EU vows action against 'monster' of anti-Semitism

[igloo]

EU vows action against 'monster' of anti-Semitism

The EU promised at a high-level conference to clamp down on anti-Semitism -- a "monster" that Jewish leaders warned has returned with a vengeance to the continent that bore witness to the Holocaust.

The buildup to the day-long event was troubled, not least because of accusations by Jewish groups that the European Union executive is itself guilty of fostering anti-Semitism in Europe.

But figures including European Commission chief Romano Prodi, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Natan Sharansky banded together to denounce mounting attacks on Jewish targets in Europe.

"Anti-Semitism has returned. The monster is here with us once again," European Jewish Congress (EJC) president Cobi Benatoff told the conference.

"What is of most concern to us, however, is the indifference of our fellow European citizens," the Italian said.

The EJC and US-based World Jewish Congress urged the European Commission to set up committees drawn from EU governments and Jewish groups to monitor anti-Semitic incidents.

They also called for police crackdowns to ensure that those behind attacks on Jewish synagogues, schools and cemeteries are brought to justice, and for better education in Europe's schools on the history of European Jewry.

Sharansky welcomed action taken along these lines by France, which is home to the EU's largest numbers of Jews and Muslims along with its highest number of anti-Semitic incidents last year at 125.

Prodi -- whose first visit when he became commission president in 1999 was to Auschwitz -- vowed concrete action.

"We are not here to beat our breasts in public and then do nothing," he said, calling on EU interior, justice and education ministers to come together to debate the problem, and promising proposals by the commission.

Prodi also urged EU governments to adopt a commission proposal for an EU-wide law against racism and xenophobia, which among other things would define anti-Semitic acts and Holocaust denial as crimes across the bloc.

The commission chief announced plans for Thursday's conference after Brussels published an EU opinion poll in November that labelled Israel the biggest threat to world peace.

Jewish anger at the EU was fuelled by a decision -- later reversed -- to shelve a report by the bloc's racism watchdog that showed a rise in anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims and pro-Palestinian groups in Europe.

Sharansky said Europeans had every right to criticise Israeli government policies in the Middle East conflict.

"We can disagree on many things, about the line of the (security) fence, about settlements, about the right way to cope with the terror," he said.

But much of the criticism in Europe had in recent years become mixed with demonisation of Jews, double standards in attacking Israel and denying the legitimacy of the Jewish state, Sharansky said.

"We Jews in Europe who lived through history, we know that history can repeat itself as a tragedy if it doesn't learn to recognise the evil and fight evil."

Nobel Peace Prize-winning author Elie Wiesel said many Jews in Europe now lived in such fear that they wanted to emigrate to Israel.

"If Auschwitz didn't cure the world of anti-Semitism, what will?" he said.

Prodi acknowledged that hostility to Israel arising from the Middle East conflict was fuelling anti-Semitism in Europe. But he rejected comparisons to the 1930 and 1940s.

"We have no right to insult the memory of the Shoah's (Holocaust's) millions of victims by putting their sufferings on a par with today's manifestations, as serious as they undoubtedly are," he said.

The German foreign minister said the EU would continue to strive for peace in the Middle East despite criticism from Israel and Jewish groups that the bloc is biased towards the Palestinians.

"We must energeticaly tackle anti-Semitism, but solving the Middle East and developing a real vision of peace is the major, major challenge for a Europe that is uniting," Fischer said.

[igloo]

DOnate your time to fixing this this markdouchebagsimons

[marksimons]

"If Auschwitz didn't cure the world of anti-Semitism, what will?"

well... the policies of the israeli government aren't helping...

I desperately want to do grassroots work here, go over to israel and the occupied territories, as well as iran to speak with university students there.

anti-sematism, the treatment of palestinians, racism towards, well anyone.

they're tricky issues.

stop being fateous. I can't solve these problems, but I think I can help.

my time will be donated, but I need to fully understand the issues first, but I don't know if I ever will.

I've got a plan to, well, I dunno, try and help with the debate on this subject, but fuck knows. this is a situation that is fucking messy, and it cannot easily be solved.

anti-sematism is an interesting topic, but do they mean anti-semitism, anti-zionism and you do really have to ask yourself, are the actions of the state of Israel, which as the jewish homeland, seems, in the eyes of others, I imagine, to represent the jewish religion and, for those who feel that way, the jewish race, which, again, is a highly contenteous concept.

I feel that the actions of Israel may, in some cases, really be a trigger for cases of anti-sematism.

there are different problems here. anti-sematism from right wing neo-nazi groups that are racist sick fucks, and need help in their own way. the others, I guess, would be arab or muslims who strike out at jews who are connected, in their mind, to the actions of the state of israel.

I would be very interested in finding out the statistics, in depth, abotu anti-sematism.