Rabbi Yaacov Arar, who served as Chief Rabbi of Athens for over four decades, has died. Arar died on July 31 in Israel at the age of 76, according to the Athens Jewish Community. “He was a man of deep knowledge, professionalism, kindness and love for his people,” the community said in a statement. “We…
Vandals have defaced the Holocaust Memorial in Athens, writing threats against the Jewish community on it. The incident occurred Friday and police were immediately called to the scene, where they took fingerprints and opened an investigation, said Victor Eliezer, the secretary general of the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece. The graffiti included a…
Makis Voridis, a longtime member of ultranationalist parties, was appointed health minister in Greece. Monday’s appointment, part of a widespread government reshuffle, was met with disappointment by members of the Greek Jewish community. “No Jewish person can be happy about the appointment of a man who was, until two years ago, a head of the…
Greek lawmaker warned her colleagues that if the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party comes to power it would send her and her family to the crematoria because of her Jewish ancestry. Anna Asimakopoulou, the spokesperson for the ruling New Democracy party, made the comments last week during a stormy debate in Parliament on lifting immunity from…
Vandals broke into the Jewish cemetery in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki. The vandals cut through the fence of the cemetery and, once inside, smashed some vases and ornaments and knocked over several headstones and plaques, David Saltiel, president of the Thessaloniki Jewish community, said Friday. Police had been to the scene and were…
(JTA) — The picture of Golden Dawn leaders being led away in shackles by masked policemen last September was supposed to be a defining image: Greek authorities cracking down on the country’s neo-Nazi party as a harbinger of its demise. Instead, soon there will be a new iconic image: three members of the party taking their…
(JTA) — When the Anti-Defamation League published its global anti-Semitism survey last week, Greece, the cradle of democracy, captured the ignominious title of most anti-Semitic country in Europe. With 69 percent of Greeks espousing anti-Semitic views, according to the survey, Greece was on par with Saudi Arabia, more anti-Semitic than Iran (56 percent) and nearly…
(JTA) — When the Jews of Ioannina gathered in their whitewashed-stone synagogue over the weekend, it was to commemorate 70 years since the Nazis destroyed their community. But the March 30 gathering also served to highlight a source of present-day sadness: the withering of the unique 2,300 year-old Romaniote Jewish tradition. Ioannina, a postcard-pretty town…
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