The Vicious Babushka

UK Royal Pledges $100K to Rebuild Mumbai Chabad

 

 British Prince Michael of Kent, visited the destroyed Chabad Center of Mumbai Wednesday, accompanied by Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz of the Mumbai Relief Fund.

Queen Elizabeth's first cousin, Prince Michael of Kent, visited the destroyed Chabad Center of Mumbai at Nariman House Wednesday.

The prince was escorted by Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz of the Mumbai Relief Fund, on a tour of the Chabad center that was attacked by terrorists last year.

The prince noticed the photos of the Rebbe and the Holtzbergs, and he inquired about Shluchim and their work. Later, he lit a candle in memory of the murdered Shluchim, Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg.

The prince also pledged a donation of $100,000 in rebuilding part of the Nariman House.

"I along with other donors from London pledge a donation of $100,000 in restoring part of Chabad House including the kitchen. We will continue to offer every kind of help," Prince Michael said.

"The destruction caused by terrorists is immense. I am saddened to see all this. I feel deep sorrow for what happened here," he said, adding he was touched on hearing about the how the nanny Sandra saved baby Moshe.

COLLive.com

Posting will be slow for a while

Notice from The Babushka:

Posting to this blog will be slow for a while as we are working on upgrading The Zionist Mall and Jewish-American History Archive.

The Zionist Mall is open 24/7 with a great selection of Israeli products!

Doofus of the Day: Udi Aloni, Jealous of Neturei Karta's Media Success

I find it appropriate that the Israeli public be notified of the emerging movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel  (BDS), which has been growing at a breathtaking pace.

Following bewildered reports published by Yedioth Ahronoth journalist Sever Plocker, who noticed that BDS has moved from the circles of the radical western Left to the circles of the bourgeois centre, I can add that this is now true for Israel-loving Jews as well.

Obviously, this shift is taking place against the backdrop of Israel’s war on Gaza, waged one year ago, the publication of the Goldstone Report, and the local strain of apartheid policy nurtured by Israel, which differs from the old South African one in some aspects.

This policy has local makings and signature. It is not only an Israeli High Court of Justice ruling to evacuate Palestinian living in the east Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah from their homes, applying a “right of return for Jews only” rule, while Palestinians, on the other hand, are being denied this right.

Read the rest of this nauseating drivel at YNet.

It should be noted that Udi Aloni is the son of Shulamit Aloni, Israel's oldest and ugliest Stalin groupie.

Our suggestion for Udi, if he wants more attention from his Jew-hating friends, he should grow payes, put on white socks and a Shtreimel and spend Shabbos in Gaza with Neturei Karta.

94-year-old Satmar Holocaust Survivor Passes Away, Leaves 2,500 Descendants

KIRYAS JOEL — A few hundred mourners gathered in the frigid cold Monday morning for a funeral for a 94-year-old Holocaust survivor said to have left behind more than 2,500 descendants.

Yitta Schwartz, who died about 6 a.m. at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, is thought to have had the largest extended family of anyone in the generation of Orthodox Jews from Eastern Europe who escaped annihilation by the Nazis during World War II.

Unlike most survivors, Schwartz and her late husband, Yosef, left their native Hungary with their family intact. They came to the United States with eight children and added nine more in the years to come, one of whom passed away as a child.

Schwartz left Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 1978 after her husband died and settled in what was then the fledgling Satmar Hasidic satellite community of Kiryas Joel. At the time, she already had more than 170 grandchildren.

By the time of her death, her grandchildren had grandchildren.

Times Herald Record

Oh Noes! Israeli Arab Schools do not Observe Holocaust Remembrance Day

Report: Arab schools fail to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day

House report to discuss minimal attention given by Arab schools to Holocaust studies, commemorative activities

The majority of Arab schools do not commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day and the number of students taking part in any commemorative activities is minute, a Knesset report has found.

The data suggests that in 2008, only 1,595 students of the 134,672 taking part Holocaust commemorative activities were Arabs, and only 150 took part in the annual mission to Poland.

Holocaust teaching has been a controversial issue in the Israeli education system for years, with the main question being how to expose the student to information: through history lessons, ceremonies, tours, overseas mission etc. The methods used today calls for gradual exposure to the subject, especially when explaining it to the younger student body.

The Education Ministry has ordered mandatory 30 annual hours for Holocaust studies, but while Jewish schools start thoroughly exploring the subject from the sixth grade and on, sixth grade history lessons in the Arab sector focus on Arab heritage and history. Holocaust studies are given about 27 annual hours in ninth grade, but it is detached form the wider historical connotation of pre-WWII Nazism and the war's immediate implications. Grades 10-12 see just seven annual hours of Holocaust studies.

