http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/jewish-community-disappointed-over-muslim-apology/ Jewish Community ‘disappointed’ over Muslim apology
Published on Friday, 10th June, 2011 at 22:02 under the news category, by Michael Sandelson.
Last Updated on 10th June 2011 at 22:56.
Oslo Jewish Community leaders allege an Islamic organisation is glossing over anti-Semitism in Norwegian schools by focusing more on Muslim harassment.
School lockers (illustration photo)
School lockers (illustration photo)
Photo: wired_gr/Flickr
The current row started on Tuesday, after Oslo municipality presented a report charting racist and anti-Semitic attitudes amongst 7,212 pupils in 48 secondary schools.
Results show 33.3 percent of Jews experience harassment between two and three times per month, compared with 5.3 percent of Muslims.
According to Vårt Land, Ervin Kohn of Oslo’s Jewish Community (DMT) was discouraged by the report. Despite the high figures, however, Secretary General of umbrella organisation Islamsk Råd Norway (IRN), Mehtab Afsar, claims, “it’s really the Muslims that are given a hard time, and charting Muslim harassment is well overdue.”
The day after the report came out, pro-integration network LIM (Likestilling, Integrering, Mangfold) said it encourages all actors to fight against what it views as increasing anti-Semitism in Norway. At the same time, it was openly critical to Mr Afsar’s statements.
“Unfortunately, it seems as though IRN neither intends to recognize or take the problem of anti-Semitism seriously. Secretary General Afsar would rather focus more upon intimidation of Muslims.”
In a further development in what was becoming a growing rift between two ethnic minorities IRN issued a press statement yesterday, also censuring its own Secretary General, saying, “We wish to state once and for all that we clearly distance ourselves from all types of bullying and harassment, including anti-Semitism.
IRN apologises that some individuals have tried to turn a general societal problem into a particularly Muslim one,” it continues.
“I cannot see that IRN takes anti-Semitism seriously when reading this press release,” says Mr Ervin Kohn
Related Links:
Anti-Semitism among NTNU’s students
Holocaust Centre to chart Norwegians’ views about Jews
Anti-Semitism debate pans out
Anti-Semitism common in Norwegian schools
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