Jewish doctor refuses to operate on Nazi patient (Germany)

A Jewish doctor in the North Rhine-Westphalian city of Paderborn has reportedly walked out of a surgery after discovering a Nazi tattoo on the arm of a patient.

A 36-year-old man needing an operation was tattooed with the image of the Reichsadler, or Imperial Eagle, perched upon a swastika, daily Bild reported on Friday.

The patient’s 46-year-old doctor said he could not reconcile proceeding with the surgery with his conscience, the paper reported.

“I will not operate on your husband,” the doctor told the man’s wife. “I’m Jewish.”

The doctor then had another physician finish the procedure, Bild reported.

Since the end of World War II the public display of Nazi party symbols, such as the swastika, have been forbidden in Germany, and carries punishment of up to three years in prison. The eagle, which was a German national symbol long before the Third Reich, is now called the Bundesadler.

The Local Germany

BNP's Euro-funds closely scrutinised (UK)

Concern has been expressed that the BNP could syphon off thousands of pounds of European Union money to pay off its reported mounting debts.

Party leader Nick Griffin and his colleague Andrew Brons are entitled to a combined financial package worth around £600,000 a year because they are MEPs. It includes their annual MEP salaries and a general expenditure allowance to cover office costs, worth £86,000 for both MEPs.

But concern has been raised over the use of an allowance for an MEP's support staff being used to pay for BNP activities in the UK.

Nick Griffin reluctantly revealed his European spending this year after other MEPs voluntarily disclosed their financial costs. He uses up to £145,000 of his annual staff allowance on eight personnel, who officially are only allowed to carry out duties concerned with his European parliamentary activities.

Only six are named and four also work for the BNP in the UK. They include party chairman Simon Darby, UK staff manager Adam Walker, and party spokesman John Walker. The website still lists ex-campaigns director Eddy Butler, expelled from the party three weeks ago. Four other staff are also employed twice by both MEPs.

Details of the BNP's financial crisis have been emerging following last week's letter from the party's ex-chief fundraiser James Dowson describing a "very grave" situation in which the party could only pay a fraction of its debts, estimated at over £500,000.

They include thousands owed to printing firms for election material, an out-of-court settlement over copyright infringement to Marmite, thought to be £170,000, and the cost of fighting this week's court battle with the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Conservative North West MEP Sajjad Karim said he and other MEPs were closely watching the BNP's finances to ensure that European funds could not be used for any purposes other than their parliamentary activities.

However, he admitted: "Someone could actually quite easily use fair amounts of those funds for party purposes without anybody finding out, unless a thorough investigation were to be carried out."

The BNP did not respond to questions on the issue.

The Jewish Chronicle

GERMAN FOOTBALLER URGES GAY PLAYERS TO 'COME OUT' AND SUPPORT HOMOSEXUALITY

Germany striker Mario Gomez has urged gay footballer to come out and support homosexuality in the sport. Gomez has broken ranks with the German Football Federation and team-mates, who have warned that coming out could destroy a player's career. However, Gomez, who has not revealed if he is gay, said that being honest about their sexuality would improve gay players' performance. "They would play as if they had been liberated. Being gay should no longer be a taboo topic," the Guardian quoted Gomez, as saying. The 25-year-old further said that there were plenty of role models in the rest of German society to give gay players the courage to come out. "We've got a gay vice-chancellor [Guido Westerwelle], the Berlin mayor [Klaus Wowereit] is gay. So, professional footballers should own up to their preference," Gomez said. The only German footballer to have come out and accept that he is gay is Marcus Urban, who told his teammates in 1997 and promptly ended his professional career.

Sify

Founder of English defence league charged with assault (UK)

 The founder of the English Defence League has been charged with assaulting a police officer during clashes with Islamic protesters in London.

Stephen Lennon, 27, of Layham Drive, Luton, was held by police in Kensington, west London, as the nation stopped to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day.

Father-of-two Lennon, also known as Yaxley-Lennon and Tommy Robinson, has spoken on behalf of the EDL after a series of violent and intimidating confrontations.

Five others associated with his group were also arrested as members of Muslims Against Crusades burned remembrance poppies.

Two Islamic protesters, aged 30 and 25, were arrested for public order offences after the poppies were set alight during the two minute silence. Parents of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan condemned the inflammatory protest by the hard-line group.

As the clock struck 11am the Islamic protesters burned a model of a poppy and chanted "British soldiers burn in hell".

One officer was taken to hospital with a head injury during clashes as about 50 men linked to EDL were kept separate as they shouted abuse.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said Lennon had been released on bail and would appear at West London magistrates' court on November 22. He said four other men, aged 41, 42, 19 and 18, all arrested on suspicion of affray, were released on bail until mid-December. It is not yet known what happened to a fifth man who was held on suspicion of possession of class A drugs.

The spokesman added that the two members of Muslims Against Crusades had been bailed until mid-December pending further inquiries. The Muslims Against Crusades website includes graphic images of children wounded in warfare and the torture of detainees at Abu Ghraib.

Earlier this year members were involved in violent clashes with far-right groups during a troop march in Barking, east London. There are suspicions Muslims Against Crusades is a splinter group of Islam4UK, founded by Anjem Choudary.

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