Ahmed Badran, the Education Ministry's Arab school supervisor in northern Israel, said that in general, Arab schools do not mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and that the matter is left to the teacher's discretion.

Read more at YNet.

Why should the Arabs observe Holocaust Memorial Day when they observe "Naqba Day" that the Holocaust did not succeed?

Many Haredi schools in Israel also do not observe the government-mandated "Yom Hashoah" preferring instead to include the Shoah on Tisha B'av.
 

Moldovan Church Blames Jews for Priest's Menorah-Smashing Rampage

 Moldovan Orthodox Church: Jews to blame for menorah incident

Church calls Hanukkah attack on menorah in Chisinau 'unpleasant', but adds, 'We think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place.' Buenos Aires rabbi says desecration of menorah in city 'should not be blown out of proportion'

The Moldovan Orthodox Church on Wednesday blamed the local Jewish community for the recent rally in which a public menorah was torn down and a cross was put in its place.

During the December 13th incident, dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova's capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved and reinstalled. The national government said in a statement that "hatred, intolerance and xenophobia" are unacceptable.

According to a report, published Monday by the Russian Interfax news agency, the church said in a statement, "We believe that this unpleasant incident in the center of the capital could have been avoided if the menorah had been placed near a memorial for victims of the Holocaust."

The church said it opposed the form of the protest, and that it respects "the feelings and belief of other cults that are legally registered on the territory of the Republic of Moldova, and expects a similar attitude from their side," according to the report.

"At the same time," the statement continued, "we think it inappropriate to put a symbol of the Jewish cult in a public place connected to the history and faith of our people, especially because Chanukah is classified by the cult books of Judaism as a 'holiday of blessing' that symbolizes the victory of Jews over non-Jews."

Read more at YNet.

Also, the comments at YouTube are sickening.

Auschwitz Sign Stolen By Deranged Souvenir Collector

Polish police are interrogating a gang of five professional thieves to find out whether a foreign collector commissioned them to steal the “Arbeit Macht Frei” sign from the entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp.

The wrought iron sign — which means “Work sets you free” — was recovered 72 hours after being stolen from the camp where more than a million Jews were killed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Its cynical wording raised the possibility that it had been taken for ideological reasons or at the behest of a far-right mastermind.

Five men, aged between 20 and 39, from the Torun area of northern Poland, have been arrested for the theft. Andrzej Rokita, the deputy commander of Cracow police, described them as nonpolitical. All had previous convictions for theft or assault.

“We can say that none of the five are members of a neo-Nazi group,” Mr Rokita said. One suspect owns a construction company; the others are unemployed.

They are being interrogated in Cracow, the city responsible for the nearby Auschwitz camp museum. If charges are pressed, they could face up to ten years in jail for the “theft of a cultural treasure of particular significance”.

Read more at UK Times.
  

Moldovan Priest Leads Mob in Knocking Over Hanukkah Menorah

Dozens of people led by an Orthodox priest smashed a menorah in Moldova's capital capital Chisinau, using hammers and iron bars to remove the candelabra during Hanukkah, officials said.

The 1.5 meter (5-foot)-tall ceremonial candelabrum was retrieved, reinstalled and is now under police guard.

Police said they were investigating but there was no official reaction from Moldova's Orthodox Church, which is part of the Russian Orthodox Church and counts 70 percent of Moldovans as members.

The national government said in a statement that "hatred, intolerance and xenophobia" are unacceptable.

Jewish leader Alexandr Bilinkis called on the Orthodox Church to take a position over the priest's actions.

The Jewish community was thriving before World War II but there are now estimated to be just 12,000 Jews in the former Soviet Republic. Twenty years ago there were 66,000 Jews. Many immigrated to Israel.

YNet.

Enjoy Hanukkah

 

Babushka wishes everyone a peaceful, happy, and radiant Hanukkah! 

White House Hanukkah Party: "One Big Overblown Latke"

 

WASHINGTON - At the first Hanukkah party in the Obama White House, a Jewish student choir will sing in sweet harmony, the two young children of a soldier deployed in Iraq will light a 19th-century silver menorah from Prague and President Obama and his wife, Michelle, will greet more than 500 guests in a celebration that is expected to spill from the State Room to the East Room.

