Palm Beach Post - 04.29.2004

55 nations to back ways to fight anti-Semitism

By Larry Lipman, Palm Beach Post Washington Bureau

Participants in an international conference in Germany are poised to adopt sweeping resolutions condemning anti-Semitism and proposing a series of steps to combat it through increased law enforcement, education and monitoring, two local lawmakers said Wednesday. 

Democratic Reps. Alcee Hastings of Miramar and Robert Wexler of Delray Beach are among those attending the second annual conference on anti-Semitism sponsored by the 55-country Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe.

The delegation is chaired by former New York City Mayor Ed Koch and includes Secretary of State Colin Powell. The two-day conference in Berlin ends today.

Powell's participation, including a speech Wednesday in which he said "anti-Semitism is always wrong and it is always dangerous," was hailed by both lawmakers as a significant symbolic statement by the United States.

"The fact that we had Colin Powell here, and members of Congress here, illustrated to many countries much smaller than us that this is not something we're just making passing reference to," Wexler said.

Hastings, who is a vice president of the organization's Parliamentary Assembly, is scheduled to address the conference today. He plans to remind delegates that "governments can legislate all they want, but until it becomes unfashionable in mainstream and specific societies to preach anti-Semitism and other forms of prejudicial discrimination, we will find ourselves in a never-ending cycle of intolerance."

Wexler, in a telephone call, said conference participants are expected to adopt a resolution which would reject the proposition that anti-Semitism is a justifiable response to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

"The fact that 55 nations will agree that political issues and international developments cannot be used to justify anti-Semitism is an extraordinary statement by the world community," Wexler said.

The resolution does not mean there cannot be criticism of Israel or its policies, but that violence, "vitriolic hatred and hurtful symbols" cannot be excused by such opposition, he said.

Conference participants are expected to adopt nonbinding resolutions urging each member country to, among other things, enhance police training to identify hate crimes based on race or religion; adopt laws against hate crimes with additional penalties for crimes spurred by racism or anti-Semitism; and educate teachers about the fundamentals of Judaism so they can respond to false statements about Jewish religious practices.