Volume 4 No 2 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] ANTISEMITIC INCIDENTS, JULY–DECEMBER 2012 373Sydney, Australia, August 26: Australian counter-terror agents havereopened an investigation into the bombings of the Israeli Consulate and aJewish social club in Sydney 30 years ago. Police confirmed Saturday thatmembers of a special force called “Operation Forbearance,” established toinvestigate these two bombings on December 23, 1982, had interviewed aprime suspect in an American jail. In the first Australian counter-terror coldcase ever to be reopened, detectives traveled in May to interrogateJordanian-born Palestinian Mohammed Rashid, local media reported. The65-year-old is serving a seven-year sentence at a federal prison in Indianafor the bombing of a Pan Am flight from Japan to Hawaii in August 1982,which killed one passenger and injured 15 others. Australian detectivesbelieve Rashid, who is scheduled to be released next March, was alsobehind the bombings of the Israeli consulate and the Hakoah Club.Lansing, MI: August 28: A violent antisemitic hate crime took place in EastLansing, when 19-year-old Zachary Tennen was beaten unconscious andthen had his mouth stapled by two men, according to his family. Tennen, asophomore at Michigan State University, was approached by the men at aparty and asked if he was Jewish, his mother said. The men proceeded toraise their right arms in a Nazi salute and said “Heil Hitler” before beatingTennen unconscious. According to Tennen’s mother, 20 people watchedwhile her son had his mouth stapled by the two suspects. “It’s an awful hatecrime, and what he’s gone through emotionally and physically, it’s scary toput into words,” Tina Tennen told the Indianapolis Star.SEPTEMBERBerlin, September 1: After a Berlin rabbi and his young daughter wereassaulted, the president of Germany’s Jewish community called on thecountry’s Muslim associations to tackle antisemitism within their communitiesand urged Jews to continue wearing kippot in public. According to theBerlin police, four young Arabs punched Rabbi Daniel Alter several timesin the face because he was Jewish and wearing a yarmulka, and threatenedto kill his six-year-old daughter. Doctors performed surgery on Alter’s fracturedcheekbone.Vienna, September 2: A rabbi was attacked in Vienna by local soccer fans.According to local media reports, the fans, who were on their way to agame, met Rabbi Schlomo Hoffmeister and screamed at him, “Move, Jew—Jews Out, Heil Hitler.” According to the rabbi, they also saluted with theNazi salute. Rabbi Hoffmeister claimed that police officers standing nearbyrefused to intervene. When he asked for their help, they reportedly replied,“It’s just soccer.”