Neo-Nazis Groups In World

[RedWine]

A far-right rally planned to coincide with Wednesday's Iran-Angola World Cup match in Leipzig is not going ahead.
Germany's National Democratic Party (NPD) said it would support Iran in the finals due to the anti-Israel stance of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

There were fears a protest would be a flashpoint for trouble.

But city officials say the NPD did not apply for a permit to march while the party says it will now "spread its message through creative publicity".

There will be no NPD march - at least no legal one - and we do not believe there will be an illegal one either

Christoph Sorger
Leipzig official

Protesters against anti-Semitism will, however, demonstrate outside the city's supreme court building.

Peaceful demonstrations have already taken place in each of the cities where Iran has played.

About 1,000 people, among them Israel supporters and exiled Iranians, rallied in Nuremberg when Iran played its opening World Cup match against Mexico, losing 3-1.

A similar number joined a pro-Israel demonstration in Frankfurt on Saturday, where the Iranian team was defeated 2-0 by Portugal.

Flashpoint

Iran's game there will be its last in the competition, since it has failed to qualify for the second round.



Some 10,000 Iranian fans, up to 6,000 Angola supporters and tens of thousands of fans from Germany and elsewhere are expected to watch the match at the city's Zentralstadion and public viewing areas.

More than 65,000 people of Iranian origin live in Germany, some of whom may travel to the city to support their team.

The proposed march in Leipzig had been identified as a potential flashpoint for trouble ahead of the World Cup because far-right groups have a greater support base in eastern Germany's Brandenburg and Saxony states.

Far-right demonstrators have clashed with police and left-wing counter-protesters at May Day and 3 October rallies in Leipzig in recent years.

Outrage

The chief of police in the state of Saxony, Klaus Fleischmann, says he will field as many as 2,000 police in Leipzig while football supporters are in the city.

Leipzig city authorities have played down the likelihood of potentially violent demonstrations taking place on Wednesday but told the BBC's website that neo-Nazis may seek public attention "by distributing leaflets".

"There will be no NPD march - at least no legal one - and we do not believe there will be an illegal one either," city spokesman Christoph Sorger said.

It was anticipated the protest against anti-Semitism - and by implication the anti-Israel views of Iran's president - would be "completely peaceful", he said.

Mr Ahmadinejad is not expected to visit Leipzig for the game, he added.

The Iranian president's suggestion that he might come to Germany to watch his country's team play has caused outrage among some Jewish organisations in Germany.

German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has said that his country would have to accept a visit by Mr Ahmadinejad if he decided to come.

One of Iran's seven vice-presidents, Mohammad Aliabadi, attended the national team's match in Frankfurt.

Germany's Central Council of Jews described his presence there as a provocation.

In a statement on the NPD website, party spokesman for Saxony, Matthias Paul, says: "The NPD Saxony regional organisation and its associated groups have not announced any plans to demonstrate during the football World Cup in Leipzig.

"Instead, the party wants to spread its message through creative publicity in Leipzig during the World Cup."

[RedWine]

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5921/nazi7im.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[donsaeid]

they also have believes which should be respected if it doesnt proclaim violance.

me, you or anybody has the right to call anybody sick because for their believes...

[RedWine]

Pas to cheitoun parastaro ham ghaboul dari ! ya secthaei keh siah ha va indian ppl ro mikoshan va ya kharejiha ro sar mi boran touyeh germany va injaha !

Vaghti amal ya kari legal nabasheh va asarateh violence va adam koshi dashteh basheh,mariz hesab mishan ! ham syasi ham sociology !

[donsaeid]

Pas to cheitoun parastaro ham ghaboul dari ! ya secthaei keh siah ha va indian ppl ro mikoshan va ya kharejiha ro sar mi boran touyeh germany va injaha !

Vaghti amal ya kari legal nabasheh va asarateh violence va adam koshi dashteh basheh,mariz hesab mishan ! ham syasi ham sociology !

ghabol nadaram... va nagoftam ke ghabol daram...

ghoftam ejaze daran har eteghadi har kas mikhad dashte bashe... ta vaghti ke kase digeiro asib naresonan...

