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Daily Maverick
04-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Maverick
Genocide undebated — how words failed the Jewish Literary Festival in Cape Town
In the face of unrelenting allegations of Israeli atrocities in Gaza, what would constitute an act of Jewish self-betrayal? On Freedom Day 2025, at the Jewish Literary Festival in Cape Town, this question was more important than any other. But it wasn't asked inside the festival venue — it manifested, instead, as verbal and physical assaults on the two Jewish protesters outside. In search of the collaborators Pankaj Mishra, in his new book, The World After Gaza: A History, quotes a remarkable line of Primo Levi on the subject of the Kapos, the Jewish collaborators in the Nazi death camps: 'No one is authorised to judge them, not those who lived through the experience of the Lager and even less those who did not.' Most lovers of Jewish literature, without knowing Mishra or his work, would know that Levi — author of the essential Holocaust memoir If This is a Man — died by suicide in 1987. They would also probably know, as Mishra points out in his book, that Levi emerged from Auschwitz with an unshakable belief in the necessity of a Jewish state, but that he was later deeply troubled by the crimes of the Israeli military, particularly the massacres at Sabra and Shatila in 1982. Levi's self-slaughter, by almost all accounts, was partially prompted by the actions of his fellow Jews. Still, even if one knew this about Levi, one would need to know something about Mishra to properly appreciate the significance of the focus on the 'blamelessness' of the Kapos. Destined to become one of the world's leading public intellectuals, Mishra — like Levi — began his writing career in idealistic solidarity with the Jewish state. He had grown up in India 'imbibing the reverential Zionism' of his Hindu nationalist family, and so for many years had viewed Israel as a 'redemptive' project. But while the Holocaust would remain for him 'a universal standard for gauging the political and moral health of societies,' a visit to the West Bank in 2008 would jolt him 'out of a languid view of Zionism as vindication and shield of the eternally persecuted'. In other words, like Levi, Mishra would conclude that the Holocaust had been weaponised for truly nefarious ends. Well before 7 October 2023, when labels such as 'Nazi' and 'anti-Semite' would begin to be drained of all meaning, he had broken through the veil. Unlike Levi, however, Mishra did not land on the other side in a heap of his own trauma. He had not been in the death camps, and therefore could not know the anguish of survivor's guilt, nor the even deeper anguish of watching the victims turn into perpetrators. The most Mishra could attempt, as stated in his introduction to The World After Gaza, was to alleviate his 'perplexity' in the face of 'an extensive moral breakdown'. His main reason for writing the book, he informs us, was to 'invite general readers into a quest for clarifications that feel more pressing in a dark time'. In the context of Mishra's subject matter as implied by his choice of title — 'the broad human condition after Israel's livestreamed mass-murder spree in the Middle East' — one of those clarifications had to do with blame. And here, the demonisation of the Kapos served for him as an example of how the Jewish state had scrubbed all nuance from the official memory of the Holocaust. 'Levi,' Mishra writes, 'who had become reconciled to the inevitability of human failings in everyone, including himself, did not have much patience with the demand for moral perfection.' Put simply, given his enduring literary heft and his own lived experience, the significance of Levi's free pass for the Kapos was that it punctured a giant hole in one of Zionism's core myths: real Jews, heroic Jews, did not collaborate with Nazis to save themselves. As Mishra had correctly (and brilliantly) intuited, to be complicit in genocide had become — for a mainstream, pro-Israel Jew — the greatest of all sins. No wonder, then, that to call a Jew a Kapo had become the greatest of all slurs. And even less wonder that after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October 2023, Megan Choritz, a Jewish South African author, actor-director and pro-Palestine activist, would be called a Kapo too many times to count. On 28 April 2025, outside the Jewish Literary Festival at the Holocaust Centre in Cape Town, she would also be told that she was 'not a Jew'. Please, join us for a chat 'It's the funniest thing,' Choritz said during a telephone interview with Daily Maverick the next day. 