Index to the Traditional Enemies of Free Speech

 Alphabetical index (text)

New York, Tuesday, November 11, 2003

BEHIND THE HEADLINES

Greek composer blasts Jews

JEWS are the “root of evil,” a leading Greek composer said. At a news conference this week publicizing his new book, Mikis Theodorakis, who scored the music for the film “Zorba the Greek,” also said that the Jews “are full of self-importance and evil stubbornness,” the Jerusalem Post reported.

He said Greeks are less aggressive than Jews “because we have more history.”

Israeli officials released a statement calling on Greek cultural and political officials to distance themselves from Theodorakis’ remarks.

more:

source: http://au.news.yahoo.com//031112/19/mhtw.html

Thursday November 13, 05:43 AM

Greek Jewish leaders denounce remarks by “Zorba” composer Theodorakis

ATHENS (AFP) – Greek Jewish leaders came down on one of the country’s best-loved composers, Mikis Theodorakis of “Zorba the Greek” fame, for calling Jews the “root of evil”, and reproached government ministers for failing to react.

Theodorakis “repeated in the 21st century opinions from the darkest Middle Ages and slogans used by Nazi Germany, fanning both inside and outside the country the winds of intolerance and racism,” the Central Jewish Council of Greece charged in a statement.

The composer was flanked by Culture Minister Evangelos Venizelos and Education Minister Petros Efthymiou when he made the comments at a November 4 reception for the publication of his autobiography, an event covered massively by the Greek media.

Film footage showed neither minister reacted when Theodorakis said Greeks and Jews “are two peoples without kin, but they had fanaticism and self-knowledge and managed to prevail.”

“Today, we can say that these little people are the root of evil,” said Theodorakis, 78, a committed leftist and political activist who was jailed under the fascist junta that held power in Greece in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Government spokesman Christos Protopapas sought Wednesday, [November 12, 2003] to distance the government from his comments, which despite the number of journalists present were only repeated in one small right-wing daily.

“The government does not share and is not in agreement with the opinion expressed by Mr. Theodorakis,” the spokesman said, but added that “despite the disagreement” the composer “is still held in high regard” by the government for his works.

Thursday November 13, 05:43 AM

It’s no Greek wedding

JTA – Comments by a Greek composer that “Jews are the root of all evil” resembles statements by Hitler and Goebbels, an Israeli Cabinet minister said. Justice Minister Yosef “Tommy” Lapid said that while criticism of Israel is legitimate, anti-Semitic comments are not.

Lapid told Israel Radio that the composer, Mikis Theodorakis, “doesn’t say that the Israelis are occupiers, he says that the Jews are the root of all evil in the world.”

Theodorakis, a left-wing activist, later said his comments were directed at the Israeli government, not the Jewish people. “I am totally opposed to Sharon’s policy and I have stressed this repeatedly, just as I have repeatedly condemned the role of prominent American Jewish politicians, intellectuals and theorists in the shaping of today’s aggressive Bush policy,” he said in a statement published in Greek newspapers on Thursday.

A Greek official said Greece does not agree with Theodorakis’ remarks. Greek Jewish leaders also condemned the composer’s comments. 

 Website dossier on the origins of anti-Semitism