, says he knows the Barbers only from zoning and court hearings about their kennel.

"I didn't know they were Jewish and it didn't matter to me," he said. "I just want some peace and quiet."

For her part, Mrs. Barber says she fears for her life and the lives of her relatives.

"We're convinced we're going to be killed if we stay here," she said last week as she stood in her kitchen, which she says was trashed by intruders.

Mrs. Barber, 46, and her husband, who is 73, have lived in Luzerne and operated their rescue kennel throughout their eight-year marriage. During the last several months, they have sent complaints about a neighborhood crime wave to police, prosecutors, the FBI, newspapers, television stations and the Anti-Defamation League.

Mrs. Barber's daughter Rachel, 19, and her mother, Pauline Bryner Lappe, 73, also lived in the family home until a Nov. 29 arson. The Barbers say someone broke into the house and set a fire in the basement, forcing them to abandon their home for a hotel.

Lt. Bernard Petrovsky, of the Pennsylvania State Police in Belle Vernon, has dispatched his troopers to the Barbers' home numerous times to investigate claims of vandalism, arson, animal poisonings and anti-Semitism. Last week, he assigned a criminal investigator to delve back into every complaint.

"We're looking into all aspects of the case, including the authenticity of the charges," Lt. Petrovsky said.

Various officers who have inspected the Barbers' home have come away skeptical about the family's claims of criminal invasions.

For one thing, the dozens of dogs in the Barbers' yard make a ruckus anytime a stranger steps on the property. Plus, if people have broken into the Barbers' home, they appear to have lingered while selectively damaging property.

The fire in the basement, which the Barbers say was the work of someone bent on destruction, did not spread. "It was just smoke," Lt. Petrovsky said.

Somebody tore apart the kitchen after the fire, but did not touch a computer or Dr. Barber's impressive collection of books in adjoining rooms. Instead of stealing the computer or setting the books afire, the intruders used lipstick to write a threatening message on a mirror in the powder room.

"Get out or die," it said, adding a vile term for women. Somebody also took the time and trouble to find a bra from a closet or drawer, then drape it over the mirror.

Another allegation made by the Barbers is that intruders cut a swastika into a sofa. Swastikas previously were painted on a vehicle.

Mrs. Barber said it would make no sense for the family to damage its own home and property.

"What gain is there in this for us to fudge and make things up?" she asked. "There's absolutely no gain."

Dr. Barber, who teaches criminology and sociology at California University of Pennsylvania, says he is convinced the attacks are the work of people who dislike his family because they are well-educated Jews.

He holds three college degrees. Mrs. Barber has a bachelor's degree and a law degree.

Dr. Barber described his wife as "retired" from the practice of law, but state records show that the disciplinary board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court suspended her license for two years.

The board on May 11 found her guilty of professional misconduct. Mrs. Barber, who practiced law under her maiden name of Paula Lappe, neglected two clients, the board found.

In one case, she accepted $9,500 to handle the appeal of a prison inmate, but then never worked on his case.

Court records also show that the Barbers at one point had a troubled marriage that included allegations of domestic violence. Mrs. Barber filed for divorce in 2000 and made an abuse complaint against her husband.

"We got in a fight," Dr. Barber said. "It became physical on both sides."

He said the episode would be embarrassing to him on his campus, so he asked that it not be reported in this story. Both the divorce filing and the abuse complaint ultimately were dropped. The Barbers stayed together.

This year, both have been active in publicizing their complaints of neighborhood harassment and anti-Semitism.

Mrs. Barber's most specific claim -- that Mr. Friend harassed and stalked her -- went before a district judge. Seeing no proof to support the charge, the judge acquitted Mr. Friend.

"I never did anything to her," he said. "But it cost me $300 to hire a lawyer to defend myself."

Lt. Petrovsky said he and his officers have found neighborhood residents most cooperative any time they check a complaint made by the Barbers.

"They're always pleasant and they'll tell us something like, 'What did they say we did this time?' " Lt. Petrovsky said.

The Barbers say stress from the attacks is eating them up. Dr. Barber says he has often slept outside the house to guard his family against attackers. He has not seen any, but he says all the women, at one time or another, have spotted intruders on their property.

