Ilan Cohen, one of the 44 French Jewish students from universities in Oporto who last Monday sent a letter to the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic asking the State to “never again” attack the Jewish Community, suspects an attempt on his life on Tuesday night. On the night of the 29th, a tire on Ilan's car was carefully punctured so as to be on the verge of bursting while he was having dinner at a kosher restaurant in Oporto. After dinner Ilan went home on the highway, where speeds reached about 120km/h, and "miraculously the tire did not burst", Cohen says. "Taking the VCI (highway), my car had trouble driving, and I was very lucky, I stopped and saw stab wounds in my tires."
Now Ilan suspects that the authorship was "a criminal network to silence or even to kill me through a fatal accident, because in 2022 an antisemitic conspiracy against the Oporto community made use of professional robbers to break into law offices and private homes, and also people convicted of other crimes." Cohen has been studying in Oporto for five years and it was the first time this happened. "That is why this occurrence is highly suspicious. I filed a complaint with the police, case number 002042/22.6PIPRT", he adds.
On Monday, a group of French students from Oporto sent a letter to the Portuguese Parliament asking the State to promise that "never again will it unlawfully detain a Chief Rabbi or illegally invade a synagogue, a Jewish museum and the homes of community leaders in a case 'without foundation in fact' and 'based on nothing', in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal."
The students refer to the case that, in March, led to the arrest of the Chief Rabbi of Porto, Daniel Litvak, who was accused of being part of a criminal association linked to forgery and corruption involving officials of the registry offices and misappropriation of funds that were not declared to the tax authorities and were laundered. In September, the Lisbon Court ruled that the multiple suspicions were “based on nothing” and returned the Rabbi's passports.
Ilan Cohen, the petition’s first signer, said to the Jewish News Syndicate that "The discrimination of the inquisition, was not enough for them to stop there! Jews remain unprotected because unlike other minorities they are always associated with money, always!". Whereas the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal has launched a public consultation on the Commemorations of the 50th anniversary of Democracy and the Constitution, university students have asked for texts suggested by them to be placed in the Parliament building. "The democratic state promises that never again will it arrest a Chief Rabbi, photograph him as if he were a rapist, remove the siddur, tallit and tefillin needed for prayer, place him in a cell with a murderer, not allow kosher food to be brought in, deprive him of food for 36 hours, force him to break the Sabbath and to remain in Portugal, while travelling several kilometres three times a week for a humiliating presentation at a police station to prove he has not run away, until one day, six months later, the Lisbon Court of Appeal stated that the case was 'based on nothing'".
In the letter, in French, sent to Parliament, the State is also urged never again to “cooperate with nocturnal burglars (who broke down the doors of law offices and private homes to steal a server and computers)" and "with anonymous whistle-blowers who have spent time in psychiatric hospitals and sentenced in the criminal courts (for crimes of slander and libel, common assault and discriminating behaviour), in an attempt to incriminate people and build a legal proceeding that in fact is 'based on nothing', in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal."
The letter ends by asking the Portuguese State to “posthumously reintegrate the 'Portuguese Dreyfus' [Captain Barros Basto, founder of the Jewish Community of Porto] in the Army, from which he was separated in 1937 following a sordid case - yet another case! - of anonymous charges by the scum of society. Then, like now, the State seized this opportunity to try to destroy an organised Jewish community."
Full letter:
PUBLIC CONSULTATION
(Contributed by the young Jewish students at the universities of Oporto)
Whereas the Portuguese Assembly of the Republic launched a public consultation on the Commemorations of the 50th anniversary of the 25 April Revolution, Democracy and the Constitution, and whereas all can contribute ideas to the programme on the general theme of freedom, we, the young Jewish students at the universities of Oporto, would like to see an exhibition on “Operation Open Door” at the Assembly of the Republic, where the following texts should be displayed:
1. The democratic state promises that never again will it unlawfully detain a Chief Rabbi or illegally invade a synagogue, a Jewish museum and the homes of community leaders in a case “without foundation in fact” and “based on nothing”, in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
2. The democratic state promises that never again will it arrest a Chief Rabbi, photograph him as if he were a rapist, remove the siddur, tallit and tefillin needed for prayer, place him in a cell with a murderer, not allow kosher food to be brought in, deprive him of food for 36 hours, force him to break the Sabbath and to remain in Portugal, while travelling several kilometres three times a week for a humiliating presentation at a police station to prove he has not run away, until one day, six months later, the Lisbon Court of Appeal stated that the case was “based on nothing”.
4. The democratic state promises that never again will it cooperate with nocturnal burglars (who broke down the doors of law offices and private homes to steal a server and computers) whose aim was to attempt to incriminate people and build a legal proceeding that in fact is “based on nothing”, in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
5. The democratic state promises that never again will it cooperate with anonymous whistle-blowers who have spent time in psychiatric hospitals and sentenced in the criminal courts (for crimes of slander and libel, common assault and discriminating behaviour), in an attempt to incriminate people and build a legal proceeding that in fact is “based on nothing”, in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
6. The democratic state promises that never again will it seize, for later reading by decadent elites, the books of minutes of an organised Jewish community, which contain the records of a decade of religious, cultural, social life and international affairs, returning them seven months later with each page marked with the six digits that once were engraved on the arms of Polish Jews (including the parents and grandparents of current community leaders and many of its historic members). All of this, we say again, is “based on nothing”, in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
7. The democratic state promises that never again will it make an attention-seeking communication to the world, avowing that it is investigating an alleged “criminal association linked to forgery and corruption involving officials of the registry offices and misappropriation of funds that were not declared to the tax authorities and were laundered”, all of which is completely false, and “based on nothing”, in the words of the Lisbon Court of Appeal.
8. The democratic state (which has no idea what a Jew is, much less a Jew of Iberian Sephardic origin) promises that never again will it deny credit to rabbinates that are recognised by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, while at the same time happily accepting the criteria of the Inquisition (a factory producing fictitious Jews, who used torture to force old Christians and new Christians to make the same confessions) and of non-Jews lacking any knowledge of Jewish life, Jewish religion, the Hebrew language, none whatsoever.
9. The democratic state promises that never again will it silence the extraordinary development of Jewish religion and culture as seen in the last decade in Portugal, particularly as the European Commission has an ambitious plan to foster Jewish life in all aspects until 2030.
10. The democratic state promises that it will posthumously reintegrate the "Portuguese Dreyfus" in the Army, from which he was separated in 1937 following a sordid case - yet another case! - of anonymous charges by the scum of society. Then, like now, the State seized this opportunity to try to destroy an organised Jewish community.
