👹 French police shot dead a knife-wielding Algerian man who set fire to a synagogue and threatened police in the city of Rouen on Friday in the latest antisemitic attack, officials said.
“An armed man somehow climbed up the synagogue and threw an object, a sort of Molotov cocktail, into the main praying room,” said mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, adding that nobody else was harmed in the shocked city in the northwestern Normandy region.
Police found the man on the synagogue roof with an iron bar and kitchen knife, shooting him when he defied orders to stop.
France, like many countries across Europe, has seen a huge spike in anti-Jewish acts since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and Israel’s military response in Gaza.
Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said the attacker’s bid for a residency permit had been recently rejected. He was otherwise not on the radar of police or intelligence services.
“This antisemitic act affects us all deeply,” Darmanin said after visiting the synagogue, adding that France was doing all it could to protect its Jewish community.
The synagogue’s rabbi Chmouel Lubecki said his wife was there at the time of the attack.
“We had a great fright,” he told BFM TV.
His wife “heard gunshots and screams … and then she saw smoke coming from the synagogue, so she immediately went down, she helped the firefighters get in the synagogue.”
Such an attack was expected, he said, due to the rise in antisemitism. “We had this fear inside of us, but when it actually happens, it’s still shocking.”
👹 The false prophet Mohammad said: “I have been made victorious by terror”
☆ Lawmakers criticized the European Commission for signing controversial agreements that give North African countries vast sums of money in exchange for reducing migration to Europe.
💭 Last year, EU, Tunisia signed €1 billion deal to ‘fight illegal migration’
Leaders from the EU want a “strategic” pact with the racist Tunisian President Kais Saied to stem the flow of migration to Europe.
😈 Demonic Looking Tunisian President Calls For Black people to Be Hunted Down
👹 An asylum seeker has been jailed for life over the first terror attack on British soil linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict after murdering a pensioner, 70, at random and attempting to kill his Christian convert housemate.
In the days following the October 7 attack by Hamas, Morocco-born Ahmed Alid, 45, became increasingly agitated, ‘laughing and praising God’ as the news of each atrocity was reported.
Eight days after Hamas attacked Israel, he launched a ferocious knife attack on Javed Nouri, a housemate in a four bed asylum hostel, who he hated because he had converted to Christianity.
After Mr Nouri fought off his attacker, Alid grabbed a kitchen knife with a 20 inch blade and ran into the streets in the early hours of the morning where he encountered Terrence Carney, 70, and, shouting Alluha Akbar, stabbed him six times causing fatal injuries.
Self-radicalised Alid told police his attack was ‘for the people of Gaza’ and he had wanted to kill more victims. It is the first example of a terrorist attack in Britain inspired by the Hamas atrocities on Israel.
At the sentencing today the judge, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, ruled that Alid had committed terrorist offences in his vicious attacks and had shown ‘no genuine remorse or pity’ for his victims.’
✞ In the last three years, about two million children of Aksumite Ethiopia died in war, famine and disease to save the unsaved Gentile Africans.
✞ In the past three years, thousands of Ethiopian Israelis have died in war to save the Muslims and Jews.
❖ Jerusalem 3,000 years ago: The Arrival of The Queen of Sheba, the Mother of the Ethiopians, around 1000 BC. King Solomon gave Gaza to the Queen of Sheba / Ethiopia
❖ Gaza, 2,000 years ago: In the New Testament, Apostle Philip was sent to Gaza to evangelize the Ethiopian. (33-35 AD Acts 8:26-40)
❖ Gaza, 2024: “Ethiopians fight there like lions. They are considered excellent soldiers in these units.” Out of the 120 outstanding soldiers, 10 are Ethiopians, or five times their proportion in the population. Out of loyalty and endless love for the State of Israel, many of them immigrated to Israel, mobilized, fought and some were even killed to protect our miracle like no other – the State of Israel, our only home on earth.
👮 Some 26 soldiers and policemen are among the Ethiopians who have been killed in the current war, as well as 3 civilians; Data shows the rate of casualties among Ethiopians is much higher than their numbers in general population, as is the case among the outstanding soldiers; ‘Ethiopians fight there like lions. They are considered excellent soldiers in their units’
The Iron Swords War will be remembered as the War of Independence of the Ethiopians in Israel because this is the war in which the public was exposed even more to the great contribution of Ethiopians to Israel’s security.
