08 June , 2006
The president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), Pierre Besnainou, has called on Croatia to adopt strict laws to counter anti-Semitic incidents. Besnainou said that in the European Union, which Croatia hopes to join by 2009, "we have ever tougher laws and we hope that Croatia will adopt very harsh laws so that the incidents like the recent ones can be adequately punished." Besnainou, who was in Croatia to visit the local Jewish community, said that he had told the country's president Stipe Mesic that Croatia should adopt a strong law condemning any anti-Semitic act.
Besnainou's call came after a group of neo-Nazis assaulted Croatia's chief rabbi, Eliezer Aloni, on a street in the capital Zagreb. Aloni was on his way home from synagogue when a bunch of men wearing shirts with swastikas printed on them yelled "Jews out!" in German at him, "Ha'aretz" reports. Witnesses say the men pushed the rabbi over after he asked them if they knew the meaning of what they were shouting. Eliezer took refuge in the Jewish community center and informed the local police. Zagreb's Jewish community said it was the third anti-Semitic incident to have taken place in the country within a week. On Sunday, a group of men wearing shirts of the pro-Nazi militia that governed Croatia during World War II attacked a memorial service honoring local Jews murdered by Nazis and their allies. Last week, the Jewish community's offices received a phone call by an anonymous caller who threatened to assist Hamas to blow up the community's buildings.