Dr. Barber says he wants to remain in his home. But his wife says she wants to leave. A stumbling block, she says, is what to do with all the dogs she and her family care for.

Asked why the family had not used guard dogs or surveillance cameras to stop the intruders, Mrs. Barber said neither was practical.

"I'm afraid they would poison the dogs," she said.

She added that the cost of cameras was prohibitive.

Roy Mehalik, chief of the three-member Luzerne police department, said the Barbers' allegations of ethnically motivated crimes started after neighbors mobilized to protest their barking dogs.

In 31 years as a police officer in the area, Chief Mehalik said, he has seen only one documented case of a racially motivated crime. It occurred 18 years ago in Redstone -- a cross-burning aimed at a black man.

The Barbers say they have evidence of a raft of other cases, but Chief Mehalik and others have not been inclined to listen.
 

8 Stabbed at Synagogue in Moscow

Attack Comes Against Backdrop of Rising Anti-Semitic Violence

Washington Post Foreign Service
Thursday, January 12, 2006; Page A18

Jewish center denies account
Hillel leader questions columnist who says pig head left on doorstep
By Adam Aasen | Indiana Daily Student | Tuesday, October 15, 2002



The Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, a Jewish campus organization, denies the account of a pig's head being left on its doorsteps which appeared in a column in the Oct. 14 issue of U.S. News and World Report.

Columnist John Leo cited as his first example of anti-Semitism on campuses as "a pig's head left at the door of the Hillel building at Indiana University," which the Hillel Center claims is inaccurate.

"I have been here for the past 13 years," Rabbi Sue Shifron, executive director at the Hillel Foundation said. "During this time, a pig's head has never been left on
"We are certainly worried about the potential of anti-semitism on campus."

Joshua Stein
Hillel Center
assistant director
the door."

As a result of the column, the Hillel Center has been flooded with calls of support.

"A lot of people expressed concern and wondered why we didn't spread the word," assistant director Joshua Stein said. "If any such incident ever occurred, we would be sure to alert the community."

For his column, which focuses on growing anti-Semitism at America's colleges, Leo received his information from an article published in August by The Jerusalem Post.

"All I know is it was in The Jerusalem Post," Leo told The Indianapolis Star in an article published Oct. 11. "We'll certainly try to check it ourselves."

The article in The Jerusalem Post quoted Laura Lash, an IU graduate who said she remembered hearing of the incident but never witnessed it.

Shifron said Lash might have confused an incident in which a bust of Hitler was left on their doorsteps on "Holocaust Remembrance Day" with a threatening note. Suspected in the case was Benjamin Smith, who killed doctoral student Won Joon Yoon during a two-state shooting spree in July 1999.

Despite this incident, Shifron said the IU campus is not one filled with anti-Semitism.

"While Smith's campaign of hate was absolutely deplorable, it was the work of an individual, not an example of hatred on the IU campus," Shifron said. "On the contrary, the Bloomington community showed their absolute contempt of Smith's message."

As a result of the 1999 incident, a grassroots community coalition called Bloomington United was formed to promote diversity and awareness on campus.

Although the Hillel Center says this was an isolated situation, concerns for Jewish students have grown in recent years.

"We are certainly worried about the potential of anti-semitism on campus," Stein said. "Especially in light of what has happened at other universities."

Some students feel that there still is some ignorance even in what they feel is an "open-minded community."

"I've heard people make comments which they think are funny but they don't realize are offensive," junior Amalia Shifriss said. "It is mostly from people who came from smaller communities and after a while people get used to the diversity here in Bloomington and realize what is considered offensive."

Regardless of the mistake in Leo's story, Shifron says she is very concerned about the issues of anti-Semitism addressed in his column.