Freedom has its limits...

bad harfaye mano kaj chera tahrif mikoni :D

[RedWine]

Kojayeh donya ejazeh daran vaghti keh hatta sabt nashodeh hezbeshoun ? hatta ejazeyeh tazahorat nadaran !

Ageh ina ejazeh daran har kari bekhan bekonan pas sheitan parasta ham bayad hezb dashteh bashan.

nemisheh har chizeh khoub ro bardasht va bad haro sava kard ! ya hameh mosavi hastim beh law ehteram mizarim ya ageh kasi nemikhad va hezar ta kareh bad mikoneh az society mizarimesh kenar !

society ja barayeh in criminal ha nadareh !

[donsaeid]

Kojayeh donya ejazeh daran vaghti keh hatta sabt nashodeh hezbeshoun ? hatta ejazeyeh tazahorat nadaran !

Ageh ina ejazeh daran har kari bekhan bekonan pas sheitan parasta ham bayad hezb dashteh bashan.

nemisheh har chizeh khoub ro bardasht va bad haro sava kard ! ya hameh mosavi hastim beh law ehteram mizarim ya ageh kasi nemikhad va hezar ta kareh bad mikoneh az society mizarimesh kenar !

society ja barayeh in criminal ha nadareh !

khodet fahmidi chi gofti?

man to harfam harfi az inke criminalha ejaze daran ke felan kar bokonan ya na?

kasi darbareye sava kardan chizi nagoft... hame mosavi hastan dar barabare ghanoon... che shah che geda...

Do you see USA as a Free and Democratic country?

KKK, New-Nazists, Black Panter... they all have the right to have a peacefull demonstrations...

harfe man az aval in bode va hast

harkas ejaze dare har iman va meaningi dashte bashe ta vaghti ke in daroone ghanoone va be kasi asibi nemiresone...

[RedWine]

Khodet fahmidi chi gofti ?

Cheh rabti beh america dareh in !?

[donsaeid]

I gave you a Exemple dear... :D

[donsaeid]

harkas ejaze dare har iman va meaningi dashte bashe ta vaghti ke in daroone ghanoone va be kasi asibi nemiresone...

[Sepideh_UK]

Nice Conversation.
Carry on!!!

[ashob]

2 dost va hamvatani ke darin dar in mored ba ham sohbat mikonid man hame comment haye shomaro khondam.moteasefane moshkelati hast dar limit va freedom ke ma azash sohbat mikonim be nazaram. albate behtare begam ke jaye taasofam nist. farmayeshe on doste azizi k type kardan har kasi hagh dare dar eteghadi ke dare, man ba ishon 100% movafegh hastam , inam doroste ke in azadi mosalaman ta hadi hast ke be kasi asib naresone. inam matlabe dorostiye.
amma age in doste aziz ijaze bedam man chand ta noktaro ke be zehnam resid begam. bebinid. man fekr mikonam (albate nazare khodam ro migam) ke bad az shekaste alman dar jane dovom va taslimesh dar 1945 dasteyi az hamin pas monde haye hezbe fashist ke filsofayi ham dashtan va Hitler serfan donbale ro ona bode, omadan va MOVAJEH kardane khodeshon party democratice Natizi dorost kardan.
in daghighan mesle in mimone ke begim PEHENE KHOSHBOO!!!! mishe mage hamchin chizi???????? mikham begam ma bazi chiz hao aslan chon jame AZDAD hastan nemitonim kenare ham bezarim doste aziz. NATZI ha dar asre jadid ba mozi gari khasi khyli zirakane say mikonan az zibayi va azadiye bayan ke haghe mosalame hame adam hast estefade konan vase az bayne bordane khode mafhome democracy.
yani daghighan hokme ghode saratni daran ke to badan bimar zendegi mikonan aval khodeshono boroz nemidan vali vghti khob bozorg shodan in karo mikonan ke dige khyli dir shode.
man goman nemikonam ke kare in goro serfan be bayane democratic va SOLH JOYANE tamam beshe. vagheyat ine ke daghighan akse in amal mikonan
az tarafi rahe mobareze ba inha ham serfan begiro beband nist, chon in halate MARTERISM beheshon mide yek jor Glorification vasashon ijad mikone, in plesuare ro ham man fekr mikonam bayad az ina gereft va rahesh agahiye mardom va Isolate kardane in hast. in ke serfan kasi sare kase digaro nemibore kafi nist, TASHVIGH va TAHRIK be tabize nezhadi, va IJADE NEFRAT HAM daghighan hokme latme zadan be hoghogheh digaran ro dare, pas ina serfan ebraze aghide nemikonan. hala man serfan raje be in 4 ta bache nadan ke in party vaghean khande daro dorost kardan sohbat nemikonam. khyli koli harf mizanam az mafhome NAtZISM.
khoshhalam ke lotf mikonid nazare manam mikhonid

