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Anti-Semitic remarks anger Israeli ambassador in Croatia

Jul 24, 2007, 15:19 GMT

Zagreb - The Israeli Ambassador to Croatia Shmuel Meirom on Tuesday called for the firing of a programming council official at Croatian TV broadcaster HRT, accusing her of anti-Semitism.

Jadranka Kolarevic had attacked Ephraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for speaking out against the broadcast of a concert by ultra-nationalist Croatian performer Marko 'Thompson' Perkovic.

Perkovic's songs feature patriotic sentiment and nostalgia for the Ustasha regime, which collaborated with the Nazis during the Second World War, and during whose rule (1941-1945) tens of thousands of Jews, Serbs, Roma and anti-fascists were killed in concentration camps.

Perkovic's fans often wear black uniforms resembling those of the Ustasha army.

'Many people die daily in Palestine and he wants to comment the situation in Croatia,' Kolarevic said of Zuroff, who runs the Wiesenthal Centre's Israeli branch.

Meirom sent a letter to Croatian Parliamentary Speaker Vladimir Seks and HRT General Director Vanja Sutlic, demanding the dismissal of Kolarevic for what he called 'deeply anti-Semitic' remarks.

While Seks has yet to react to the ambassador's request, Sutlic said it was not Meirom's place to interfere in Croatia's internal matters.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur


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It was not Meirom's place to offended CroatiansJul 26th, 2007 - 15:18:31

It should be clear that Croats are NOT pro-Nazi. Both Serbia and Croatia, like Finland, Hungary, France and virtually every other nation in Europe, were occupied by the Axis and had governments which collaborated with the Axis. It was not Meirom's place to offended Croatian people in general by connecting whole nation as Nazi nation.

It was not Meirom's place to interfere in Croatia's internal matters and every time anyone group speaks of Croat nationalism or Croat-Serb rivalry nowadays the writer invariably raises the spectre of Croatia's 'pro-Nazi' regime, it should be clear that the Croats were not pro-Nazi; they were, simply, anti-Serb. A Serb guerrilla force, the Chetniks, arose under Draza Milhailovic, paying more attention to the killing of Croats than of Germans. The feelings were all too mutual. Not one single Croatian soldier tread on foreign soil, while Serbian soldiers knocked down one third of Croatia. Serbs you have stolen and murderd Croatians for the last time.

And for Thompson's songs: During his last tour 'Bilo jednom u Hrvatskoj' his concert in Frankfurt, Germany (country with the strictest laws against fascism) was also protested against by Jewish Organizations. They determinedly requested that the German government to ban the concert on alleged fascist lyrics. When German government received transcript of Thompson's songs, request for banning the concert was immediately rejected.

Thompson's words in English: I'm often attacked and accused, that we are fascists, nazis, and by this you also who listen my music and follow. And we here by say to them that we are not fascists, nazis, but Croatian patriots. We tell them that there are values that we live for. There were people that we will never forget. And there are dreams that we will never give up. Because this country was made, our Croatia, on the blood and suffering of this generation, victorious generation.

Meirom your propaganda is a joke!

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CygnusJul 26th, 2007 - 22:15:32

Unlike the rest of the occupied states of the former Yugoslavia during World War 2, the Ustaše government applied racial laws on Serbs, Jews and Romas, and after June 1941 deported them to the Jasenovac concentration camp (or to camps in Poland). The exact number of victims of the Ustaše regime is uncertain due to the destruction of documents and varying numbers given by various historians vying for political clout. The total number of victims in Croatia is estimated to be between 360,000 and 420,000.[1] The racial laws were enforced by the Ustaše militia.


Some more of Mr. Perkovic's Lyrics...

'Jasenovac and Stara Gradiška, that's the house of Maks' butchers
There was a slaughterhouse in Čapljina, and Neretva (river) carried away many Serbs
Shining star above Metković, send our greetings to Ante Pavelić'

' Hey, Ustaše my dear brothers, the Drina is deep.
We should go over the Drina and burn Serbia
When he was crossing the Drina, he was shot in a leg.'

The guy who posted the first comment should serve as a shining example of how much holocaust denial and fascism IS rooted in Croatia after glossing everything like he does.

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MarioJul 27th, 2007 - 18:32:44

Given this latest news, Serbia is denying it's role in WWII

Serbs, Roma and anti-fascists were killed in concentration camps. Are we sharing our concentration camps with Serbs. From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Serbian Orthodox Church openly supported Nazi and Serbs Belgrade is the first city “judenfrei” Serbs have a major psychological problem dealing with a Croatian historical event. Serbs may open a Pandora’s box of facts that they may wish would remain forever forgotten. Serbia of today and Germany in World War II offer striking parallels. It is ironic that Serbia is sharing concentration camps with Jews. In 1941 the Serbian Fascist Party has been founded in Belgrade by Dimitrije Ljotic, the principal Fascist ideologist of Serbia. Belgrade was the only European capital that had concentration camps exclusively for Jews (Sajmiste and Banjica). There are no holocaust memorial tablets in Belgrade. A rebellion of the Croatian troops which took place in Villefranche-de-Rouergue in September 1943 shows clearly the patriotism of Croatian soldiers. Serbian historical revisionism disingenuously ignores their own complicity with Germany during World War II, but consistently censures Croatia as being synonymous with the Ustashe.

We all know of terrible crimes in Jasenovac during the WW II and we all condemn them. Although it has not been publicly acknowledge, We all know of thousands of communist crimes in Jasenovac after the war! We also know of five hundred pits which Serb communists filled with Croatian bones.

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