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German Convicted Of Anti-Semitism
9-6-2

MUNICH, Germany (AP) - A Munich club owner was convicted of incitement to hate and anti-Semitism Wednesday for canceling a pro-Israel fund-raiser that involved the granddaughter of the late Israeli premier Yitzhak Rabin ( news - web sites). He was fined and sentenced to six months' probation.
 
 
The trial of Rudolf Fischer, 52, by a Munich court followed his refusal to allow the gathering for 400 guests at his Y Julieta club in March 2001. Fischer said in court that he told the event organizers he didn't want to host any political events.
 
The event was a fund-raiser for Keren Hayesod, a quasi-government organization that raises money to promote Jewish immigration to Israel and other Israeli causes.
 
But Claus Peter Zistl, an attorney for the organization, testified Monday that Fischer told one of its members he had canceled the event because "he wanted nothing to do" with Jews and would sooner host a far-right political rally.
 
Fischer had helped "create the impression around the world that Jewish guests here are again treated as they were in the Third Reich," Judge Max Boxleitner said as he issued his ruling.
 
Boxleitner said he found the plaintiffs' testimony "extremely credible," while he said defense witnesses backing Fischer's version of his comments to the organizers were too far away to hear the exchange.
 
Fischer was fined $2,480.
 
Prosecution lawyers had demanded a nine-month suspended sentence for Fischer, whose trial began Monday. The defense, which had argued he should be acquitted, said it would appeal.
 
The fund-raiser was to have included Noa Ben-Artzi, whose moving eulogy for her grandfather after Rabin's 1995 assassination captured world attention.
 
Keren Hayesod, also known in English as the United Israel Appeal, filed criminal complaints and held its event at another Munich club, and the city's mayor issued an apology to Rabin's granddaughter.
 
City authorities said they would examine whether to withdraw the Fischer's license for the club or issue him with a warning in the light of the verdict.






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