The Jewish Week - 02.13.2004

 

 

 

The Jewish Week

On To Berlin

Editorial

Anti-Semitism is an old scourge with a new face, especially across Europe, where political leaders have been shamefully slow to acknowledge the problem and take steps to remedy it.

That may be changing.

This week, several Jewish leaders were in Berlin, helping prepare for a late April session on anti-Semitism hosted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). Also this week, the State Department announced that former New York Mayor Ed Koch will head the U.S. delegation to the Berlin conference, a follow-up to last year’s initial meeting on the issue in Vienna.

Jewish groups and members of Congress successfully resisted efforts to broaden the conference to cover all forms of discrimination.

All of that is good news, but it’s just the first step. It’s important that European leaders openly confront the growing problem in their midst, but the Berlin conference will be meaningful only if participants turn talk into concrete action. That means much more active programs of public education, especially in countries such as France, where fast-growing Muslim populations are producing an infectious strain of anti-Semitism. It also means encouraging political leaders in these countries to speak out forcefully and regularly against anti-Semitic activities and incitement, and tougher hate-crime and anti-discrimination laws. And it will require European leaders to stop excusing the anti-Semitism in their countries by pointing to Israeli policies they dislike.

The Berlin meeting is a promising development. The Bush administration, along with members of the Congressional Helsinki Commission, deserve praise for insisting that the battle against anti-Semitism be high on the international agenda. But the work is just beginning. And in the end, only the Europeans can successfully confront the old demon that is once again casting a dark shadow over their continent.