"I believe that we must be vigilant in our efforts to fight all forms of hate, including anti-Semitism," Shifron said. "I believe there is a dangerous anti-Semitic undertone to some anti-Israel rhetoric, particularly on some college campuses. We need to work to educate the campus community about Israel and anti-Semitism. I feel supported by the Indiana University administration in this endeavor

rabbi stab

Bookmark to del.icio.us   Digg It!  new Rabbi Gabriel Farhi   French Jews stunned by claims that rabbi faked own stabbing By Daniel Ben Simon The French Jewish community is in an uproar over allegations that Reform Rabbi Gabriel Farhi, who was stabbed on January 3, may in fact have faked the stabbing. The allegations surfaced in a report this week by the weekly magazine Marianne, which was then picked up by Le Figaro. The journal reported that police officers investigating the stabbing said it is not clear whether Farhi was actually stabbed by an unknown assailant, and they are not ruling out the possibility that Farhi in fact stabbed himself. The report stunned French Jewry, which for the past two years has been vociferously protesting law enforcement agencies' failure to take effective action against the hundreds of anti-Semitic attacks the community has suffered. "You can imagine what a destructive effect this affair could have on the Jewish community," said one community leader, who asked to remain anonymous. "For two years we have been screaming about the attacks against us and the rise of anti-Semitism in France. If, God forbid, it turns out that the stabbing was staged, not just Rabbi Farhi is in trouble, all the Jews are in trouble. Who will take us seriously? And that is without even mentioning the enormous shame caused by the thought that four former prime ministers took the trouble to support the rabbi and the Jewish community. What will we do now? Apologize to them?" The Reform community is backing Farhi fully. When its executive board met Monday night to elect a new president, all 18 members made a point of shaking Farhi's hand and offering their support. "I assure you that if I or my colleagues in the community had any doubts at all, we would not be expressing our support," said Francis Lentschner, the newly elected president. "There is no doubt that the affair has greatly hurt the community, but I'm certain we'll get over it." The rumors began to surface immediately after the attack, when police came to investigate. "I've seen assaults and stabbings as part of my job, but I must say that this was a rather strange stabbing," Marianne quoted the officer who led the investigating team as saying. A few days later, the doctor who examined Farhi submitted a report to the police in which he wrote that "the wound does not match the rabbi's version of the assault." On Wednesday, Farhi and his lawyer, Michel Zaoui, held a press conference to refute the allegations and accused the police of deliberately trying to frame the rabbi. Zaoui, for instance, charged that it was not the doctor's job to draw conclusions about the attack. Lentschner also cast doubt on the police's motives. "The very day after the attack, rumors circulated in Paris that the rabbi was responsible for his own injury," he said. "The rabbi himself told me that during his interrogation, the police treated him as a suspect rather than as a victim."

Two People Sought After Fire At California Jewish Center arson


Updated: 06-09-2004 10:18:07 AM


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CHUCK CARROLL
San Jose Mercury News via Associated Press

 
 

Select State: Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Conn. Delaware. D.C. Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Okla. Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Santa Cruz police say there's no indication that a recent arson fire at a Jewish student organization's office was a hate crime, but they are asking for the public's help in locating two ``persons of interest'' to help rule out the possibility.
About 2:30 a.m. Sunday, someone took newspapers out of the sales racks at a 7-Eleven store on Cardiff Place, lighted them and stuffed them through the mail slot next door, at the offices of the Hillel Foundation.

``It's very lucky that the whole damn building didn't go up,'' said Santa Cruz police Sgt. Mike Pruger. ``The flames caught hold of the rug and began burning the couch.''

Pruger said a 7-Eleven customer noticed flames inside the Hillel office, which is across the street from the University of California-Santa Cruz.

A clerk at 7-Eleven put out the spreading fire by pouring water through the mail slot.

The organization's office remains open.

The arsonists left nothing to indicate their motivation.

Police released video from the convenience store's security cameras, showing the two people they're seeking: white males of medium build wearing blue jeans, with one or both possibly using a bicycle. One man was blond, of medium height and wore a black pullover sweatshirt with a brown or tan design on the front. The other man had brown hair and a dark cap.

Hillel promotes Jewish culture at UC-Santa Cruz by sponsoring social activities, Israel programs, religious and holiday celebrations, educational programs and outreach to Jewish students.

The group's director, Shalom Bochner, said tension on campus is elevated because of misdirected emotions at Muslim and Jewish students. However, he said, the organization has received no calls or threats since three years ago, when a door at the organization was scratched with swastikas.

