http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1152853.html Israel lodged a formal complaint with Spain on Sunday, charging certain individuals in Spanish schools of promoting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel ideas among young children. The letter comes after Israel’s ambassador to Spain, Rafi Shotz, recently received dozens of anti-Semitic postcards from Spanish elementary school students. The postcards bore statements including “Jews kill for money,” “Leave the country to the Palestinians” and “Go somewhere where they will accept you.” A Foreign Ministry official said the handwriting appears typical of children six to nine years old. “Apparently there are anti-Semitic and anti-Israel individuals who get permission to operate within schools,” the official said. “Each time, the embassy has received several dozen postcards from a different school. And it seems as though whoever is doing this is moving from school to school.” The Foreign Ministry considered summoning Spain’s ambassador to Israel, Alvaro Iranzo, to complain, but ultimately spoke to the envoy by telephone instead. Naor Gilon, the ministry’s deputy director for Europe, called Iranzo on Sunday and said “Israel is greatly distressed” by the postcards. The envoy insisted the letters are not part of any Spanish Education Ministry program, but the initiative of private citizens. |
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Israel Complains to Spain Over Anti-Semitism in Schools
- By SPME
- March 1, 2010
Israel Complains to Spain Over Anti-Semitism in Schools
AUTHOR
SPME
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) is not-for-profit [501 (C) (3)], grass-roots community of scholars who have united to promote honest, fact-based, and civil discourse, especially in regard to Middle East issues. We believe that ethnic, national, and religious hatreds, including anti-Semitism and anti-Israelism, have no place in our institutions, disciplines, and communities. We employ academic means to address these issues.