But to the dismay of some administration officials, the plans for next week's party - one of the hottest holiday events for the nation's Jewish elite - have been overtaken by feverish debate over the size of the guest list, the language on the invitations and what this says (or does not say) about Mr. Obama's relationship with Jews.

President George W. Bush, who began the tradition of White House Hanukkah parties, invited 600 people to his last party, administration officials say. But rumors spread wildly, first in the Israeli press and then locally, that President Bush had invited 800 people and that the Obamas were planning to invite only 400. (Administration officials say they have invited 550 people.)

The invitations have also caused some consternation because they make no mention of Hanukkah, inviting guests to "a holiday reception" on Dec. 16.

In an opinion article published by JTA, the Jewish news agency, Tevi Troy, a former Bush administration liaison to Jewish groups, warned that the Obama White House had given Jewish Americans "a number of reasons to fear that it takes its votes for granted." Mr. Troy cited as examples the administration's call for a freeze on Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the decision to honor Mary Robinson, the former president of Ireland, who has been accused by some Democratic lawmakers of anti-Israel bias.

Mr. Troy said the reduced guest list created "a nagging sense that there may be a studied callousness at work here."

Read more at NY Times. 

Montana Police Officer Learns Hebrew: So He Can Talk to His Dog

HELENA, Mont. — In Montana, a rabbi is an unusual sight. So when a Hasidic one walked into the State Capitol last December, with his long beard, black hat and long black coat, a police officer grabbed his bomb-sniffing German shepherd and went to ask the exotic visitor a few questions.

Though there are few Jews in Montana today, there once were many. In the late 19th century, there were thriving Jewish populations in the mining towns, where Jews emigrated to work as butchers, clothiers, jewelers, tailors and the like.

The city of Butte had kosher markets, a Jewish mayor, a B’nai B’rith lodge and three synagogues. Helena, the capital city, had Temple Emanu-El, built in 1891 with a seating capacity of 500. The elegant original facade still stands, but the building was sold and converted to offices in the 1930s, when the congregation had dwindled to almost nothing, the Jewish population having mostly assimilated or moved on to bigger cities.

There is a Jewish cemetery in Helena, too, with tombstones dating to 1866. But more Jews are buried in Helena than currently live here.

And yet, in a minor revival, Montana now has three rabbis, two in Bozeman and one (appropriately) in Whitefish. They were all at the Capitol on the first night of Hannukah last year to light a menorah in the ornate Capitol rotunda, amid 100-year-old murals depicting Sacajawea meeting Lewis and Clark, the Indians beating Custer, and the railway being built. The security officer and the dog followed the rabbi into the rotunda, to size him up.

Read more at NY Times.
 

Wingnuts Enraged Over ADL Report on Right-Wing Rage

 

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Some conservatives are accusing the Anti-Defamation League of launching a partisan attack following its report asserting that a “current of anti-government hostility” has swept the United States in the year since Barack Obama was elected.

The Jewish defense organization did not respond similarly to anti-Bush hatred during the previous eight years, the conservatives have argued, and was unfairly linking mainstream criticism of the president with fringe attacks on Obama.

But the ADL said it frequently denounced extremist rhetoric during the Bush administration, and that its new report does make a distinction between everyday partisan vitriol and more problematic attacks.

“The comments are coming from people who have not read the report,” ADL spokeswoman Myrna Shinbaum said. “They're reacting to the media spin and not its substance.”

The report, titled "Rage Grows in America: Anti-Government Conspiracies,” examines both some mainstream and more fringe expressions of anti-government anger, which it says is characterized by a "shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States."

"Some of these assertions are motivated by prejudice,” the report states, “but more common is an intense strain of anti-government distrust and anger colored by a streak of paranoia and belief in conspiracies.”

Among other things, the report cites the "tea parties," the "Birther" movement and the disruptions of congressional town hall meetings across the country this summer -- often by protesters comparing the Obama administration and the Democrats to Nazis.

The report also examines conspiracy theories circulating among anti-government extremists -- including fears of the imposition of martial law and government confiscation of guns -- and finds a "sudden and surprising resurgence of the militia movement" that had peaked during the mid-1990s.

The ADL charges that some in the mainstream media have played a role in promoting anti-government anger, specifically singling out Glenn Beck of Fox News as a "fearmonger-in-chief" for making comparisons between Obama and Adolf Hitler, and promoting conspiracy theories.

Read more at JTA.org. 

Babushka doesn't usually agree with JTA and their own Orthophobic agenda, but in this case they are spot in.

