Greek-Israeli businessman Sabby Mionis
A prominent Greek paper has published a long apology to a
Greek-Israeli businessman targeted by neo-Nazis and tarred with claims of
financial impropriety, saying it “fell victim to incorrect information.”
The influential To Vima published a full-page apology Sunday
to Sabby Mionis, a Greek Jew who currently resides in Israel.
In the piece, subtitled, “How an honest capital manager with
an international reputation became implicated in the Lagarde list,” the paper
apologized for falsely reporting that Mionis was on the contentious list, which
names people under international suspicion for financial crimes.
The paper also supplied a reason for the incorrect charges
against Mionis: “The fact that Mr. Mionis is a Greek Jew and an Israeli perhaps
made him an ideal target for the media and for far-right politicians known for
their anti-Semitic stances.”
The paper included a point-by-point refutation of the
allegations it previously printed, followed by a glowing report of Mionis’s
career and philanthropic endeavors.
Mionis has long said he is the scapegoat of anti-Semitic
politicians and media for speaking against the Greek neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn
and its former members in the country’s ruling party.
“The ‘Jewish conspiracy’ fantasy of the anti-Semitic Greek
media and extreme right-wing politicians who are being whitewashed by joining
mainstream parties was exposed. I feel vindicated that I fought these
anti-Semites against all odds and I won at the end,” Mionis told The Times of
Israel.
Mionis, 44, a successful financier and philanthropist, was
named in a June 7 committee meeting by Golden Dawn parliament member and
Holocaust denier Ilias Kasidiaris as “the Jew Mionis” who “refused to testify
in the Committee of the Greek Parliament, because ‘Holocaust’ deniers are part
of [the committee].”
After this incident in parliament — and with Greece reeling
from the fatal stabbing of an anti-fascist rapper last Wednesday by a man who
authorities say has identified himself as a Golden Dawn volunteer — the Jewish
community has called for the Greek government to push forward a long-sought
anti-racism bill, which would prosecute Holocaust denial and racist crimes.
“It is completely Kafka-esque,” said Mionis, who made aliya
in 2006 and sits on the board of governors of the Jewish Agency. “A parliament
member can deny the Holocaust and there’s no provision in the government to
prosecute him.”
On Monday, five senior police officers were replaced after
the government ordered urgent inquiries into alleged links between Golden Dawn
and the country’s police and military.
The Public Order Ministry said the heads of the police’s
special forces, internal security, organized crime, firearms and explosives,
and rapid-response motorcycle divisions had been moved to other posts pending
an investigation into weekend reports in the Greek media that police provided
the party with assistance in alleged criminal activity.
The party is facing a criminal investigation over its
alleged ties to last week’s murder of rapper Pavlos Fyssas. It denies any
involvement.
The government is seeking the prosecution of members of the
far-right party under the country’s anti-terrorism law, and is preparing a
legislative amendment that would see Golden Dawn’s state campaign funding
suspended if its lawmakers are accused of serious offences.
The government describes the party as neo-Nazi, and says it
is behind a growing number of brutal street attacks against immigrants, most of
them from Asia.
Monday’s action was taken to “to ensure the absolute
objectivity” of the police inquiry, the government said. Two less senior
officers were also replaced, while a third was suspended and regional police
commanders of southern and central Greece resigned, citing personal reasons.
Separately, the Defense Ministry on Sunday ordered its own
inquiry into the news reports that Golden Dawn members were receiving informal
training from reservist special forces officers in the Greek military.
Nikos Michaloliakos, the Golden Dawn leader, described the
claims of paramilitary training and the government allegations linking his
party to Fyssas’ murder as “monstrous lies.”
“We are under an all-out and dirty attack from a system that
is rotten,” he said on a live webcast streamed on the party’s Internet site.
“I am supposed to prove that I am not a criminal, not the
mafia. But my question is: Is there any bigger criminal gang than those in
power, who led the country to bankruptcy and handed over our national
sovereignty?”
Golden Dawn, whose leaders in the past have expressed
admiration for Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and use racist rhetoric against
non-European immigrants, has seen a surge in support over the past two years as
the country struggled through harsh economic crisis.
Golden Dawn won nearly 7 percent of the vote in general
elections last year.
Its popularity in opinion polls has risen further since the
election in June 2012 — alarming mainstream political parties faced with
municipal and European Parliament elections next year.
But a survey published Monday in the conservative Eleftheros
Typos newspaper found a sharp dip in support for Golden Dawn over the past
week, from 8.3 to 5.8 percent, with other parties broadly unchanged.
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