'Two months before 7 October, I was literally a celeb for the Zionists. I was all over the Jewish Report, it was like they wanted my opinions on everything.' When Daily Maverick checked later that morning, her statement turned out to be true. In mid-September 2023, Choritz's expertise as an actor-director was sought out by the Jewish Report on the question of whether Jews 'should be the only ones' to portray Jewish characters in film. Whatever she thought of the relevance of the question, Choritz had been helpful and polite. 'Acting is pretending,' she said to the journalist. 'An actor's cultural or religious heritage shouldn't play a role in the casting of a character.' Clearly, given that not all of the interviewees agreed, she was trending on the liberal side of the divide. But back then, before everything changed, such distinctions did not matter as much as why a person deserved to be quoted in the first place — and for Choritz, aside from her theatrical credentials, there was her novel Lost Property, which had been published in June of that year to wide acclaim. The book had garnered the almost unqualified praise of the South African literary establishment, with leading critic Karabo Kgoleng calling it 'a work of poetic and magical prose' in a review for News24. The Jewish Report, for its part, celebrated the release with a Q&A, in which Choritz was asked to describe herself. 'I'm a 58-year-old rebel, with a big mouth, big opinions, and big energy,' she had said. More than a year later, well after the 7 October assault, the organisers of the fifth iteration of the Jewish Literary Festival (JLF) appeared unfazed — and perhaps even enthusiastic — about Choritz's 'bigness'. As Vanessa Valkin, the JLF's co-chair, wrote to Melinda Ferguson, Choritz's publisher, on 16 September 2024: 'Thanks! Megan's book is on our list.' But in October 2024, in a piece authored by self-proclaimed 'firearms activist' Tim Flack, Choritz's name would appear in the Jewish Report for the last time. Accused of 'astounding moral blindness' for speaking at a pro-Palestine event alongside Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman and other 'disturbing' South Africans, Flack declared that Choritz had taken part in a 'hate-fuelled endorsement of terror'. Daily Maverick was unable to conclusively determine whether it was Flack's article that caused Valkin and her partner, Caryn Gootkin, to backtrack. Either way, on 20 December 2024, just before the country shut down for the holidays, Ferguson sent an email to the JLF co-chairs expressing her dismay at Lost Property's absence from the final list. 'You both seemed so keen,' Ferguson lamented, before offering to send them the book's 'many, many reviews'. Posed as a question, Ferguson signed off with the following: 'So I am very confused why a book that is so quintessentially Jewish and of such a high standard has been overlooked by you?' On 14 January 2025, Valkin and Gootkin replied. 'We have put together a programme that does not provide a platform for partisanship or political activism from either extreme of the great divide of opinions surrounding the current conflict in the Middle East,' they stated. 'Unfortunately, we feel that Megan's presence at the Festival would threaten that neutral paradigm. We do hope you understand and look forward to working with you with your other authors.' On the day of the event, in a two-person protest that included Jared Sacks — a member, like Choritz, of South African Jews for a Free Palestine — the author of Lost Property made her presence felt regardless. In photographs of the protest that went quickly viral, she was pictured sitting calmly on a chair with a large sign balanced against her knees that read 'Not Zionist enough for the Jewish Literary Festival'. She was wearing her standard Palestinian keffiyeh, an item that she had worn practically every day since 7 October. On the small table to her left, placed between copies of her book, was another sign that read 'Please — Join us for a chat'. Throughout the day, Choritz endured the verbal abuse of festival attendees. Along with the well-worn 'Kapo' slur, the new insult hurled her way was that she was 'not a Jew'. Many of the attendees requested a security escort to get past her. Police and law enforcement, more than likely responding to the complaints of attendees, returned at regular intervals. But, in the end, it was Sacks who was physically assaulted — his phone was grabbed from his hand, stamped upon and destroyed. A case was opened at the local police station. Instead of the R10,000 offered for the replacement of his phone, Sacks requested the deposit of the funds into the bank account of Gift of the Givers, specifically for the organisation's relief work in Gaza. Daily Maverick confirmed, via Sooliman, that the deposit was received on 30 April. The lords of death Over in The Hague, at around the same