``It's unsettling, but no one here is panicking,'' Bochner said. ``The Jewish community is certainly not on fire . . . and life goes on.''



------------------------------------------------------Burglary--------------------------

Juliana Wu—Nov 18

Full-size image

Parodies of flyers for a meeting sponsored by Chicago Friends of Israel, placed in communal posterboards like the one above, were spread around campus.

Arson at Chabad House

‘I just want him to get better,’ say Langers of accused son

by joe eskenazi
staff writer

A rabbi and his wife hoisting a baby.

A joyous mother and son mugging for the camera at a bar mitzvah.

A Chassidic family grinning and waving from a canoe.

Hundreds, if not thousands, of snapshots line every flat surface in the Langer household. They are drying, slowly, after being drenched when firefighters extinguished a pair of arson blazes set at San Francisco’s Chabad House on Wednesday, May 12.

Many of the photos feature youthful, smiling images of the man police have arrested and charged with igniting the blaze — Rabbi Yosef and Hinda Langer’s 33-year-old son, Avi.

“Never in a million years would I think he would do this,” said a morose and exhausted Hinda Langer, shaking her head while sitting in her kitchen, surrounded by charred photographs.

“Never.”

For the Langers, this is the most difficult chapter in a nearly dozen-year saga since Avi Langer was diagnosed with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (formerly called manic depression) at age 22.

Yosef Langer said his son admitted he started the fires in a brief phone call, and said he stole the Torah and mezuzot police found in his possession to keep them from being burned. He is being charged with arson, possession of inflammable materials, burglary, grand theft and possession of stolen property. Avi Langer, who keeps kosher and wears a yarmulke, is currently in police custody after being arrested in his Santa Clara room the same day as the fire.

“I want to see my son get the help he needs to re-establish himself in society, get a job, get married and get on with his life,” said Yosef Langer, who adopted Avi — the child of Hinda Langer’s previous marriage — 31 years ago and raised him as his own.

“I really didn’t ever think he’d go this far. I know he’s angry with us because we won’t let him in the house unless he’s on medication or therapy.”

Their son, however, knew the combination to the front-door lock. Huge piles of charred pillows, computers, box springs and books with such titles as “The Four Unknowable Ways of Moshiach” are lumped in the gutters by the Langers’ Anza Street home, which doubles as a shul.

An overwhelming odor reminiscent of a campfire pervades the home, and dust and ash are everywhere. The fires were set in both the Langers’ bedroom — which was gutted — and a basement area used to store costumes and props for Chabad celebrations of Jewish holidays. Somewhat ironically, thousands of Chanukah candles went up in smoke.

Yosef and Hinda Langer were at The Shalom School preschool, which they run, when the noontime fire broke out.

Though the Langers’ insurance company has not assessed the damage, the San Francisco Fire Department made an initial estimate of $200,000. The insurance company has, however, told the Langers they won’t be able to live in their home for three to five months. They’re in a hotel for now.

Neither the rabbi nor his wife expressed anger toward their son. Instead, they reserve their vitriol for a faulty state mental health system they say has turned its back on sick people like their son and led to today’s epidemic of homelessness.

Under state law, a mentally ill adult cannot be hospitalized or compelled to take medication unless he or she has grown homicidal or suicidal. The Langers knew their son frequently went off his medication (and had done so recently). So at the advice of a psychologist, they found ways to trigger angry outbursts from him, and then called the police. Once incarcerated, their son was forced to take his medication and undergo therapy.

“It was very hard for me to get angry at him. It was false anger; I’d push him and push him and push him until [he got angry] every time he didn’t take his medication. My husband would stand in the doorway and say, ‘You’re not going through,’ and if he touched my husband, at that point, we’d call the police,” Hinda Langer recalled.

“We’ve been forced into this situation. I feel my son has been criminalized by this system … Police are now our surrogate mental health system.”

During previous breakdowns, Avi Langer has stolen cars (he felt he was “borrowing them,” the rabbi said). But this, say his parents, is the first time he has resorted to destructive behavior.