[RedWine]

Dosuteh aziz, inja moshkel azadi nist ! hich kas ham mokhalef nist keh kasi aghidasho begeh ba sedaye boland, montaha azadi bayad hamraheh ba limit basheh ! gheir az in democracy ma'ani nakhahad dasht ! va ba'aziha az in democracy mikhan sue estefadeh konan, elatesh kheili chizast ! nadashtaneh farhang-e ejtemaei, nadashta-e tarbiate dorost , faghr va oghdeh hayeh ravani va social !

[baba jun]

Don saied jun, shoma in sheri ke to signaturet hast ta hala khundi, manisho miduni chieh:
http://www.farsinet.com/poetry/images/bani_aadam.gif

age manisho mifahmdi, in harfaro nemineveshti :mad:

[Michellica]

ye mosht bachehan ke khabar nadaran az hichi..ishalla bozorg mishan aghleshoon dobare barmigarde sare jash..

[donsaeid]

Don saied jun, shoma in sheri ke to signaturet hast ta hala khundi, manisho miduni chieh:
http://www.farsinet.com/poetry/images/bani_aadam.gif

age manisho mifahmdi, in harfaro nemineveshti :mad:

come again? yekam bishtar tozih midadi aziz behtar bod. manisho midonam baba jun. :)

i dont have any sympati for them. i wished fascism, sionism, fanatism and rasicm didnt exist.

unfortunetly it does.

and what we do have to do?

baraye mesal... motad hast to donya... malool hast to donya... bimaraye aidsi hast to donya... do we have to put them all away?
if we start limiting others.. there will be people that with limit us...

Freedom has it limits... and it comes when that freedom of yours hurting feelings or body of some one else

[RedWine]

نئونازی های آلمان
پشت پرچم اهدائی سفارت جمهوری اسلامی

http://www.peiknet.com/1385/10khordad/30/page/npd.jpg

عكس بالا را خبرنگار اشپيگل از تجمع 600 نفری اعضا و هواداران حزب نژاد پرست ان . پ. د آلمان تهيه كرده است . خبرنگار از تعريف و تمجيد نژاد پرست های آلمانی از محمود احمدی نژاد و از جمهوری اسلامی، توسط نازی های آلمانی می نويسد. آن ها احمدی نژاد را فردی طرفدار هيتلر، ضد يهودی و ضد كمونيست می دانند.
در ششماه گذشته 2 نفر از مهاجرين افريقائی در آلمان بدست نژاد پرست هايی كه اكنون طرفدار احمدی نژاد شده اند كشته شده اند و شمار زيادی مجروح. هفت سال پيش راستگرايان نژاد پرست آلمان، با پرتاب كوكتل مولوتف به درون خانه يك خانواده ترك و مسلمان اعضای اين خانواده را به آتش كشيدند تا برای خود شهرتی جهانی كسب كنند. آنهائی كه احمدی نژاد می گويد به سفارت جمهوری اسلامی در آلمان مراجعه كرده و خواهان پرچم جمهوری اسلامی بودند تا بنفع تيم فوتبال ايران شعار بدهند، همينها هستند كه اتفاقا عكسشان را هم با پرچم اهدائی سفارت جمهوری اسلامی، اشپيگل منتشر كرده است.

[Riaz]

mariz ke hastan, vali age be zoor saketeshoon konim be nahve oonast! ama manam kheyli narahat misham az daste injoor adama, makhsoosan iraniash, chon iran makhsoosan niaz be yek jameeye motahedi dare!

