[DanaC]

Possible. Equally possible is that this is a little bit of noise created to back up Sharon's statements about French anti semitism recently. Or the incident happened.....doesnt mean it happened as that report stated. It is interesting to me that this was from the Jerusalem post. I have no real knowledge of the publication but my guess is it is pro zionist in nature. I also notice that whilst the people interviewd claimed the remarks were anti semitic in nature the only ones they published in detail were anti Israeli not anti semitic. I very much doubt these three people ( how three people can be described as a "gang" when facing a crowd of 50 I dont know) went to Auschwitz puely to cause trouble and upset Jewishfolk. More likely is that they were there to pay there respects or pay a visit to a place of historical interest and were offended by the draped Israeli flag which they percieved as a) rampant nationalism in a place which should not be tainted further with Nationalism of the present day or b) they saw the flag as indicative of political zionism which offended them because they see that as laying claim to the grief of Aushwitz, something they themselves may feel connected to. Many people in Europe are very angry with the Israeli state machine and the way political zionism is being painted as the only way to be truly Jewish. Many people are also angry at the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza and percieve those actions to be tantamount to a new form of fascism in which case the overt presence of the Israeli flag which exists currently as a symbol of that abuse, may have seemed highly offensive.

Having said that it was clearly an innappropriate response and led those people to do a fair impression of the kind of ugliness seen in racists and anti semites