time that Choritz and Sacks were under assault in Cape Town, Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, counsel for the Palestinian state, was addressing the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 'Israel is now seeking to destroy Palestinians as a group,' Ní Ghrálaigh informed the panel of judges, 'including by inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their destruction, by seizing ever more Palestinian territory, and by turning Gaza into an uninhabitable wasteland incapable of sustaining human life.' For the next 40 minutes, the Irish barrister laid out in detail how and why Israel appeared intent on destroying the framework created to ensure compliance with international law. More than 50 days into Israel's total blockade on the entry of aid into Gaza, the ICJ had set aside five days to hear submissions from dozens of nations and bodies on Israel's humanitarian obligations to Palestinians. In this context, Ní Ghrálaigh asserted that Israel's attacks and restrictions on the United Nations were 'unprecedented in the history of the organisation'. And yet, just on this one day, the ICJ was not the only global institution to call Israel to account. On 28 April 2025, the world's largest human rights organisation, Amnesty International, released its annual report — in it, Israel was accused of perpetrating a 'live-streamed genocide' in Gaza, and of committing illegal acts with the 'specific intent' of wiping out Palestinians. Also, on the very same day, Louis Theroux's BBC documentary The Settlers was burning up the Internet — its focus, was the phenomenon of Jewish settlers in the West Bank; and what it showed, without reservation, was that a former fringe group of supremacists and ultranationalists had won the support of the highest echelons of the Israeli government. But again, back in South Africa, Choritz's views had been dismissed by the JLF organisers as 'extreme'. To reflect their so-called 'neutral' stance, presumably, one needed to look no further than the festival programme. And to be sure, of the JLF's 25 regular sessions, only three had been focused directly or indirectly on events in the Middle East — there was a morning session titled 'Israel after October 7th: A photographer's perspective'; an afternoon session titled 'Being Jewish after October 7th: Personal reflections'; and a parallel afternoon session titled 'Roots of rage: Unpacking violence and terror'. The plenary session, scheduled for 4pm in the Gardens Shul, had featured VIP guest David Baddiel, British author of Jews Don't Count, in conversation with Nadia Bilchik 'on antisemitism' and other topics. Out of 26 sessions, then, four had been focused on Jews as victims. None, quite clearly, had addressed the real and immediate (global) allegations of Jews as perpetrators. And so, to properly understand, Daily Maverick sent a list of questions to Gootkin and Valkin. Did they concur with Choritz's allegation that the event should more accurately have been called the 'Zionist Literary Festival'? What aspect of Choritz's views did they regard as 'extreme'? Did they believe that Choritz and Sacks had an inherent right to protest outside the festival venue? Did they know who might have called the police and law enforcement? Were they aware of the verbal assaults on Choritz and the physical assault on Sacks? Only one of the questions was directly answered. 'We were aware of a peaceful protest that took place outside the venue and respected the right to protest,' stated the JLF co-chairs. Other than that, according to Gootkin and Valkin, the fifth iteration of the JLF was a resounding success. 'We have received truly heartwarming feedback about the programme and the spirit of the day from people across a wide spectrum of beliefs and backgrounds,' Daily Maverick was informed. Heartwarming? Far be it, we thought, for Daily Maverick to rain unjustly on anyone's parade — in fact, in the spirit of full disclosure, the author of this article happily took part in the inaugural JLF in 2016 — but the choice of adjective was unfortunate. Jewish literature, in the final analysis, had always been about a lot more than that. Whether in books by Jews, about Jews or with reference to Jewish issues, the best of the genre had always tackled the fullness of the human condition; the most honest and enduring writers, from Hannah Arendt and Martin Buber to Primo Levi and Jean Améry, had always addressed Jewish crimes and culpabilities alongside Jewish triumphs. And here, to remind anyone whose heart may have been warmed at the expense of anybody else's, the epigraph of Mishra's The World After Gaza was obligatory medicine. The writer, needless to say, was Levi: 'We, too, are so dazzled by power and money that we forget the fragility of our existence: we forget that we are all in the ghetto, that the ghetto is fenced in, that outside the fence are the lords of death, and not far away the train is waiting.' DM