Doofus of the Day: Tel Aviv University Professor Spews Anti-Semitic Propaganda

An Israeli academic has been accused of contributing to anti-Semitic discourse and incidents following his book tour in London promoting the thesis that Jews never existed as a people and the Palestinian Arabs are the true heirs of the biblical Jews.

Shlomo Sand, a professor of history at Tel Aviv University, spoke at a number of events in London last week to sell his book The Invention of the Jewish People, in which he writes that the Israelites were never exiled from the Promised Land and therefore have no right to return.

Jewish community figures questioned Sand's work and noted that no opposing view or contextualization was offered at his events.

"Sand's agenda is to sever the historic link between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel," said Jonathan Hoffman, co-chairman of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland. "To promote that agenda his book ignores archeological and genetic evidence. At none of his three London appearances was there a historian or Jewish history expert on the platform to counter his distortions, evasions and sensationalism. The result will contribute to anti-Semitic discourse and incidents in the UK, already at a record level."

A guest on BBC Radio Four last week, Sand told presenter Andrew Marr that he compares Israel's birth to "rape"

"I'm not a Zionist. I don't define myself as an anti-Zionist... but I'm not a Zionist... I don't put into question the existence of Israel," he said. "I compare when I am speaking before Arab students the birth of the Israeli state to an act of rape. But even the son that was born of the act of rape... you have to recognize him... the existence of Israel I don't put in question today, you understand me?"

Read more at Jerusalem Post.

Of course Sand's historical kitty litter will be prominently featured on academic websites such as Stormfront, Judicial-Inc, Michael A. Hoffman and their comrades in arms.
 

Chabad in Dubai? It's a Massive Juice Conspiracy!

Click on image for a larger view of "It's a Juice Conspiracy!"

An article about American Jewish Sephardim in a Muslim site claims: "The Dubai government brought Chabad representatives and other groups with their own ethnocentric perspective on the East."

by David Shasha, The American Muslim

I was recently reading a JTA article on the Forbes list of wealthiest Americans. It seems that 139 out of the 400 richest Americans are Jews. That makes just about 35% of the total. Given that Jews make up about 2% of the total US population, this statistic tells us something about the American Jewish community.

Exactly what it tells us is open to debate, but what cannot be debated is the aggressiveness with which American Jews have taken their place at the table.

What exactly is this “table” and why should we care about it?

The proverbial “table” is where people go to get heard. It is where they go to stand up and be counted. The “table” is a consolidation of media influence, political influence, cultural influence – well, you get the idea.

Now, it is always a touchy matter to speak about “Jewish power” in the United States. One of the problems is the constant accusatory refrain of “Anti-Semitism.” One does not want to be indicted of attacking Jews by pointing out that the power they have is way beyond their numbers as members of the US population.

Read more at COLLive.com

Last Member of Hitler's "Inner Circle" Finally Kicks the Bucket at 96

 

Memoirs of Hitler aide could finally end Holocaust claims

The memoirs of the last SS adjutant to Adolf Hitler are to be published in a move historians say could cast away the last shred of doubt over his personal involvement in the Holocaust.

Fritz Darges died at the weekend aged 96 with instructions for his manuscript about his time spent at the side of the Führer to be published once he was gone.

Darges was the last surviving member of Hitler's inner circle and was present for all major conferences, social engagements and policy announcements for four years of the war.

Experts say his account of his time as Hitler's direct link to the SS could discount the claims of revisionists who have tried to claim the German leader knew nothing of the extermination programme. Right-wing historians have claimed the planning for the murder of six million Jews was carried out by SS chief Heinrich Himmler.

Mainstream historians believe it inconceivable that Hitler did not issue verbal directives about the mass killings in Darges' presence. Other courtiers, such as armaments minister Albert Speer and propaganda chief Josef Goebbels, had their diaries published post war with no reference to hearing Hitler ordering the "Final Solution".

Darges died on Saturday still believing in the man who engineered the Jewish Holocaust as "the greatest who ever lived." His memoirs will be published now in accordance with his will.

Read more at UK Telegraph.

I have two questions. Why did this asshole not die in prison? Why did he not die on the prison gallows in 1946?

 

Mumbai terror attacks: And then they came for the Jews

Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz at Nariman House terror scene.