On Friday, May 14, the Langer house buzzed as well-wishers helped clean up and document the prodigious piles of burned possessions for insurance purposes. Hinda Langer’s cell phone rang, endlessly, in her purse.

Her son gave her that purse on Mother’s Day.

“Avi is so good to me. He’s a very good, loving person under his mental illness. He feels abused by the system and on some level he has been, but the whole thing about mental illness is you think you’re right and everyone else is wrong … [And] if your parents are constantly calling the police and you’re being taken away in a police car, you get angry at the system and your parents.”

Up until his first breakdown, Avi Langer had been a stunningly bright and hard-working young man who held a number of side jobs as he worked his way through Yeshiva University.

By the time he was a senior, he had earned a real estate license, was working on a stockbroker’s license and had climbed the ladder at the famed Concord Hotel in the Catskills from busboy to maitre d’, where he oversaw a 500-person dining room.

Then he hit a financial crunch, withdrew from college and moved back home. He fell into a depression, rarely leaving his room and refusing to eat. Hinda Langer blames her son’s condition, in large part, on extensive drug use in college.

After years of mental difficulties and a series of odd jobs, he found a working combination of medication and therapy, re-enrolled at Yeshiva University and graduated with honors in 2000, earning a degree in economics.

He was unable to land the corporate job he coveted, however, and opted to run a Florida kosher restaurant. That went badly, and he once again descended into a depression he has yet to emerge from, according to Yosef Langer.

Both Yosef and Hinda Langer stayed remarkably composed throughout a three-hour interview with j., but Hinda finally broke down when she acknowledged that committing a crime “was the only way Avi was going to get help … I just want him to get better.”

A young, female friend of the Langers stopped by the smoky house and asked if there was anything she could do. The Langers thanked her and offered her cheese and crackers.

“Wow,” said the young woman, “Do you know what caused this fire?”

Neither Hinda nor Yosef Langer answered. After a few moments, the rabbi sighed.

Rabbi attacked by racist thugs

ATTACKED: Rabbi Benjamin Simmonds

A RABBI was attacked in the street by racist thugs.

Benjamin Simmonds, 39, a solicitor, had been at a party to celebrate the birth of a baby boy - and was making his way home when a group of five young thugs shouted anti-semitic abuse.

The shouted as he tried to walk between them at the junction of Singleton Road and Bury New Road, Prestwich.

One stepped forward walked up to him, punched him on the side of the face and began pushing him backwards.

Rabbi Simmonds, an assistant Rabbi at a synagogue in north Manchester, pushed him back and ran off, chased by the thugs for several yards until they gave up.

Police today confirmed they were treating the matter as a racist incident.

Rabbi Simmonds said: "Sadly, there has been an increase in the number of anti-semitic incidents in recent times.

"On Fridays - and this attack happened on Friday - many people in the community are moving around the area, visiting friends' houses.

"We have pointed this out to the police, in the hope that they will put extra patrols in the streets."

Have you experienced racism?

train

Hoax race attack woman sentenced

Marie-Leonie Leblanc admitted ripping her own clothes A French court has handed down a four-month suspended prison sentence to a woman who invented a story about being the victim of an anti-Semitic assault. Marie-Leonie Leblanc, 23, was also put on two years' probation and ordered to get psychiatric treatment. Her story of swastikas being daubed on her body during a brutal attack on a Paris train caused outrage in France. She claimed that Arab and black youths had also slashed her clothes and cut a lock of her hair.   "I wanted my parents to take care of me," she told the court in Cergy-Pontoise, north-west of Paris. "I was aware of the lie that I had told, but I didn't think it would go so far in terms of the media coverage, that the media would become aware of the incident." The court also ordered her to pay a symbolic one euro in damages to the French national railway, SNCF, the French news agency AFP reported. Hours after the attack was first reported, French President Jacques Chirac expressed his horror and called for the perpetrators to be punished. But Ms Leblanc's lies were uncovered when no witnesses came forward and closed-circuit video cameras failed to show evidence of the attack in the train station on 9 July. She later said she had ripped her own clothes and drawn the swastikas on her own stomach with her boyfriend's help. olga

Woman Charged In Swastika Graffiti Spree

Police: Suspect Was Angry At Jewish Ex, New Wife

NEW YORK (AP) A woman admitted shortly after her arrest late Monday that she spray-painted swastikas in Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens because she was angry about her Jewish ex-husband's new wife, police said.