The proportion of Ethiopians in Israeli society is 1.8%. Over 170,000 Ethiopians live in Israel. But among the fallen, the number of Ethiopians stands at 26 out of 716 among the members of the security forces; that is, more than 3.5%, twice their proportion in the general population.
An expression of the great contribution of Ethiopians to the IDF could be seen at the ceremony for outstanding soldiers at the President’s Residence on Independene Day. Out of the 120 outstanding soldiers, 10 are Ethiopians, or five times their proportion in the population.
Unofficial data from the army indicates that the number of Ethiopians in the commando units is many times more than their proportion in the general population. “Ethiopians fight there like lions. They are considered excellent soldiers in these units,” said a source familiar with the matter. There are also a higher number of Ethiopians among the seriously wounded. “All in all, there are dozens of soldiers from the community who were wounded in the war,” the source said.
Minister of Immigration and Absorption Ofir Sofer said the reality of the data hit home just this week.
“The terrible period of the long war brings us together with the strengths that exist in our wonderful nation,” he told Ynet. “These things are especially true for the ex-Ethiopian community. Just this week on Memorial Day eve, I attended the funeral of the late Sergeant Yosef Dassa, his mother’s only son, who was a fearless soldier and fell in battle in the Gaza Strip. Family members and friends eulogized Yosef, but it was hard to miss the eulogy of the two cousins, also soldiers in the IDF’s best units, who are especially mature and full of Zionism, and who returned from the Gaza Strip for the funeral. And immediately after they returned to continue fighting. With this picture I entered the 76th Independence Day.”
The chairman of the Jewish Agency, Major General (res.) Doron Almog, added that “the members of the Ethiopian community contributed and continue to contribute to the security of the country with a tremendous mobilization as soldiers in all field units. Out of loyalty and endless love for the State of Israel, many of them immigrated to Israel, mobilized, fought and some were even killed to protect our miracle like no other – the State of Israel, our only home on earth. They, among the rest of our determined warriors, give us hope and pride. The Ethiopian community has grown up soldiers and officers in senior positions in the IDF and the country as a whole theirs.”
♱ Philip The Evangelist and The Ethiopian Official
😇 Saint Cyril of Jerusalem:
“In this power of the Holy Ghost, Philip also in the Name of Christ at one time in the city of Samaria drove away the unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice; and healed the palsied and the lame, and brought to Christ great multitudes of them that believe. To whom Peter and John came down, and with prayer, and the laying on of hands, imparted the fellowship of the Holy Ghost, from which Simon Magus alone was declared an alien, and that justly. And at another time Philip was called by the Angel of the Lord in the way, for the sake of that most godly Ethiopian, the Eunuch, and heard distinctly the Spirit Himself saying, Go near, and join yourself to this chariot. He instructed the Eunuch, and baptized him, and so having sent into Ethiopia a herald of Christ, according as it is written, Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hand unto God , he was caught away by the Angel, and preached the Gospel in the cities in succession.” [13]
“And who then is this, and what is the sign of Him that rises? In the words of the Prophet that follow in the same context, He says plainly, For then will I turn to the peoples a language: since, after the Resurrection, when the Holy Ghost was sent forth the gift of tongues was granted, that they might serve the Lord under one yoke. And what other token is set forth in the same Prophet, that they should serve the LORD under one yoke? From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia they shall bring me offerings. Thou knowest what is written in the Acts, when the Ethiopian eunuch came from beyond the rivers of Ethiopia. When therefore the Scriptures tell both the time and the peculiarity of the place, when they tell also the signs which followed the Resurrection, have thou henceforward a firm faith in the Resurrection, and let no one stir thee from confessing Christ risen from the dead .” [14]
😇 Saint Ephrem the Syrian
“ Very glistening are the pearls of Ethiopia, as it is written, Who gave thee to Ethiopia [the land] of black men. He that gave light to the Gentiles, both to the Ethiopians and unto the Indians did His bright beams reach.
The eunuch of Ethiopia upon his chariot saw Philip: the Lamb of Light met the dark man from out of the water. While he was reading, the Ethiopian was baptised and shone with joy, and journeyed on!
He made disciples and taught, and out of black men he made men white. And the dark Ethiopic women became pearls for the Son; He offered them up to the Father, as a glistening crown from the Ethiopians.” [15]
😇 King Solomon, Queen of Sheba, and the Ark of the Covenant
According to ancient records, the Queen of Sheba ruled the Ethiopian region in about 1,000 BC. This was the same Queen of Sheba that the Bible tells us traveled to Israel to meet King Solomon. According to tradition, the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon conceived a child who grew up to be King Menelik, the first in an unbroken dynasty of Ethiopian rulers.
