GERMAN POLICE ASSIGN NEO-NAZIS TO GUARD JEWISH LEADER

Outrage mounts over German bodyguard scandal (JTA)
The leader of German Jewry reacted with shock to the news that bodyguards assigned to protect another Jewish leader were members of the far-right scene.

Reports have surfaced that guards assigned to protect former Central Council Vice President Michel Friedman were neo-Nazis. According to reports in the tabloid daily newspaper Bild Zeitung, a photo has turned up of one former guard wearing a full SS uniform. Frankfurt police confirmed Wednesday that an inquiry is underway.

In a statement issued Thursday, Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, said she was "appalled and shocked that such a scandal could emerge in such a sensible area, involving the protection of individuals, including protecting them from right-wing extremists. Clearly, the Department of Internal Affairs has failed to appropriately and carefully carry out their role in evaluating personel."

Knobloch said the Frankfurt State Prosecutor had discontinued two investigations of the officers involved on the grounds of "limited guilt."

"When a police officer poses in an SS uniform and proudly shows this photo to his colleagues, it is unnacceptable that the state prosecutor -- overly hasty to be obedient -- categorizes it as a mere peccadillo," she said.

She said the "devastatingly mistaken ruling" made all efforts against right-wig extremism in Germany "look like a farce."