Which European democracy has a constititional ban on Jews, inter alia, running for the presidency?
Bosnia-Herzegovina. And it is right there in the constitution: "The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of three Members: one Bosniac and one Croat, each directly elected from the territory of the Federation, and one Serb directly elected from the territory of the Republika Srpska". (Source).
This is not me being overly sensitive, as a lawsuit to the ECHR is being mounted by Jakob Finci, a representative of Sarajevo Jewry. (The Post calls him 'the community leader', but I doubt he gained his office from a vote). The response from an unnamed Bosnian official is quite the smear: "However, the case of Mr. Finci is special. Finci is the director of the state agency for employees in Sarajevo, and is using the issue for gain. You must keep in mind that Jews still have a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that there are other positions besides the presidency."
Note that Mr Finci is only asking for the right for non-Serbs, Croats and Bosnians to stand for office, not for it to be given to them. And these oh so sinister Jews with 'a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina' amount to circa 500 people, or 0.013 of the population. I have not been able to find estimated figures for other minorities beyond 0.6 for 'other', although I imagine that would largely be comprised of the other nationalities that made up the former Yuoslavia.
This is not me being overly sensitive, as a lawsuit to the ECHR is being mounted by Jakob Finci, a representative of Sarajevo Jewry. (The Post calls him 'the community leader', but I doubt he gained his office from a vote). The response from an unnamed Bosnian official is quite the smear: "However, the case of Mr. Finci is special. Finci is the director of the state agency for employees in Sarajevo, and is using the issue for gain. You must keep in mind that Jews still have a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that there are other positions besides the presidency."
Note that Mr Finci is only asking for the right for non-Serbs, Croats and Bosnians to stand for office, not for it to be given to them. And these oh so sinister Jews with 'a lot of power in Bosnia-Herzegovina' amount to circa 500 people, or 0.013 of the population. I have not been able to find estimated figures for other minorities beyond 0.6 for 'other', although I imagine that would largely be comprised of the other nationalities that made up the former Yuoslavia.
Labels: Eastern Europe
This entry was posted
on Sunday, February 18, 2007 at 10:41 am.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
I was interested to read some years ago that before the "events" (sorted out by Capt. James Blunt, the only British officer to have a No.1 in the US; & Major Paddy Ashdown) therte were 700 Jews in Sarajevo, and they were ...Sfardis, which/who I always associate with warmer climes.
What about gypsies will?
what about the damn gypsies , they also need to be banned , mind you whilst as cunning as the jew they are not as smart ! (+;
F***** hell its like something out of Borat isnt it?
TG - I imagine that Bosnian Jews are Sephardim rather than Ashkenazim is due to the conquest of the Balkans by the Turks.
It appears that there are about 17,000 gypsies in BH too.
According to Noel Malcolm's 'History of Bosnia' most Bosnian jews are Sephardic and settled there in the century after Ottoman conquest, although there was also occasional influxes of jews who had been expelled from places like Hungary who were probably Ashkenazi.
On the subject in hand, can't they simply define themselves as Jewish Croats, Jewish Serbs, or Jewish Bosniacs?
» Post a Comment