Remarkably, a number of ancient texts record this tradition, including a 14th century document known as the ‘The Glory of the Kings’ that says Solomon and Sheba had a son named Menelik who later returned to Ethiopia with his family and the Ark of the Covenant.
We also know that for centuries, Northern Ethiopians have practiced ancient rituals very similar to those of Old Testament Israel and explicitly claim descent from the tribes of Israel.
In recent years, modern genetic testing has validated some of these claims. For example, an Ethiopian group known as the Beta Israel – or, House of Israel — was officially recognized by the Israeli government in 1973. The Gefat—another isolated Ethiopian tribe estimated at twenty to thirty thousand people—lives further south in the rural countryside. The Gefat have faithfully observed Jewish laws and customs for hundreds of years. In fact, their name, Gefat, means “the blowers,” and according to their history, they were chosen by the kings of Ethiopia centuries ago to blow a special horn known as the “shofar” ahead of the Ark of the Covenant in official processionals.
The Ark of the Covenant is an ornate box carrying Moses’s copy of the Ten Commandments on tablets of stone, the rod of Aaron, and pieces of the manna that miraculously appeared to sustain the Israelite tribes in the wilderness. The Ark served as the centerpiece of worship and religious life for the tribes of Israel from the time of the Exodus until the Babylonian destruction of Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem in 586 BC.
The fate of the Ark of the Covenant is one of the great mysteries of history. Was it destroyed beyond recognition when the Babylonians demolished the Jerusalem temple? Was it carried away by the Babylonians and the gold melted down? Or was it secretly whisked away from Jerusalem by courageous priests? No one really knows for sure. Nevertheless, almost 45 million Orthodox Christian Ethiopians firmly believe that the Ark of the Covenant was taken, almost 3,000 years ago, to Ethiopia.
✞ The Ethiopian Orthodox Church has maintained a quiet presence in Jerusalem for more than 1,500 years, with some people claiming that there has been an Ethiopian delegacy in the Holy Land ever since the famed meeting of the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon some 3,000 years ago.
For many centuries, the center of the Ethiopian Church in Jerusalem was a small courtyard with several structures behind the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the Christian Quarter of the Old City. Today, however, the Church has to a large extent relocated outside the walls to the western city. The move began in the 19th century, when a succession of powerful Ethiopian monarchs decided to establish a strong presence outside Africa. In 1888, Ethiopian Emperor Yohanes bought a large plot of land and began construction of a new church and monastery. The complex eventually lent its name to the road on which it is situated – Ethiopia Street.
The new church is an impressive structure in a secluded courtyard, built in the circular style reminiscent of other Ethiopian churches. The complex is usually a haven of tranquility in the heart of downtown Jerusalem, but during Easter things pick up, and it is recommended to visit and witness the lively services. Remember to take off your shoes at the entrance as this is a requirement of the Ethiopian rite.
✈️ An Ethiopian Airlines flight landed in Beirut on Thursday with the name of the Israeli city of Tel Aviv emblazoned on its fuselage, prompting a rebuke from Lebanese authorities.
Lebanon is technically in a state of war with neighbouring Israel.
Lebanon’s directorate for civil aviation said the words Tel Aviv were in small letters and that the airline explained its practice was to mark new planes with the name of their first destination after entering service.
The Civil Aviation Authority asked the airline to remove the city’s name from its fuselage before departing Beirut.
“The company was also asked to take necessary measures to ensure that there is no logo related to the Israeli enemy entity on the company’s aircraft before landing at Rafic Hariri International Airport,” the authority added.
“The Ethiopian company explained that it is accustomed to noting the name of the airport where the plane lands for the first time after its purchase, which is what happened with the aircraft,” the directorate’s statement explained.
The company said that it did not notice this before bringing the plane to Beirut.
“The directorate requested the company to remove the phrase from the plane’s body before allowing it to take off from Beirut, which actually happened. It also requested the company to take the necessary measures to ensure that there are no logos related to an Israeli entity on the company’s planes before landing at Beirut International Airport,” the statement concluded.
Last May, Lebanese officials banned the Cypriot airline TUS AIR from flying in Lebanese airspace or landing at Beirut International Airport after it came to light that an Israeli corporation owns shares in the airline.
In 1955, Lebanon passed a law boycotting contact with Israelis or economic relations with Israeli companies.
