This past week, El Pais and El Mundo have praised the open antisemite Gilad Atzmon, for calling himself an ex-Jew, and taking up a moral position towards the Jewish people.
As Alan pointed out,
We know that antisemitism in Spain is very high. Several surveys have shown this.
For example, El Pais notes that 52% of kids dont want a Jew sitting next to them at school, and 58% of adults think Jews have too much power.
The commenter Alitax noted that the antisemitic James Petras has written for El Mundo, and that the same paper has published an interview with the Holocaust denier David Irving, about Hitler and the Jews. Alitax also noted a piece in the new online Spanish journal, Publico, claiming the Jewish lobby holds power in Brussels, and that El Pais has published antisemitic cartoons such as this one.
What is being said about the Jews in the Spanish media currently?
A headline in El Periodico de Catalunya (the best-selling Catalan daily) from last month screams:
“The Jews support apartheid Israel if the West Bank is annexed”
Last month, the 20 minutos news website published an article about the PP minister Alberto Ruiz Gallardon who wants to criminalise Holocaust denial. Then the next paragraph discussed how he is a friend of Israel, and he has even won awards there. The article is titled:
“The crime of denying the Holocaust: A debt from Spain and a wink from Gallardon to the Jewish people”
The comments underneath the article are vile.
This mood music might explain why Atzmon’s jazz-flavoured racism was praised in Spain’s media.