It is a sticky monsoon day in Mumbai, and Rabbi Avraham Berkowitz walks through the shell of Nariman House. Today, the ruined five-storey structure is testament to the ferocity of the terrorists’ incursion and their battle with Indian commandos. It seems impossible that anyone could have come out alive. All its window frames are empty. The lift is slumped at the bottom of its shaft, and giant, jagged chunks of the internal stairway and handrail are missing. At one point, a section of wall many metres high is gone, and the stairs would be open to the sky if not for a plastic draping. Some rooms appear almost untouched; in others, the walls are pulverised, the splatter-marks of gunfire everywhere.

Berkowitz is an American charged with recreating the Mumbai outpost of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a Hasidic outreach and educational organisation that sends emissaries around the world. “We are in deep shock,” says Berkowitz, 33. “They have left a gaping hole in our community.” The questions the Lubavitch movement faces are being asked of thousands of other people in the city: what to take from tragedy, how to heal, how to go forward. But even as the organisation looks to the future, uncertainty lingers over what took place during those 48 hours last November. During the siege, six foreigners were murdered inside Nariman House and three Indians were killed on the surrounding streets. Four people from inside the house survived. The building was run by Lubavitch, and was part of a larger attack on hotels and public buildings across Mumbai that resulted in the deaths of at least 166 people. But for the terrorists themselves, Nariman House was different. It was the only Jewish target, and the terrorists would be told by their handlers in Pakistan that the lives of Jews were worth 50 times those of non-Jews. The organisers had sought it out with care. Most Mumbaikars knew of the Taj Mahal hotel. Few were aware of the small Jewish centre tucked away on a backstreet.Strangely, considering Nariman House’s central place in the attacks, the events of the siege are a mystery. The full story of what happened, of how the siege began, of the hostages who escaped, and of the baby who was rescued, has never been told.

The storage room in which Sandra Samuel and Zakir Hussain were hiding from the gunmen measured 3.5 metres by 3 metres. It was lined with shelves, two windows looked out onto grubby lanes and courtyards, and there was a stainless-steel refrigerator. A banal scene, really, but it was a sanctuary. For around three hours, Sandra, 44, a plainly dressed and dedicated nanny, and Zakir, 22, a diminutive cook with delicate, almost feminine features who called himself Jackie, had been wedged behind the fridge. “I called the police, I called our security guard,” says Jackie. “I thought this was the end for me.” There was little indication of what the men upstairs were doing with the American rabbi, his wife and son, Moshe, who was almost two, and their guests. “Nobody was speaking, there was just the moving of tables, shaking noises, bumps, things being pushed against the wall, things grinding,” says Sandra. It was approaching 1am on Thursday, November 27, 2008.

In an adjacent building, a British woman, Anna, was crouching in the hall of her apartment with her Indian husband. Anna, 41, is a thoughtful, dark-haired teacher; she didn’t want to give her real name because, in light of what happened in her adopted city, she fears becoming a target. All their windows — about 21 panes — had shattered from a blast after the gunshots and explosions had started at Nariman House at 9.45pm the previous night. So they waited on the floor for hours in the darkness, calling and receiving calls from worried relatives and friends, unsure of what was going on next door, even though Nariman House was only a few steps away. Curiously, the thing that struck Anna was the silence. It was as though the city beyond had ceased to exist. No car horns, no chatter from the street, none of the normal hum of a sprawling tropical metropolis. That night there was nothing except for gunshots, and they issued from Nariman House infrequently.

Read more at Times UK

Biased Media Caption of the Day: "Judaism's Third Holiest Site"

Ultra Orthodox Jewish women pray near a concrete and wire barrier built by Israel to secure the biblical Tomb of Rachel, Judaism's third holiest shrine, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Thursday Oct. 29, 2009. Tens of thousands of Jewish pilgrims made an annual pilgrimage Thursday to commemorate the Jewish Matriarch Rachel. AP Photo.

Why do Jews have to be protected by a concrete and wire barrier and bulletproof buses in order to pray at their third holiest shrine? Could it have something to do with Muslims trying to murder them?

The media always makes sure to mention that Judaism's Most Holy Shrine is really Islam's Third Most Holy Site.

Tomb of Rachel before the "intifada" of 2000:

 

Nazi Descendant Offers Holocaust Memorabilia to Yad Vashem

JERUSALEM – The offices of Yad Vashem, the Israeli agency that memorializes the six million Jews murdered by their Nazis and their allies, received an extraordinary and even infuriating proposal recently. The grandson of Rudolf Hoess, the notorious commander of the Auschwitz death camp, offered to sell some of his grandfather’s personal effects to the museum.