[donsaeid]

mariz ke hastan, vali age be zoor saketeshoon konim be nahve oonast! ama manam kheyli narahat misham az daste injoor adama, makhsoosan iraniash, chon iran makhsoosan niaz be yek jameeye motahedi dare!

dorood

age bekhaim be zor saket konim dorost mishe chizi mesle hezbe tode.

ino nabayad faramosh kard ke hezbe nazi dar iran kheili ghavi bod dar zamane reza shah va hatta tedade ziadi az afsarhaye va farmandegane artesh ashkara az hezbe nazi va hitler defa mikardan. va khahane etehad ba ona bodan.

moteasefane keshvare ma dar har do jange jahani goole pirozie zod hengame Austria/Germany ro khord.

Age dar tarikh bekhonid dar jange jahanie aval ma daste komak be soye Austria-Hungry Deraz kardim. Va WW2 be soye Germany.

hamontor ke migi baraye halle moshkelate kononi be yek vahdate melli niaz darim va kenar gozashtane tafavotha.

[Riaz]

dorood bar shoma!

albate dar salhaye 30 too Iran age midoonestan Nazia mikhastan dar karkhooneye marg 13 million adamo bokoshan hatman tedade Nazia dar Iran kheyli kamtar miboodesh, na?

va Russia ke dasht too Iran kheyli dekhalat mikard hich behtar az Nazia nabood!

bad bale Almania va Irania hamisheh vase ham ehteram ghael boodan.

takhsire Austria-Hungary vaghean nabood ke oon jang tabdil be jange jahani shod..
:)

[ali_jigar]

vaghean che adamaye bikaari peida mishan

[donsaeid]

vaghean che adamaye bikaari peida mishan

ino motmaen bash az to bikartar nistan :D :smt035 :drinkers:

[donsaeid]

dorood bar shoma!

albate dar salhaye 30 too Iran age midoonestan Nazia mikhastan dar karkhooneye marg 13 million adamo bokoshan hatman tedade Nazia dar Iran kheyli kamtar miboodesh, na?

va Russia ke dasht too Iran kheyli dekhalat mikard hich behtar az Nazia nabood!

bad bale Almania va Irania hamisheh vase ham ehteram ghael boodan.

takhsire Austria-Hungary vaghean nabood ke oon jang tabdil be jange jahani shod..
:)

1. cheghadr almana to jange jahani koshtan maloom nist. hichkas sure nist about tedad.

2. i cant talk about what iranians might have done if they new.

3. Russia, england and later USA has done 10 times or even more damage then arabs to iran.

4. why and what happend in dawn of ww1 is another study or thread ;) if you start one i would love to disscus it with you ;)

[golgol85]

bahse jalebi bood. shaki dar in nist ke kari ke Nazi ha kardan dar germany, eshtebah bood. vali in gorooh dar orkut, momkene chizhayi ke migeah ya ahdafi ke dareh offensive bashe, vali its just talk. ta zamani ke kasi ro hurt nakardeh mishe az vojoodesh enteghad kard, vali thats all that can be done.

[RedWine]

پوستر تبليغاتی حزب راست افراطی FPO يا حزب آزادی اتريش در وين پايتخت اين کشور. روی اين پوستر شعار "خانه به جای اسلام" نوشته شده است.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/images/2006/09/200609241458155.jpg

2 ta Iranian members ham dareh in hezb-e ahmaghaneh ! More Info Later !

[mike435]

i just started reading the artical from top
intresting conversation

but as much as i hate nazis and the nazi partys i do think they have the right to protest in an independent and peacefull way.

i mean look they do it all the time in the US and that is a bitter sweet thing

bitter because they excist and they preach hate
sweet because you really do see fredom of speech

also note that these protest in the US are never sponsered by the government and it would be illigal if they were wether it is for the nazis, democrats, green peac movment or the republicans

US does have a great freedom of speech policy

[RedWine]

Neo-Nazis attacked an Egyptian diplomat in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the Ukrainian government has said it deeply regrets the incident, the Egyptian state news agency MENA said on Saturday.

A group of 12 people assaulted the diplomat, counselor Khaled Nader, in the city centre as part of a series of attacks on foreigners by racist groups, it said.