The woman, Olga Abramovich, 49, of Brooklyn, was charged with criminal mischief and related crimes, police said.

Police said Abramovich admitted targeting about 20 sites, including several synagogues, because she was angry at her former husband for marrying a younger woman. They said she also marred two police cars because she was upset about receiving a summons.

The vandalism was first reported early Monday [October 18, 2004] at a medical facility in Brooklyn, where white spray-painted swastikas marked a door and a window.

During a search of the surrounding area, police found the same symbol on synagogues, Jewish schools, cars and a funeral home in southern sections of Brooklyn and Queens. One of the cars belonged to Abramovich's former husband.

Abramovich was in police custody Monday night and was unavailable for comment. She was being cooperative, police said

The spray paint, which she bought at a Long Island mall flea market, was found in the trunk of her vehicle, police said.

The swastika, a cross with its arms bent clockwise at right angles, was the emblem of the Nazi Party and the Third Reich.

Amtrak increases security; passengers worry after bombing NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) — Security officials stepped up safety measures at rail systems nationwide after the bombings in Madrid, but Amtrak conductor Larry Lindbloom acknowledges he's worried as he runs his daily route between San Diego and Los Angeles. Amtrak Police officer J. A. Santiago inspects a train before its departure at Chicago's Union Station, Friday. By Brian Kersey, AP The route is one of the busiest on the West Coast and passes by a major military base and a nuclear power plant. Although Amtrak officials say they are confident in their security measures, the 15-year veteran conductor is not. "We're totally vulnerable. I don't know why it hasn't happened yet," he said. "I hope it doesn't." The bombings in Madrid on Thursday killed 199 people and wounded more than 1,400. Amtrak spokeswoman Sarah Swain, speaking from Oakland, said the rail system has increased security, boosting use of bomb-sniffing dogs as well as patrols by Amtrak officers in conjunction with freight operators and local authorities. Another Amtrak representative, Dan Stessel, said electronic surveillance of bridges and tunnels was intensified and the company has again urged employees to report suspicious activities to police. Barbara Bates of Brewster, N.Y., said as she waited to board a train in New York City's Grand Central Terminal that she didn't think the extra security did any good. "If someone is determined to blow up the station, there isn't much you can do," she said as a canine team monitored the station. In Mississippi, Meridian Mayor John Robert Smith, who served five years on Amtrak's board starting in 1998, said the Madrid attack could easily be repeated. He said little has been done to address the security of rail infrastructure. "Walk down to your station and look at it from the standpoint of you are an 'evildoer.' See how easy it is to get on and off a train. The baggage isn't scanned. You don't pass through a metal detector. There's a real concern there," Smith said. Lindbloom, the Amtrak conductor from San Diego, said train workers have expressed their concerns about security but seen little response. "One of these days there's going to be a big orange flash and I'm going to walk back there, and there'll be 20 dead," he said. "It's terrible and all of these people are in danger." But Keith Moore, chairman of a union representing 214 conductors in Southern California and part of Arizona, said he feels secure on the Metrolink train he runs in Los Angeles. Trying to prevent attacks like those in Madrid would require train stations to become more like airports, he said. "We have a free system here where you can come in and out, so are we going to slow it down and have screening?" he asked. In San Francisco, Ray Egelhofer said he has long been concerned about the potential for attacks on BART — the Bay Area Rapid Transit system. "It just seems like it would be a really easy target because there's not any security," he said. He's not worried enough to stop taking the trains, he said, but "if it keeps happening, I'll start driving."

Paris greae fire

friender

	The crime NEWARK, N.J. - A bomb threat note was found aboard a Washington-to-New York Amtrak train by a Lewis “ Robbie “ Friedner. Bomb-sniffing dogs were brought in and the train delayed 2 hrs. Law enforcement source said it contained "pro-Muslim, anti-Jewish rhetoric."

