Gubernatorial Candidate Criticized For Calling Businessman a ‘Hungarian Jew’
Republican State Sen. Scott Wagner came under fire for calling billionaire businessman George Soros a “Hungarian Jew,” The Morning Call reported.
The York County businessman, who is running for governor, was at a campaign event when he began to criticize Soros, a prominent Democratic supporter.
“You know what’s amazing is that a guy who came from Hungary, a Hungarian Jew, and made a fortune, and think where he came from, and he has an opinion of America that he does,” Wagner said. “It’s just amazing to me.”
Three rabbis and three Christian pastors wrote Wagner a letter asking him to apologize for his comments.
Jason High, Wagner’s campaign manager, told the newspaper that Wagner was not disparaging Soros’ religion. Wagner has said he was joking and that he has a lot of Jewish friends.
Polish Tourism Organization Fires President for Removing Auschwitz from Journalists’ Itineraries
Marek Olszewski was fired as president of the Polish Tourist Organization after he told a newspaper that he removed the Auschwitz memorial from foreign journalists’ itineraries, JTA reported.
“As the head of the Polish Tourist Organization, who loves his country, I want to show its best side, through our monuments, culture, hospitality, wonderful music,” Olszewski told a Polish newspaper. “Auschwitz is not a tourist product but a place of martyrology, reverie and reflection, and we are promoting Poland as an attractive tourist destination. … I do not need to expose places and events connected with the history of other nations.”
Polish Minister of Tourism Witold Bańka tweeted that he fired Olszewski over “scandalous remarks.”
French Court Rules that Schools Should Provide Alternative to Pork Lunches
A French court determined Aug. 28 that alternatives to pork lunches should be provided to Jewish and Muslim students, The Guardian reported.
The Muslim Legal Defense League challenged a 2015 decision by a right-wing local authority at Chalon-sur-Saône in Burgundy to not provide alternative lunches at school.
The judge said religious considerations didn’t enter into the ruling but indicated that the failure to provide an alternative meal was “not in keeping with the spirit of the international convention on the rights of children” and was not “in the interests of the children.”
Chalon-sur-Saône officials said they planned to appeal.
Case Against Auschwitz Medic with Dementia to be Dropped
German prosecutors are planning to drop criminal charges against a 96-year-old Auschwitz medic diagnosed with dementia, JTA reported.
Hubert Zafke is charged with being an accomplice to 3,681 murders at Auschwitz, with prosecutors alleging his medic’s unit placed Zyklon-B pesticide crystals into the gas chambers.
Zafke has said he did not see or participate in any murders, although he has admitted serving at Auschwitz, JTA said.
Zafke was first diagnosed with dementia in October 2015, and his trial didn’t start as scheduled in Feb. 16 after a doctor said he was unfit to be transported to court.
“Now the dementia has reached a severity that the defendant is no longer able inside and outside the courtroom to reasonably assess his interests or coherently follow or give testimony,” the prosecutors’ statement said.