The letter to the museum, which was sent several months ago and entitled “Rare objects, Auschwitz, Commander Hoess,” was short and succinct, saying: “These are several objects from the estate of Rudolf Hoess, the commander of Auschwitz: A massive, fireproof box with official insignia – a gift from Henrich Himmler, the commander of the SS, weighing 50 kilograms, a letter opener and folders, slides from Auschwitz that have never been seen publicly, letters from his period of imprisonment in Krakow. I would be very grateful for a brief answer. Sincerely, Reiner Hoess.”

The management of Yad Vashem responded with shock to the proposal and rejected it out of hand. The management of the museum expressed disgust over the desire of the criminal’s relative to profit from Holocaust memorabilia.

A high-ranking official of Yad Vashem said, “Here we must ask: did you murder and profit as well?” (The reference is to 1 Kings 21:19—INT)

However, museum officials told Rudolf Hoess’s grandson, Reiner, that he may donate the original items to the museum in order to commemorate the Nazi horror.

In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth last night, Mr. Hoess, 44, said the idea of selling the items to Yad Vashem came up following a conversation that he had with a friend, the grandson of Baldur von Schirach, who was the leader of the Nazi youth movement, the Hitler Youth.

“These items were in the family’s possession,” Hoess said in a telephone conversation.

“We knew about them, people outside the family knew about them for a long time as well. Quite a few organizations wanted to buy them from us, including well-known media such as Der Spiegel and the Axel Springer publishing company. In the wake of Mr. von Schirach’s recommendation, I thought that it would be appropriate to sell the items to Yad Vashem. I do not want these items to get into the wrong hands.”

Read more at Philadelphia Bulletin.

I don't understand why this is "horrifying" as long as the collection does not include soap or lampshades. The museum is angry that he is offering to sell these items instead of donating them, although he appears willing to donate the collection so that it should not get into "the wrong hands."
 

Extensive Western Wall Tunnels Displayed for the Media

 

Doofus of the Day: Holocaust Denier Who Attacked Elie Wiesel, Sues Auschwitz Survivor

 

A notorious Holocaust denier, convicted of attacking Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel in an elevator, has now set his sights on an 80-year-old Pembroke Pines woman whose memoir recounts her ordeal in the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.

In a lawsuit filed in Broward Circuit Court, Eric Hunt alleges that the "The Fifth Diamond: The Story of Irene Weisberg Zisblatt" is full of "vicious lies" and "fantastical tales" that turn Jews into haters and torment non-Jews.

Zisblatt's son-in-law, who is a lawyer, called Hunt's lawsuit "absurd," but expressed concern for his elderly relative's safety.

"This lunatic has assaulted a survivor in the past," Stuart Mermelstein of Miami said, "and is posing a danger to my mother-in-law simply for speaking out and writing a book."

Zisblatt's autobiography recounts how she, five siblings and their parents were packed into a boxcar for the trip from Hungary to the extermination camp.

Her mother gave Zisblatt, 13, four diamonds. (In her book's title, Zisblatt herself is the fifth diamond). To keep the gems safe, Zisblatt relates, she repeatedlty swallowed them during her time in captivity.

Zisblatt, who appeared in director Steven Spielberg's 1999 Academy-Award winning documentary "The Last Days," was the only member of her family to survive World War II. The precious stones she hid are still in her family.

Hunt, 25, of Archbald, Pa. filed the libel suit in Broward Circuit Court on Oct. 6 and is demanding a jury trial and punitive damages of "not less than $60 million."

The case has been assigned to Circuit Judge Peter Weinstein.

"In terms of the hatred spewed in this complaint, it clearly has no legal or factual bearing whatsoever," Mermelstein said. "It's a ridiculous pleading and our concern is really directed not to the complaint, but to the motives and intent of Eric Hunt."

Also named as defendants in the suit are Spielberg; Zisblatt's co-author, Gail Ann Webb; Authors & Artists Publishers Inc. of New York; and its CEO Joan Mayor.

"Zisblatt blatantly stole other Jewish people's experiences during World War II and passed them off as her own in order to further the Jewish political agenda and profit off of these fantastical tales," Hunt, who is representing himself without an attorney, wrote in his lawsuit. "The defendants must not go unpunished for tormenting Gentiles and instilling hatred in Jews using such hideous lies."

In 2007, Hunt accosted Holocaust survivor and scholar Wiesel, 81, in a San Francisco hotel elevator in an alleged attempt to force Wiesel to recant his own recollections of the Holocaust.

Read more at Sun-Sentinel.