World Report

FRANKFURT (JTA) -- Human rights groups say they will file charges against an extremist French politician for his remarks that Nazi gas chambers are a "detail of history."

At a news conference in Munich last Friday, Jean-Marie Le Pen also insisted that the happenings at Auschwitz are minor historical events and that history books need only a few lines to deal with the Holocaust.

When asked about his comments, Le Pen, who is known for his anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant views, did not backtrack.

"There is nothing extraordinary" in my comments, he said Saturday in a statement.

Le Pen, the leader of the National Front Party, has made similar remarks in the past. A French court fined him for comments he made 10 years ago questioning the existence of gas chambers at Nazi death camps.

U.S. rabbi leading kosher Antarctica trip

NEW YORK (JTA) -- Now you can visit Antarctica and have your gefilte fish, too.

An American rabbi is leading a mid-December cruise to the icy continent that includes kosher catering and arrangements to avoid travel on Shabbat.

Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, who served Jewish communities in the Far East for 15 years, has been leading tours to China and India annually since he returned to the United States 17 years ago.

Over the years he has led groups of religiously observant Jews on tours of Japan, China, India, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

In addition to the kosher meals, there will be daily religious services for the 50 participants, and Tokayer will give lectures on Jewish religious themes.

New Zealand Jews hold anti-racist rally

SYDNEY, Australia (JTA) -- The fight against hate crime has spread to New Zealand.

The country's Jewish community, spurred by a large increase in racist attacks, hosted a rally last week in the capital of Wellington with the aim of developing a strategy to stop racist groups.

Among those addressing the rally were three members of Parliament and a national race relations official.

In recent weeks, a number of attacks on refugees and immigrants from Asia, Africa and the Middle East -- along with the emergence of a neo-Nazi group -- have gained prominent coverage in the media and focused attention on skinheads groups.