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Last update - 09:32 25/09/2007 European Union will not fund Polish college with anti-Semitic ties By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: EU, fund, Polish, college Contrary to previous reports, the European Union will not give 15 million Euros to the College of Social and Media Culture - a Polish college headed controversial Catholic priest Tadeusz Rydzyk, who is accused regularly of disseminating anti-Semitism. A European Commission official said Monday that there is no authorization for transferring the funds, and that the project was one of many under consideration. Representatives of the European Commission and the Polish government met last Wednesday, and decided that only institutions with graduate programs would receive funding ? thus excluding Rydzyk's college. Advertisement Polish officials also made clear that the government itself does not support the college, adding that the college was included in the funding request because the standard procedure is for the government to pass on all funding requests believed to meet the necessary criteria. The Commission official said the decision to require graduate programs may have been designed to specifically torpedo the college's request. "In any event, the European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso and Commissioner for Regional Policy Danuta Hubner had announced that funding will be provided solely to projects that reflect European values," he said. Reports of the decision to fund the college sparked protests from Holocaust survivor organizations, which launched a campaign to block the move. Noah Flug, chairman of the Center of Organizations of Holocaust Survivors in Israel, asked EU Commissioner Jose Manuel Barroso to prevent the transfer of funds to the institution, and Holocaust survivor organizations launched a campaign to block the funding. The College of Social and Media Culture, is affiliated with Rydzyk's radio station Radia Maryja, which itself has been accused of regularly hosting Holocaust deniers on its programs. In addition to accusations of anti-Semitism, the institution is widely considered to oppose the European Union. The intention to fund the college was interpreted by some as an attempt by the EU and the government of Poland to silence one of the union's loudest opponents. Rydzyk has recently received press for several anti-Semitic statements he has made on the radio station and at the college, which he founded and heads. He recently told students that Jews use the American financier George Soros' money to seize control of Poland, and regularly blames Jews of being greedy. "Public figures in Poland have expressed sorrow for the pogrom after the war against the Jews in Jedwabne only because they received Jewish bribes ... All of the claims by Jews of the injustice that was caused to them had one goal: to extort money from the Polish," Rydzyk has been quoted as saying. The Polish weekly Wprost published excerpts from a lecture Rydzyk allegedly delivered at the college, where he is quoted as criticizing Lech Kaczynski, the president, for bowing to pressure to compensate people - many of them Jews - for property nationalized by the postwar communist government, and for donating land for a future Jewish museum when Kaczynski was Warsaw's mayor. "You know that it's about Poland giving $65 billion dollars to the Jews," Rydzyk reportedly said. "They will come to you and say: give me your coat. Take off your pants. Give me your shoes." More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Snoop Dogg in Israel American rapper Snoop Dogg slated to perform in Ramat Gan. Late date Scientists revive 2,000-year-old date seed found at Masada.   1.   No Money ? 22:06  |  Avi 24/09/07   2.   Good for the EU this time 22:15  |  kutw 24/09/07   3.   "contrary to previous reports ..." haha 22:29  |  Leona 24/09/07   4.   if 65 billion is the correct figure it is only beacuse polish thi 22:52  |  ralph 24/09/07   5.   Eu had best cut funding to most schools 22:56  |  Labhras 24/09/07   6.   Conspiracy 23:47  |  Paulo 24/09/07   7.   ... 00:16  |  Scott A. 25/09/07   8.   to Avi 00:51  |  J 25/09/07   9.   Paulo,you,a descendant of a marrano are great at uncovering 01:00  |  Absolute Sweden 25/09/07   10.   to Avi 02:26  |  Justine 25/09/07   11.   re: Avi 16:56  |  Somy 25/09/07   12.   #8 J, in USA, It is true that Israel got reparation 14:07  |  Haham me Bat Yam 15/02/08   13.   Denying holocaust? 00:02  |  Marek 12/06/08   14.   EU refuses to fund polish college 00:22  |  marshall sindelman 14/06/08

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