Pope's message marking start of WWII omits mention of Jews

Manciano, Italy -- Commemorating the 70th anniversary of the start of World War II, Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday recalled the "tragedy of the Holocaust" and the deaths of "tens of millions" in the conflict.

Speaking at an outdoor Mass on Sunday in Viterbo, north of Rome, Benedict said: "We cannot forget the major events that took place during one of the most terrible conflicts in history, that left tens of millions dead and provoked so much suffering for our beloved Polish people."

"It was conflict that saw the tragedy of the Holocaust and the extermination of so many other innocents," he said.

Just days after Poland held ceremonies marking the German invasion across its border that started the war, Benedict singled out the war's Polish victims, but he did not specifically mention the Jewish victims other than to broadly refer to the Holocaust.

Benedict, an 83-year-old German, witnessed the World War II firsthand, describing himself as an unwilling enlistee in the Hitler Youth and later the German army.

He has decried totalitarianism and anti-Semitism many times over the years. But as pope he has been criticized by Jewish groups as being insensitive at times.

During his first trip to the Holy Land as pope in May, Benedict was harshly criticized by some Israelis for his remarks at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, where he did not mention Germany, the Nazis or his own experience of that time.

Benedict also came under fire earlier this year after he revoked the excommunication of four schismatic bishops, one of whom had denied the scope of the Holocaust.

The pope later denounced Holocaust denial, and in a rare personal letter explained that his decision to reinstate the bishops had been aimed at reconciliation within the church.

Rachel Donadio / New York Times

Dutch to charge Arab group over Holocaust cartoon

Dutch prosecutors said Wednesday they will charge an Arab cultural group under hate speech laws for publishing a cartoon that suggests the death of 6 million Jews during World War II is a fabrication.

The public prosecutor's office in the city of Utrecht said the cartoon insults Jews as a group and is therefore an illegal form of discrimination.

Prosecutors plan to press charges for "insulting a group and distributing an insulting image."

Spokeswoman Mary Hallebeek said the maximum punishment is a year in jail, but a fine of up to euro4,700 ($6,700) is more likely, given that the charges are against the group.

The Dutch arm of the Arab European League said it doesn't deny the reality of the Holocaust, but published the cartoon on its Web site as an "act of civil disobedience" to highlight a double standard.

AEL chairman Abdoulmouthalib Bouzerda argued that prosecutors had not pressed charges against Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders for his film that included cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

Charges against Wilders, who campaigns on an anti-Islam and anti-immigration platform, were dismissed after prosecutors said his insults were aimed at Muhammad, not all Muslims, and were not systematic.

The charges against the AEL "illustrates what Muslims have been saying for decades," Bouzerda said in a response published on the league's Web site. "Freedom of expression is only a pretext to make life bitter for Muslims ... and if (they) try to bring this hypocrisy to light, that right is denied them."

Bouzerda said anyone should be allowed to publish insulting material in the interest of public debate.

The cartoon shows two apparently Jewish men standing near a pile of skeletons with a sign that says "Auswitch," presumably representing the largest Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.

One pokes a bone with a stick and says "I don't think they're Jews" and the other answers, "We have to get to the six million somehow."

Ronny Naftaniel of the Center for Documentation on Israel, which filed a complaint against the cartoon, said Jews had nothing to do with the Muhammad cartoons, so it didn't make sense for the league to retaliate in this way.

"Imagine if Dutch Jews insulted Muslims every time they heard an antisemitic remark. What kind of perverse world would we be living in?" he said.

Source: http://www.ynet.co.il/