The law prohibits any person or entity from having contact with Israelis or persons residing in Israel. It also prohibits all types of transactions — commercial, financial or otherwise — with Israel. Violation of the law is punishable by three to ten years of hard labor.
Additionally, Article 285 of the Penal Code punishes commercial transactions between a Lebanese citizen or resident of Lebanon and a national or resident of an enemy country.
Lebanon has never had diplomatic relations with Israel and regards it as an enemy state. Lebanese citizens are forbidden from contact with Israelis.
The current situation is particularly tense, with Israel and Lebanese armed group Hezbollah having been engaged in daily cross-border attacks in south Lebanon since October 8.
Hezbollah, also a political group, says it is carrying out the attacks in support of its embattled Palestinian ally Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Hezbollah said on Tuesday it had launched drone attacks on two Israeli military bases north of the city of Acre, its deepest attack into Israel since hostilities broke out.
In response Israel killed two civilians – a woman and her niece – and injured six others in a strike that destroyed a house in the southern Lebanese village of Hanine, Lebanon’s state news agency said.
✈️ Ethiopian Airlines Conspiracy
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on February 10, 2010
🐎 Two ‘SERIOUSLY’ Injured Runaway Household Cavalry Horses undergo operations and are being ‘closely observed’, Army reveals – as it emerges white runaway ‘Vida’ has history of being spooked and ‘kicked soldier in head during King’s coronation’
☆ Rubble Being Moved From A Building On Wilton CRESCENT, a street in the Belgravia area, where builders using a travelator with concrete are believed to have spooked the horses.
The image of the white horse running through the streets covered in blood looks as though it was taken from some apocalypse movie.
☆ The Big Ben Clock Stopped On Wednesday Morning, with the hands stuck at 9am and the wrong number of bongs sounded.
The Elizabeth Tower clock appeared to stop for about an hour, before showing the correct time again at 10:15am. Big Ben’s bongs also sounded 11am at 10:06am, despite the hands of at least two of the clock faces showing 9am.
☆ Norovirus Detected In Germany: 430 people are now sick after the Stuttgart folk festival – The Festival Tent: Same Colors as The 4 Horses in The Book of Revelation
Numerous guests at the Stuttgart Spring Festival suffered from vomiting, diarrhea and nausea after visiting a festival tent. More than 400 visitors are said to be affected, and norovirus was detected in three cases. Now the operator speaks out.
Over the weekend, several hundred people were infected with a gastrointestinal virus in a festival tent on the Cannstatter Wasen. So far, 430 people have reported gastrointestinal complaints. A spokesman for the municipality announced this on Thursday. There were 400 cases last Saturday and 30 on Sunday.
All those affected visited the same festival tent at the weekend and then complained of vomiting, nausea and diarrhea. The spokesman said that there is a high number of unreported cases among those affected because the infection is certainly passed on within the family. So far, norovirus has been detected in three sick people.
☆ King Charles III. in Traditional Saudi Sword Dance (Antichrist)
☆ President Trump in Traditional Saudi Sword Dance (Antichrist)
☆ It Was Foretold That Lshmael Would Be:
❖[Genesis 16:12]❖
“He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.”
🐎 And the Palestinian Flag….White, Red, Black and Green – Same Colors as The 4 Horses in The Book of Revelation
😈 THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE & Colored Flags of Islamic Countries & Oromos of Ethiopia
☪ The Ishmaelites hate everyone and everything – specially 3/ Three, like in The HOLY TRINITY.
🐎 THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF THE APOCALYPSE (Revelation Chapter 6)
☠ White – Mohammed / Baphomet
😡 Red – Abu Bakar
🌚 Black – Umar
🤢 Pale Green – Uthman
🔥 4 stands for judgment of men and their sins.
☠ White – terror and war
😡 Red – chaos and murder
🌚 Black – famine and disease
🤢 Pale sickly green is DEATH and HELL
This is exactly what’s taking place in Northern Ethiopia. The Islamic Oromos of Abiy Ahmed Ali starving ancient Christians of Tigray, Ethiopia to death.
