Jerusalem Post - 06.22.2003

 

 

 

 

Jerusalem Post

Giuliani: Europe must take action against growing anti-Semitism

By Melissa Radler

Speaking on Thursday at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, where Adolph Hitler greeted ecstatic crowds after the 1938 annexation of Austria, former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani urged European nations to adopt an eight-point plan to counter anti-Semitism, which he called "a burden that has held Europe back for two millennia." 

Giuliani, who is heading the US delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's (OSCE) first-ever conference on anti-Semitism, urged concrete action against the rise of anti-Jewish sentiment over the past few years, which he compared to the hatred that led to the September 11 attacks. 

"Words aren't going to suffice to turn the tide of anti-Semitism which is once again growing in Europe and other parts of the world," he said. 

Addressing 350 delegates from the OSCE's 55 member states, which include European nations, the US, Canada, Russia and Central Asian countries, Giuliani urged governments to adopt hate crimes legislation and a uniform method of gathering statistics on anti-Semitic attacks; introduce educational programs against anti-Semitism; hold annual meetings to track members' progress; immediately refute lies such as the allegation that Jews drink the blood of Christians or that Jews were warned in advance of the September 11 attacks; remember the Holocaust accurately; and set up groups to respond to anti-Semitic acts that include members of minority communities, including Muslims. 

He also called on political leaders to help stop political debates on the Middle East conflict from turning into forums for anti-Semitism. 

"There's no question that some of the acts, certainly a significant number of acts, are driven by the politics of the Middle East, and then I think a lot of them are driven by the language that's used in demonizing Israel," Giuliani said during a conference call Thursday with reporters. 

"People have to discipline the political debate so that it doesn't become a pretext for anti-Semitism," he said. Asked whether he thought a resolution of the conflict would bring about the end of anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe, Giuliani said: "Anti-Semitism has a long history that predates the whole issue of Palestine, and I don't see how a resolution of that is going to end anti-Semitism." 

Several US Jewish leaders attending the conference with the American delegation urged a sustained effort against anti-Semitism in conference speeches. 

"It has to be an ongoing effort, not a one-shot deal," said the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Malcolm Hoenlein, who called on governments to be proactive rather than reactive in their fight against hatred. He also noted the importance of educating for tolerance and the dangers of glorifying violence toward Jews in the education system, as has been documented in the Arab world. 

"In a sense, history has been made," said the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, Abraham Foxman. "For the first time since the Shoah, 55 countries came together in Europe, in Vienna of all places, to address specifically anti-Semitism, not racism, xenophobia or all kinds of euphemisms," he said. 

Foxman said he hoped that by the time the two-day conference ends Friday afternoon, attendees would agree to take concrete measures in their respective countries to reverse the tide of anti-Jewish hate. 

"We hope that a consensus will build, that this conference's historical moment will not be a one-time event but will put into motion a structure to deal with anti-Semitism in the present and in the future," he said. 

While the OSCE noted in a press release that a conference on racism and xenophobia is being planned for September, Germany has agreed to host a follow-up conference on anti-Semitism specifically, next year in Berlin, said several delegates 

In New York, the secretary-general of the World Jewish Congress, Avi Beker, called on Europe to release a long-awaited report by the European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia on anti-Semitic attacks since September 2000. The Simon Wiesenthal Center and other groups have noted a spike in attacks since 2001, with 1,300 attacks in France alone, including the stabbing of a rabbi in Paris and the torching of a synagogue in Marseilles. 

"For too long European governments and intellectuals attempted to escape responsibility by denying that there was a resurgence of anti-Semitism on their soil," said Beker in a statement released Thursday. "Anti-Semitism, although it begins with attacks on Jews, leads eventually to the collapse of democratic values and norms in society. It cannot go unchecked," he wrote. 

While the OSCE noted in a press release that a conference on racism and xenophobia is being planned for September, Germany agreed Thursday to host a follow-up conference on anti-Semitism specifically, said several delegates, to be held next year in Berlin.