PSNI prepare antisemitism file for PPS on pub Holocaust comments recorded by Tuvia Tenenbom

The PSNI is to prepare a file for the Public Prosecution Service about extreme anti-Semitic comments by patrons in a Londonderry pub in April.
Jewish film-maker Tuvia Tenenbom recorded extreme anti-Semitic remarks in a Londonderry pub in April 2019.Jewish film-maker Tuvia Tenenbom recorded extreme anti-Semitic remarks in a Londonderry pub in April 2019.
Jewish film-maker Tuvia Tenenbom recorded extreme anti-Semitic remarks in a Londonderry pub in April 2019.

During a month long tour of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, Jewish filmmaker Tuvia Tenenbom said he found anti-Semitism among up to 80% of the people he met; the attitude was similar to that in modern day Germany - but without any intellectual arguments, he claimed.

He made headlines in April after publishing a video of himself asking patrons in a Londonderry bar why there were so many Palestinian flags in the area.

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One of them answered: “Because we hate the f***ing Jews.” Another replied: “The Israelis are scum. Killing children, killing weans.”

Another stated: “The only thing Hitler did wrong was he didn’t kill enough f***ing Jews...They’re the scourge of the world.”

Speaking to the News Letter later, Mr Tenenbom said German anti-Semites offer arguments about the issue but that across the island of Ireland it is considered a fact of life that “Jews are the devil”.

He added: “If you are critical of Israel and Turkey and China of course this is not anti-Semitism. But if you are okay with all the other countries in the world except Israel, that is what I call anti-Semitism.”

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A PSNI spokeswoman said that it had carried out a number of enquiries in relation to the April incident. “A file will be prepared and submitted to the PPS in relation to the matter,” she added,

However Mr Tuvia was not impressed. “It seems that, for some, it takes at least a few months to find the identity of pub goers who go to the same pub day in day out... Only in the UK...” he said.

Belfast-born Stephen Jaffe, a consultant to the UK-wide Jewish Leadership Council, called for more action.

“So far as I’m aware none of those in the video have approached the Jewish community to say that they have reflected on what they said and are sorry for it,” he said.

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“When I saw the video I was saddened to see these individuals so blinded to the contribution of the Jewish community to their own lives that they would like to have seen more Jews murdered in the Holocaust. They might like to consider the contribution of Jewish people to medicine or science, for instance.

“As well as the police, I expect the city council to take the lead on this as it is widely acknowledged that the problem of anti-Semitism is more widespread and deeply rooted than three or four men sounding off in a bar.”