❖❖❖ [Revelation Chapter 6:8] ❖❖❖
“And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”
😞 History repeating itself: Antisemitism + anti-Christianity have three Faces: Right, Left and Islamist. The resurgence of antisemitism since the Islamist suicide terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, has origins in the ideologies, events, and circumstances in Europe (Esau) and the Middle East (Ishmael) in the half century from the 1920s to the 1970s. The Right, Left and Islamists were united back in 1938, and we see them united again by similar political, socioeconomic and spiritual interests + by their hatred for Jews and Christians. Envy gives birth to hatred. We hear it loud and clear: “First The Saturday People, Then The Sunday People”
This week Passover / Pesach begun for our Jewish brothers and sisters. Next week The New Passover/Pascha/Fasika will begin for us, Orthodox Christians. So, the demonic forces of the Antichrist come out accordingly awake for their extreme and evil deeds during these holy days.
❖[John 3:20-21]❖
“For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”
❖[James 4:4 ]❖
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”
❖[Revelation 21:8]❖
“But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
💭 University’s COO tells Shai Davidai that he’s barred from area of anti-Israel encampment ‘to maintain safety of the community’; Congress members demand Jewish students be protected.
An outspoken Israeli professor was blocked from entering a portion of the Columbia University campus and Jewish members of Congress demanded action from the administration on Monday as pro-Palestinian protests against Israel continued to roil the Manhattan university.
Shai Davidai, an Israeli assistant professor at Columbia University’s business school, had announced on social media that he planned to enter the university’s main campus on Monday morning to hold a “peaceful sit-in” in the area of pro-Palestinian demonstrators who have occupied the campus lawn since last week.
But the university deactivated Davidai’s Columbia ID card, preventing him from accessing the main campus, which is currently restricted only to those who hold valid Columbia IDs. Davidai teaches at the business school, a separate area from the main campus, and still has access to that location.
The university’s chief operating officer, Cas Holloway, met Davidai at the entrance to tell him he would not be allowed in.
About an hour earlier, Davidai had posted a message he had received from Holloway, saying he would be allowed to hold a counter-protest at an area that is separate from the encampment, with the protection of public safety officers. Decrying the offer as a “continuation of six months of gaslighting and degrading the Jewish community,” Davidai rejected the offer, tweeting, “F— YOU CAS.”
“This is 1938,” he wrote in another post, referring to the dismissal of Jewish staff from universities in Nazi Germany in the years leading up to the Holocaust.
At the university gates, Davidai, who has emerged as a vocal and controversial supporter of Jewish students on campus since shortly after Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel, addressed a crowd of people who had assembled there.
“I have not just a civil right as a Jewish person to be on campus, I have a right as a professor employed by the university to be on campus,” Davidai said at the entrance, as supporters shouted “shame” and students watched from inside the university fence. “Being Jewish in public has become a political statement,” Davidai said. “It’s not a privilege, it’s a right, and they’re not allowing me that right.”
The pro-Israel supporters appeared to be mostly older adults, not students. Many Jewish students had left campus due to safety concerns, Davidai said. Many had also headed home for the Passover holiday.
The White House expressed concern on Sunday as footage from the protests went viral.
“While every American has the right to peaceful protest, calls for violence and physical intimidation targeting Jewish students and the Jewish community are blatantly antisemitic, unconscionable, and dangerous,” the White House said in a statement.
Chants of “intifada revolution” from protesters outside the campus gates were audible as the Congress members delivered their statements. The group of several dozen protesters carried signs with the images of Palestinian terrorists on them, including Zakaria Zubeidi, who is incarcerated in an Israeli prison for attacks on Israeli civilians, and Mahmoud al-Arida, a Palestinian Islamic Jihad member serving a life sentence. The two were among six inmates who were part of a notorious jailbreak in September 2021, before being captured within two weeks of their escape.
Demonstrators outside campus also chanted in support of Hamas, video showed. A video posted by Chabad showed pro-Palestinian protesters calling for the destruction of Tel Aviv from atop the iconic sundial at the center of campus.
Jewish students say they have at times been unable to access parts of campus because of protesters. Video showed protesters linking arms and walking forward in unison to block Jewish students’ entry to the lawn. Jessica Schwalb said she and a group of friends had walked onto the lawn on Sunday night and were encircled by protesters within minutes. One of the students was wearing a Star of David but the group was not protesting, Schwalb said.
“We couldn’t go anywhere without being stopped or followed,” said Schwalb, a junior studying human rights. “They feel the need to keep an eye on us and they constantly call us Zionists and it’s just really discriminatory what’s happening.”
She added, “It’s terrifying rhetoric and staying on the inside of Columbia’s gates, it no longer provides the safety that it once did.”