Arab News
24-03-2025
- Politics
- Arab News
Holocaust survivor questioned by UK police after laying flowers at Gaza protest
LONDON: A Holocaust survivor was questioned by police after laying flowers in London's Trafalgar Square to commemorate Palestinians killed in Gaza. Stephen Kapos, 87, took part in a demonstration in the UK capital on Jan. 18. He was among nine people later questioned by the Metropolitan Police, after 77 others were arrested in what critics say was an example of 'repressive and heavy-handed policing.' Kapos survived the Holocaust after Nazi Germany occupied his home country of Hungary. He lived in hiding in Budapest as a child, losing his mother in the process. His father was imprisoned in the notorious Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. After questioning by police, Kapos told The Independent that he was 'proud' to demonstrate in support of the Palestinian people, adding that members of his family accompanied him on protests. Speaking outside Charing Cross Police Station in central London, he said he wanted to dispel ideas that 'there is solid support from all Jews' for Israel's actions. 'The sort of killing that's going on, it's unbearable to watch and one wonders where it's leading to because there is no defence to speak of. They are defenceless people out in the open,' Kapos, surrounded by supporters including other Holocaust survivors and their relatives, told The Independent. 'Their homes have been bombed to smithereens and they are in tents and now they are going to be bombed. 'It's unbearable and I don't understand how the world can stand it. And, I'm ashamed of our government and everybody else who facilitates it and enables it.' Kapos called for the UK government to condemn Israel and immediately suspend military contracts with the country. 'They should at the very minimum condemn Israel's actions, which they don't do, and immediately stop all supplies of armaments and any other logistical and information support that they do give,' he said. 'All that should be stopped immediately because there's no doubt about this being an atrocity and international crime, what's going on, what's perpetrated by Israel. So, how can you hesitate in the face of that?' Kapos added that protesting would 'make it clear that all this will have electoral consequences' for the UK government, stressing that marches in support of the Palestinians 'are not hate marches' and 'are not no-go areas for Jews, which is again claimed.' Dr. Agnes Kory, another Holocaust survivor who stood with Kapos, said: 'In the name of a Holocaust survivor, which is me, and a Holocaust researcher, which is also me, I say no, not in our names, and I have to be at the forefront of peace for Palestine movements.' Mark Etkind, co-organizer of Holocaust Survivors and Descendants Against the Gaza Genocide, described the behavior of the Metropolitan Police as 'terrifying, not just for the Palestine movement, but for anyone who wants to protest and believes in British democracy.' The Metropolitan Police did not disclose why Kapos had been questioned, and said protesters were detained at the march on Jan. 18 for a breach of the Public Order Act. A group of more than 50 politicians, trade unionists and lawyers wrote to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in the aftermath of the 77 arrests to complain about the behavior of the police. Another group of around 40 Holocaust survivors wrote an open letter condemning the treatment of Kapos. 'Any repression of the right to protest is bad enough — but to persecute a Jewish 87-year-old whose Holocaust experiences compel him to speak out against the Gaza genocide, is quite appalling,' the group said.
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Holocaust survivor who laid flowers at Gaza protest questioned by police
Holocaust survivor Stephen Kapos, 87, was questioned by London's Metropolitan Police following his participation in a pro-Palestine protest in Trafalgar Square on January 18. Mr Kapos, who laid flowers at the square to commemorate Palestinian lives lost in the Israel - Hamas war, is one of nine people summoned for questioning after the protest, during which 77 arrests were made. The Met Police allege that protesters violated pre-communicated Public Order Act conditions by moving from Whitehall to Trafalgar Square. Mr Kapos, along with supporters, criticised the UK government's response to the conflict, urging condemnation of Israeli actions and an end to military contracts. A group of Holocaust survivors and descendants has penned an open letter condemning the police's questioning of Mr Kapos.