The agency did not say when the attack took place or whether the diplomat was injured. The Foreign Ministry spokesman was not immediately available to give more details.

As soon as he heard the news, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told the Egyptian embassy in Kiev to make a formal protest. The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it regretted the attack on the diplomat and the authorities are trying to identify his attackers, the agency added.

[RedWine]

Neo-Nazis murdered an anti-fascist activist in Izhvesk, Russia (Republic of Udmurtiya) and may be responsible for a second killing, according to a March 29, 2007 report in the local newspaper Tsenter and an April 4, 2007 report by the Sova Information-Analytical Center. On March 27, several dozen neo-Nazis reportedly attacked anti-fascist youths in the downtown area as they were skateboarding. One of the victims later died in the hospital. Four youths were detained in relation to the attack, but were later released, apparently after their alibis were confirmed. The Sova report added that a 14 year old girl who may have been injured in the earlier attack died in the hospital on April 2.

The Tsentr article gave a brief history of neo-Nazi violence in recent years--a February 2004 attack that left a young man with serious brain trauma, and an August 2006 knifing. Prosecutors dropped extremism charges against suspects in the first case and the investigation into the stabbing expired without any charges.

[RedWine]

An unusually high number of racist attacks took place in Ukraine throughout the month of March 2007, according to a report by Vyacheslav Likhachyov, UCSJ's Kiev monitor. Although not mentioned in Mr. Likhachyov’s report, racist and antisemitic violence, along with corresponding rhetoric from some Ukrainian politicians, does have a tendency to spike upwards during times of political turmoil in Ukraine, making it possible that the rising frequency of incidents last month was related to the latest political crisis, which has paralyzed the government.

Mr. Likhachyov began his summary with an incident previously reported by UCSJ--on March 3, around 50 extremist nationalists held a racist rally in Kiev. With arms extended in the fascist salute, the demonstrators screamed racist slogans like “Ukraine for the Ukrainians!” in a protest action near the city's Shulyavsky Market, whose traders are mostly from African nations and other developing countries. The protestors accused the traders of “sleeping with our women.” “We want the Ukrainian people to be the master on our land,” Oles Vakhny, a march organizer, announced.

Mr. Likhachyov added that the rally had an antisemitic element as well--one demonstrator held a sign reading “Stop Zionist-African expansion.” In addition, three neo-Nazis participating in the rally reportedly attacked a Chinese man, chasing him into a nearby McDonalds, where security guards eventually stopped them from beating him.

On March 7, neo-Nazis attacked a Brazilian soccer player visiting Kiev from Vilnius, Lithuania. Around a dozen skinheads beat Glejtona Barbozu after setting off tear gas in his face. The victim refused to report the incident to police.


On March 9, eight teenagers attacked five Indian students at a medical institute in Simferopol. One of the students used a scalpel during the brawl to slash one of the teenagers, who was subsequently hospitalized; another Indian used a gas-powered pistol. Police denied that the attackers were neo-Nazis. Over the previous month, other attacks on foreign students in Simferopol were reported.


On March 16, hundreds of neo-Nazis gathered in Kiev for a “white power” rock music performance by the group Tin Sontsa (“Shadow of the Sun”). An anti-fascist youth was assaulted near the concert venue—the National University of the Kiev-Mohyla Academy—after trying to take pictures of the event. Recorded speeches of Adolf Hitler were played during the concert as the musicians screamed “Sieg heil!” and raised their arms in the fascist salute. The lead singer reportedly incited the crowd to antisemitic violence by calling out: “If you see a Jew, break his nose!” There was unconfirmed information that market traders from the Caucasus working near the concert venue were also assaulted.

On March 18, university students in Kharkov belonging to the far-right Patriot of Ukraine youth movement held a torchlight procession on campus. Marchers screamed out in unison: “One race! One nation! Our motherland—Ukraine!” and “Give the best dormitories to Ukrainian students!” University officials reportedly authorized the demonstration, which passed without incident. Evgeny Zakharov—head of the Kharkov Human Rights Protection Group, the country’s leading human rights NGO—opined that the action was aimed at intimidating foreign students, and added that this was the third such demonstration and that violence against foreign students followed the previous marches. However, the victims were too scared to report the attacks to the police.

