SYRIZA expected to withdraw controversial nomination
Leftist opposition SYRIZA was on Thursday expected to withdraw the nomination of Theodoros Karypidis for the upcoming local elections after the journalist caused a controversy with his alleged anti-Semitic comments.
According to the Eleftherotypia newspaper website, SYRIZA was on Thursday “was discussing ways to announce [the decision], which will most likely come in the form of a resignation.”
Earlier this week it emerged that Karypidis, who had been nominated to represent the leftists for the governorship of Western Macedonia in May, had posted comments on his Facebook page that were anti-Semitic and appeared supportive of Golden Dawn, Greece’s neo-Nazi party.
In one of his posts on the social media network, Karypidis claimed that the interim public broadcaster was named NERIT after the Hebrew word for candle, Ner. He said this was connected to the Jewish festival of Hannukah, which he alleged marked a Jewish victory over Ancient Greece.
New Democracy and PASOK have attacked SYRIZA over its choice of candidate but condemnation also came from the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
“Vile, outrageous expressions of anti-Semitism in Greece are coming not only from Golden Dawn on the far right but also, as Theodoros Karypidis’s Facebook post illustrates, from the far left,” said American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris.
On Thursday SYRIZA reacted to criticism from the AJC describing it as “an unacceptable bid to interfere in the country’s domestic affairs.”
[The party] has actively opposed neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers,” SYRIZA said in a statement.
