haGalil
must continue!
A letter to the Federal Minister for Family Affairs and the Federal
Chancelor
[Your
signature?]
08/03/2005
Dear Mrs. Schmidt and Mr. Schröder,
As you may know, the Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth, and the
Federal Government have abandoned their participation in a successful and
important project founded in the "Rising of the Decent". Following some
controversy with its supporting organization, "Tacheles Reden! e.V.," the
Federal Government will no longer provide funding for haGalil (www.hagalil.com).
Neither good-willed journalists nor the creators of haGalil can
understand this decision. Public and non-public statements are contradictory
or even false, such as the claim that the necessary application was never
even submitted. We urgently call on you to contact the makers of haGalil
to discuss the steps necessary to ensure its continued existence of this
highly important and indispensable Internet service.
haGalil is a communication platform that offers differing perceptions
and opinions regarding Judaism for Jews and Non-Jews. As such haGalil
has become an indispensable tool of communcation with regard to its
traditions and perspectives. Articles, chats and discussion panels
constantly inform about Jewish life. It is the world’s largest German
language Jewish heritage website.
haGalil was founded to undermine the clear dominance of neo-Nazi
internet content regarding such topics as Judaism, Israel, anti-Semitism or
National Socialism. The idea was to produce "100 pages of truth for every
page of lies and hate" in order to outrank anti-Semitic and revisionist
web-pages in the internet search engines.
haGalil is fighting the widespread lack of knowledge about Judaism,
anti-Semitism and Israel, which is common across Europe. It has become known
as a reliable source of accurate information.
In 1997 haGalil began using a form on its pages that allows the user
to report neo-Nazi internet content. This is used frequently and has become
an essential tool in fighting right wing extremism.
We, the signatories of this letter are regular readers or authors of
haGalil. We consider haGalil to be absolutely irreplaceable in
the struggle against anti-Semitism in Europe and the Federal Republic of
Germany. Eliminating the government's support for haGalil will aide
in the destruction of a unique and effective channel for communication and
truthful information about Judaism, anti-Semitism and right-winged extremism
in Europe.
Lately Federal President Köhler himself emphasized how anti-Semitism must be
fought in Germany "by all means possible." haGalil is one of these
tools. We urgently appeal to you and request you to re-instate sponsorship
of this critically needed information service.
[Your
signature?]
hagalil.com 08-03-2005 |