On March 21, an anti-racist meeting in Kiev (The March Against Racism) was partially disrupted by Oles Vakhny (a participant in the March 3 anti-African rally mentioned above). Mr. Vakhny reportedly threw bananas at the well known Nigerian pastor Sandey Adeladja after asking him why so many Nigerians are drug dealers. Mr. Vakhny then allegedly fought with a security guard and was given a 15 day jail sentence for “hooliganism.”

On March 31, a citizen of Bangladesh named Abu Bakar was murdered on Kibalchich Street in Kiev after suffering multiple stab wounds. Police are considering ethnic hatred as a possible motive for the killing.

Finally, on April 2, two young men dressed in the typical uniform of neo-Nazis seriously injured a citizen of Iran. The attack took place near Kiev’s Politekhnichesky Institut metro station. The attackers left unharmed a female translator accompanying the Iranian man. Police detained both young men shortly after the assault, but it is not known what charges were filed against them.

The government’s reaction to this wave of violence has been mixed. As in the case of previously reported antisemitic attacks, there have been relatively few arrests made in connection with the assaults mentioned in Mr. Likhachyov’s report. However, in a sign of progress on the rhetorical front, on March 18, Ukraine’s new Minister of Internal Affairs, Vasily Tsushko, used the occasion of his first press conference as minister to declare that police intend to focus increased attention on neo-Nazi activity. He also called for a law to disband organizations that use fascist symbols. Previously, Ukrainian officials have either denied or played down the threat to public order posed by extremist nationalist groups. It remains to be seen what sort of concrete action will follow Minister Tsushko’s unprecedented statement.

[RedWine]

A neo-Nazi march through the city has been postponed now that the group’s state leader has been suspended because of an outstanding warrant for his arrest.

The controversial march was scheduled for Friday in the city of Cincinnati.

But plans were canceled over the weekend after the American National Socialist Workers Party said it learned that Justin Boyer is a wanted man in the state of Washington, said national leader Bill White. The warrant for Boyer’s arrest was issued more than a year ago on allegations of domestic assault.


White said he learned that police here intended to arrest Boyer at the march.

Boyer could not be reached for comment Sunday.

“The city was planning to use this to embarrass us,” White said in a telephone interview on Sunday.

White said the march would go on, but just not on Friday, and without Boyer.

Boyer had been a Seattle-area leader of the large neo-Nazi group, the National Socialist Movement, prior to moving back to Ohio less than a year ago. Here, he became the Ohio leader of the American National Socialist Workers Party, a splinter neo-Nazi group now headed by White.

According to the new group’s Web site, White, Boyer and 19 other state and unit leaders of the National Socialist Movement left the group in mid-July because of scandal involving another leader. White said that leader had a checkered past, patronized convicted sex offenders and had been in a 15-year relationship with a man in a bi-racial marriage.

“We try and hold ourselves to a different standard of behavior,” White said.

When asked about the accusations of domestic violence against Boyer, his now-suspended Ohio leader, White said that he did not know the details and wanted to see how it played out in the court system before commenting on the behavior. White said he conducted criminal background checks on its leaders and the warrant for Boyer never surfaced.

Boyer lives north of Dayton, White said. He is now replaced by Kenny Fields, White said.

White did not know when the March in Cincinnati would take place. He said that unlike in early April, when the group applied for and was granted a city permit to march in Over-the-Rhine more than two weeks ahead of the planned event, his group will no longer give the city a heads up by asking for a permit.

Relations between the group and the city have been tenuous since Boyer received the permit in early April. The April 20 march was to coincide with the 118th anniversary of the birth of Adolph Hitler. On April 6, the day the initial report of the march appeared in The Cincinnati Enquirer, City Manager Milton Dohoney revoked the neo-Nazi’s group’s permit and set off a chain-reaction of threats of lawsuits by the group. The group was told it could march, but not in the Over-the-Rhine, which is a predominately black neighborhood.

White said his group will march where it likes. The same group appeared last October in a Toledo neighborhood and sparked rioting. White said he feared rioting in Cincinnati.