The perpatrator

Lewis "Robbie" Friedner ,the $66,000 a yr head of Camden County's division of consumer services is under FBI investigation. In an exclusive interview with the Courier-Post, the Hebrew confirmed that he has been questioned about terrorist threats by the FBI but firmly denied any wrongdoing.

Friedner said he found a threatening letter on the sink of a restroom. The letter said the train would "never reach its destination" in Los Angeles. But instead of being lauded as a hero for turning the letter over to authorities, he was treated as a suspect, Friedner said. Federal agents boarded the train near Fort Worth, Texas, and searched him, he said. Agents also searched his home in Cherry Hill.



Note written on his computer

And near the end of August, Friedner said, the FBI discovered the letter had been generated on his computer. He said he did not write the letter and could not explain why it was found on his computer. No charges have been filed, said Friedner's attorney, Michael Pinsky.

"I believe they found the letter on my computer at, or something led them to believe that I was involved in this case, which is ludicrous," said Friedner, 48, who has cerebral palsy. "I have theories. As a rule, I don't lock my door to my office."



Involved in Athrax scam

Several years ago, while there was an anthrax scare at the Bellmawr Post Office, Friedner said he reported receiving an envelope with powder in it. No anthrax was discovered. "I was taken to the hospital. I was given medications and shots," he said. Far from getting publicity, the anthrax scare "inconvenienced me tremendously."

Source
 

Ken Haas

Arrest made in hate campaign at Ryerson

Bid to Fuel Jewish, Arab Tensions on Campus

By Jonathon Kingstone,
TORONTO SUN

RACIST PAMPHLETS plastered across Ryerson University were intended to pit Jewish and Arab students against each other, campus officials said yesterday as police announced an arrest.


David Irving comments:

I REPEAT: Give us a break, already, with these stories of swastikas and graffiti.
I think the general public has now got the message. The ten-thousand dollar reward that I offered for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprits behind the timely desecration of two Jewish cemeteries in New Zealand has gone unclaimed -- it seems that the community knows how to protect its own.
It did not pass unnoticed that the community did not actually put up any reward of its own, although it was reported in the NZ media to be "considering" it.

"(This) lifts a really dark cloud that was hanging over our campus," said Ryerson president Claude Lajeunesse. "These actions were trying to generate hate (but) they've been unsuccessful."

At least 15 anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic posters and graffiti have been found at the downtown university since June, some containing death threats against students.

On Monday, a man was "caught in the act" by campus security posting hate-filled literature, Toronto Police said. A "large amount" of racist flyers was also found.

A 21-year-old Toronto man is scheduled to appear in College Park court today to face nine hate crime charges.

It's alleged he acted alone and was not affiliated with any known racist group, Det. Matt Moyer said.

Microcosm of the City
The accused was also not a Ryerson student but targeted the multicultural campus because it represented a "microcosm" of the city, Supt. Randal Munroe alleged.

The posters and graffiti were aimed at both Jews and Arabs, calling for violent acts against both groups.

Police were reluctant to comment on a motive, but Lajeunesse said the intention was to turn the two communities against each other.

"Rather than divide our campus it has united our campus," Lajeunesse said yesterday.

Several forums were held between the groups as well as a "faith" summit.

Both the Canadian Arab Federation and Canadian Jewish Congress have been involved with the student groups.

"The arrest brings a huge sigh of relief," the CJC's Bernie Farber (right, with friends) said yesterday.

Kevin Haas is facing hate crime-related charges alleging mischief and death threats.



Montreal jewish school

Description:   The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), background, sails alongside the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) after arriving in the Red Sea. 061031-N-0119G-115 Red Sea (Oct. 31, 2006) - The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), background, sails alongside the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN 65) after arriving in the Red Sea to begin its deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations. While in theater, Eisenhower will perform Maritime Security Operations (MSO) which help set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment, as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of regional nations. These operations deny international terrorists use of the maritime environment as a venue for attack or to transport personnel, weapons or other material. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Rob Gaston (RELEASED)