The Independent
24-03-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Holocaust survivor, 87, questioned by police after laying flowers at Trafalgar Square during Gaza protest
An elderly Holocaust survivor has been questioned by police after he laid flowers at Trafalgar Square during a Gaza protest to commemorate the tens of thousands of Palestinians killed in the Israel -Hamas war. Stephen Kapos, 87, was interviewed by the Metropolitan Police on Friday about the pro-Palestine protest on 18 January in central London – a demonstration the force faced accusations of 'repressive and heavy-handed policing' over at the time. Mr Kapos lived in hiding under the Nazi regime as a child in Budapest, Hungary, after he lost touch with his mother, and his father was taken to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He is among nine people who have been called in by the Met for questioning after 77 people were arrested on the day of the protest. So far, 21 people have since been charged. Speaking outside Charing Cross Police Station following his interview on Friday afternoon, Mr Kapos told The Independent he planned to continue marching for peace in Gaza, describing how 'proud' he is that his family, including his son and grandchildren, also join him. He said he wanted to disprove claims that 'there is solid support from all Jews towards what's going on'. Mr Kapos spoke surrounded by around 100 supporters, many of whom were either Holocaust survivors or descendants of them. A banner reading 'Holocaust survivor descendants against Gaza genocide!' was one of the signs being held up, while chants such as 'We are all Palestinians' were called out by the crowd. The grandfather stressed the importance of this during a week when Israel launched a fresh wave of attacks on the Strip, shattering the fragile ceasefire that had held for the past few weeks in a move he described as 'horrifying'. 'The sort of killing that's going on, it's unbearable to watch and one wonders where it's leading to because there is no defence to speak of. They are defenceless people out in the open. 'Their homes have been bombed to smithereens and they are in tents and now they are going to be bombed. It's unbearable and I don't understand how the world can stand it. 'And I'm ashamed of our government and everybody else who facilitates it and enables it.' Mr Kapos strongly criticised the UK government's response, calling for it to condemn Israel's actions and to end all military contracts. 'They should at the very minimum condemn Israel's actions, which they don't do, and immediately stop all supplies of armaments and any other logistical and information support that they do give,' he said. 'All that should be stopped immediately because there's no doubt about this being an atrocity and international crime, what's going on, what's perpetrated by Israel. So how can you hesitate in the face of that?' Earlier this week Sir Keir Starmer said he was 'deeply concerned' about the resumption of Israeli military action in Gaza. The prime minister's official spokesperson insisted 'all parties, including Israel, must respect international humanitarian law'. 'We're clear that Israel must have security, and Hamas cannot play any role in the future of Gaza, but we must see the talks urgently resume, the ceasefire agreement to implement in full and see permanent peace worked towards.' Mr Kapos described protesting as 'exerting pressure through numbers to make it clear that all this will have electoral consequences'. Mr Kapos also wanted to highlight how the demonstrations 'are not hate marches' and 'are not no-go areas for Jews, which is again claimed'. The Met argues protesters allegedly breached Public Order Act conditions that were in place during the 18 January demonstration, which were communicated in advance. They say the conditions required those taking part to remain in Whitehall, but a 'large group' made its way into Trafalgar Square and in some cases attempted to go further. A Met Police spokesperson said: 'As part of our ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions on Saturday, 18 January we have invited a further eight people to be interviewed under caution at a police station. 'While we are aware of names being attributed to those who have been invited for interview, we do not confirm the identity of anyone under investigation.' For legal reasons, Mr Kapos was unable to provide details on his police interview, or if the exact reasons behind why he was summoned were disclosed to him. However, that day, Mr Kapos was among a group of demonstrators who carried flowers to lay down in Trafalgar Square to remember the more than 48,000 Palestinians who have so far been killed, according to Gaza's health officials, since Hamas's attack on Israel on 7 October 2023. Hamas militants killed 1,200 people and took 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. According to the Stop the War Coalition, all of the activists who received police letters calling them in for questioning by the Met were among that group. More than 50 MPs and peers, as well as trade union leaders and legal experts, were among those who wrote to home secretary Yvette Cooper at the time, demanding an independent inquiry into the tactics used by the Met at the 18 January protest. A group of 40 'extremely shocked' Holocaust survivors or descendants of Holocaust survivors have now written an open letter condemning the police's questioning of Mr Kapos. It reads: 'Any repression of the right to protest is bad enough – but to persecute a Jewish 87-year-old whose Holocaust experiences compel him to speak out against the Gaza genocide, is quite appalling.' Mark Etkind, co-organiser of Holocaust survivors and descendants against the Gaza genocide, is among those denouncing the force's 'over-policing' of the ongoing pro-Palestine protests in general, describing it as 'terrifying, not just for the Palestine movement, but for anyone who wants to protest and believes in British democracy'. Holocaust survivor Dr Agnes Kory was also among those supporting Mr Kapos outside Charing Cross Police Station on Friday and issued a strong condemnation of Israel's attack on Gaza. She said: 'In the name of a Holocaust survivor, which is me, and a Holocaust researcher, which is also me, I say no, not in our names, and I have to be at the forefront of peace for Palestine movements.' In a report earlier this month, United Nations experts said Israel carried out "genocidal acts" against Palestinians by systematically destroying women's healthcare facilities during the conflict in Gaza, and used sexual violence as a war strategy.