“I don’t really care what their reasons are for not coming. I’m just glad they are not coming,” said Cincinnati City Councilwoman Laketa Cole, who led the recent charge to create a city ordinance that would have prohibited marches and parades by groups that use “fighting words.” The version that was recently enacted also requires groups to pay for police officers, firefighters and other city services required for its events.

White vowed on Sunday the group did not intend to stay away from Cincinnati for long.

“We do not have a specified date except for soon - which could mean Saturday and it could mean June,” White said of a replacement march.

[RedWine]

Heil Ahmadinejad!

(Some ) Germans love him

A German neo-Nazi wearing an Ahmadinejad T-shirt during a demonstration.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/6648/neonazijg3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[RedWine]

In a case that would seem unthinkable in the Jewish state, police said Sunday they have cracked a cell of young Israeli neo-Nazis accused in a string of attacks on foreign workers, religious Jews, drug addicts and gays.
Eight immigrants from the former Soviet Union have been arrested in recent days in connection with at least 15 attacks, and a ninth fled the country, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, in the first such known cell to be discovered in Israel.

All the suspects are in their late teens or early 20s and have Israeli citizenship, Rosenfeld said.

"The level of violence was outrageous," Maj. Revital Almog, who investigated the case, told Israel's Army Radio.

A court decided Sunday to keep the young men in custody. They covered their faces with their shirts during the hearing, revealing their tattooed arms, and did not comment.

News of the arrests came as a shock in Israel, which was founded nearly 60 years ago as a refuge for Jews in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust and remains a most sensitive subject. Any forms of anti-Semitism around the world outrage Israelis, and the discovery of such violence in the country's midst made the front pages of newspapers and dominated talk on morning radio shows.

The gang documented its activities on film and in photographs. Israeli TV stations showed grainy footage of people lying helpless on floors while several people kicked them, and of a man getting hit from behind on the head with an empty bottle.

Police found knives, spiked balls, explosives and other weapons in the suspects' possession, Rosenfeld said. One photo that was seized showed one suspect holding an M16 rifle in one hand and in the other, a sign reading "Heil Hitler," he added.

Police discovered the skinhead ring after investigating the desecration of two synagogues that were sprayed with swastikas in the central Israeli city of Petah Tikva more than a year ago, Rosenfeld said.

Police computer experts have determined they maintained contacts with neo-Nazi groups abroad, and materials seized include a German-language video about neo-Nazis in the U.S.

The group planned its attacks, and its targets were foreign workers from Asia, drug addicts, homosexuals, punks and Jews who wore skullcaps. In one case they discussed planning a murder, Rosenfeld said, without providing details.

Some of the victims filed official complaints with police, and other victims were identified after police viewed the films and photos.

In the past, there have been only isolated cases of neo-Nazi activity in Israel. "This is the first time that we've ... arrested such a large number of individuals who are part of an organized neo-Nazi group," Rosenfeld said.

Under Israeli law, a person can claim citizenship if a parent or grandparent has Jewish roots. Authorities say that formulation allowed many Soviets with questionable ties to Judaism to immigrate here after the Soviet Union disintegrated. About 1 million Soviets moved here in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Rosenfeld said all the suspects had "parents or grandparents who were Jewish in one way or another."

Israel doesn't specifically have a hate crimes law, and suspects in past cases have been tried as Holocaust deniers, he said.

The Anti-Defamation League, a U.S.-based group that fights anti-Semitism, condemned the neo-Nazi cell, but urged Israelis not to stigmatize the entire Russian immigrant community based on the acts of what appeared to be a marginal group.

"The suspicion that immigrants to Israel could have been acting in praise of Nazis and Hitler is an anathema to the Jewish state and is to be repelled," the statement read. "The tragic irony in this is that they would have been chosen for annihilation by the Nazis they strive to emulate."

Amos Herman, an official with the semiofficial Jewish Agency, which works on behalf of the government to encourage immigration to Israel, said the phenomenon was not representative of the Russian immigration.

He called the gang a group of frustrated, disgruntled youths trying to strike at the nation's most sensitive core.

"We thought that it would never happen here, but it has and we have to deal with it," he said.