September 24, 2015•Update: September 24, 2015
By Vasiliki Mitsiniotou
ATHENS
A Greek minister has been forced to stand down just hours after being appointed over alleged anti-Semitic posts on social media, local media reported Thursday.
Dimitris Kammenos - a member of the right-wing nationalist Independent Greeks, a junior partner in Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ administration - resigned as infrastructure and transport deputy minister on Wednesday evening as it was announced police are to investigate the posts on Facebook and Twitter.
His appointment following Sunday’s early general election was greeted with outrage by political and social groups as well as ordinary Greeks.
Kammenos is accused of previously posting anti-semitic, racist and homophobic messages.
In one tweet, Kammenos allegedly suggested Israel was behind the 9/11 attacks in the U.S., claiming Jewish workers had been warned to stay away from the World Trade Center in New York on the day of the attacks.
In June, he was criticized by the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece over a Facebook post showing a doctored photograph of Auschwitz concentration camp in which the sign above the gates had been changed from “Arbeit macht frei” (Work sets you free) to “We’re staying in Europe” in Greek - the slogan of the pro-EU movement in July’s referendum.
The board called the post “shameful” and “hideous”.
According to the official Athens-Macedonian News Agency, Tsipras asked for the authenticity of the posts to be checked.
Kammenos apologized for the comments and claimed his social media accounts were run by more than 15 people and had been hacked.
The police’s Cyber Crime Unit has been asked to determine if his Twitter account was hacked, Mega TV reported.
“Until [we learn] the truth about the anti-Semitic racist posts, the deputy minister will facilitate with his resignation,” Panos Kammenos, the leader of Independent Greeks, tweeted.
Syriza MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis tweeted: “This is positive, the correction of a mistake.”