Middle East Eye
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Supporters cheer Holocaust survivor questioned by police over Gaza protest
Protesters gathered on Friday outside a London police station in support of an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor questioned as part of an investigation into alleged public order offences during a pro-Palestine demonstration. Walking up the gentle slope from the Strand with the aid of a stick, and wearing a grey overcoat, a green scarf and a flat cap, Stephen Kapos smiled and waved as he passed through cheering supporters and up the steps into Charing Cross Police Station at 2.40 pm. Supporters waved Palestinian flags and chanted 'Stop bombing Gaza, we have the right to protest.' Among them was at least one other Holocaust survivor and a number of descendants of survivors who unfurled a banner which read: 'Holocaust survivor descendants against genocide'. Mark Etkind, the son of a survivor of the Lodz ghetto and the Buchenwald concentration camp, told Middle East Eye it was 'absurd' that Jews such as Kapos were facing 'persecution by the police' for protesting against the war in Gaza. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters Etkind said: 'As we speak, the ceasefire has collapsed and, if Stephen was here now, and he can't be because he is being interviewed in that building by the police, he would be begging the world to protest and stop this genocide because that is the prime lesson we should all learn from the Holocaust.' Disputed charges Kapos is among a number of people who have been questioned under caution by police in connection with a pro-Palestine demonstration on 18 January when dozens of protesters were detained and arrested. Police have accused protest leaders and other prominent figures of breaching conditions imposed on the demonstration by breaking through police lines from Whitehall into Trafalgar Square. Organisers have disputed this, saying that they were invited by police to 'filter through' into Trafalgar Square where dozens were then detained and arrested. '[Stephen] is not in a physical state to break through any line never mind a police line. If it wasn't so serious it would be quite funny' - Agnes Kory, Holocaust survivor They say they were subjected to 'heavy-handed and aggressive policing'. Kapos was photographed during the 18 January demonstration carrying flowers and a placard which read: 'This Holocaust survivor says: Stop the genocide in Gaza!' The Metropolitan Police told MEE that so far 21 people have been charged over alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions. Both Chris Nineham, the chief steward of the demonstration, and Ben Jamal, the head of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, have pleaded not guilty and are set to stand trial later this year. A number of others who attended the demonstration have also been questioned under caution by police, including MPs Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. Born in Budapest in 1937, Kapos spent much of his childhood in hiding as Jews faced deadly persecution and later deportation to the Nazi death camps during the Second World War. He has regularly attended marches in solidarity with Palestinians since Israel's war on Gaza began. Agnes Kory, 80, said of Kapos's questioning by police: "If it wasn't so serious it would be funny." (Simon Hooper/MEE) Sitting on the wall outside the police station and offering MEE the fold-up canvas stool that she had brought with her, Agnes Kory, another Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor, explained why she had come to support Kapos. She said: 'I think he is being intimidated because, being a Holocaust survivor, he is a strong opponent of the view that Jewish people are threatened by the demonstrations for Palestine.' Starmer's move against Palestinian refugees highlights collapse of liberal centre Read More » Kory, who is 80, was born in early 1945 in Budapest, when her mother was in hiding and her father had already been deported to his death at the Mauthausen concentration camp. She expressed scepticism about the allegation that Kapos had broken through a police line in Trafalgar Square, given his age. 'He is not in a physical state to break through any line never mind a police line. If it wasn't so serious it would be quite funny,' Kory said. A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: 'As part of our ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of Public Order Act conditions on Saturday, 18 January we have invited a further eight people to be interviewed under caution at a police station. 'While we are aware of names being attributed to those who have been invited for interview, we do not confirm the identity of anyone under investigation.'