An Orthodox rabbi at Columbia urged students to leave for their safety on Sunday. The campus Hillel said it disagreed with the message but shared his concerns, while the campus Chabad expressed grave concerns about conditions on campus but said its Passover seders would go forward without interruption.
Shafik said in a Monday email to the university community that all classes on Monday would be held virtually “to deescalate the rancor and give us all a chance to consider next steps.”
“I am deeply saddened by what is happening on our campus. Our bonds as a community have been severely tested in ways that will take a great deal of time and effort to reaffirm,” Shafik said.
Shafik called for discussions about the war in Gaza, adding, “But we cannot have one group dictate terms and attempt to disrupt important milestones like graduation to advance their point of view.
👉 Cain vs. Abel – Ishmael vs Isaac – Esau vs. Jacob/Israel 👈
💭 An antisemitism campaigner has called for the head of the Metropolitan Police to resign after he was called “openly Jewish” by an officer and threatened with arrest at a pro-Palestinian march in London.
This video filmed by Sky News shows Met Police officers preventing Gideon Falter from crossing a pro-Palestinian march.
In the video, an officer appears to prevent Mr Falter from crossing the road and tells him: “You are quite openly Jewish. This is a pro-Palestinian march. I am not accusing you of anything, but I am worried about the reaction to your presence.”
That is so scary and infuriating – we repeatedly saw similar pro-Islam policing at Speakers Corner in London’s Hyde Park. We are witnessing how the whole world ignores the ongoing persecution and genocide of Christians in Armenia, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, even Europe and America. I myself see the hatred and in the face of Muslims whenever they see The Holy Cross on my nack. All of Europe and North America, I’ve witnessed Muslims spewing their Anti Jewish hatred for the past twenty years. The spiritually conditioned Islamic anger, hatred, and jealousy towards Jews and Christians is mindbogglingly deeper we think.
Well, the Writing is on the Wall – “First the Saturday People, then the Sunday People” Islamic declaration in action!
💭 “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.”—Martin Niemöller
💭 “Germany’s worst period should not be printed on a jersey,” the German historian Michael König said.
⚽ Adidas has banned fans from personalizing the German national team jersey with the number “44” after outrage over the resulting resemblance to Nazi symbolism.
Historian Michael König appears to have been one of the first people to notice the resemblance between the “44” and the symbol for the “Schutzstaffel,” also known as the SS, which was responsible for planning and carrying out the Holocaust under Adolf Hitler. In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, last Friday, König included screenshots of Germany’s national team jersey, which is sold by the company, with the number “44” and said it was “questionable” to allow the shirts.
König’s post quickly gained steam. As of Tuesday morning, it had been viewed more than 7.4 million times on X and prompted many media articles on Adidas’s blunder.
“It was a shock for me to see the numbers like that. It reminded me directly of the SS runes,” König, who is German himself, told Gizmodo via direct messages. “And I don’t understand why nobody at Adidas saw it.”
Fans were able to choose the number “44” because Adidas allows them to personalize some of their apparel with specific names or numbers. In light of the criticism, Adidas quickly disabled the personalization option for the jerseys in its online store.
In a statement to Gizmodo on Tuesday, Adidas tried to shake off the criticism and pointed out that the German Football Association, or DFB, and its partner, soccer apparel merchant 11teamsports, were responsible for the design of the names and numbers on the jerseys.
“Our company stands for the promotion of diversity and inclusion, and as a company we actively oppose xenophobia, anti-Semitism, violence, and hatred in any form,” Adidas said. “Any attempts to promote divisive or exclusionary views are not part of our values as a brand, and we firmly reject any suggestion that this was our intention. Our company stands for the promotion of diversity and inclusion.”
The German Football Association responded to the backlash over the jersey on Monday in a post on X. The association explained that it checks the numbers 1-9 and then sends numbers 1-26 to UEFA, the governing body for soccer in Europe, for review, according to a Google translation of the text.
“None of the parties involved saw any proximity to Nazi symbolism in the development process of the jersey design,” the German Football Association said. “Nevertheless, we take the information very seriously and do not want to provide a platform for discussions.”
The association added that it was working with 11teamsports on an alternative design for the number 4.
König, the historian, said he applauded the swift response to the situation from Adidas. He said that certain groups of people shouldn’t be able to express their right-wing views to the outside world. That would have been possible, König pointed out, with the “44” on Germany’s team jersey. He added that the issue is of even higher importance because Germany was hosting the UEFA European Championship this summer.
“Germany’s worst period should not be printed on a jersey,” König said.
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