Washington Jewish Week - 07.10.2003

Complete Vienna coverage

 

 

 

Washington Jewish Week

Historic First Step; Action Must Follow 

Editorial

"We're not going to cure the evil of anti-Semitism in a two-day conference. But we've begun something." So said Mark Levin, the executive director of NCSJ: Advocates on Behalf of the Jews in Russia, Ukraine, the Baltic States and Eurasia. His remarks came, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, following last month's conference on anti-Semitism. 

The conference, held by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), was the first of its kind: an international governmental conference dedicated solely to anti-Semitism and how to fight it. 

As Levin pointed out, the conference certainly didn't cure the scourge of anti-Semitism. 

But, it took an important step. 

This international body recognized that anti-Semitism is a unique form of prejudice that needs to be addressed internationally -- and should not be addressed within the general context of human rights. 

The world has "seen the emergence of Israel as the collective Jew among nations," JTA reported human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler as saying at the conference. "Traditional anti-Semitism rejects the right of Jews to exist in the Diaspora. The new anti-Semitism rejects the right of Israel and the Jewish people to live in the family of nations," Cotler said, succinctly explaining why anti-Semitism is a unique form of prejudice. 

And, indeed, just by holding a conference, the OSCE recognized that fact. 

Yet, despite its being a milestone, last month's meeting in Vienna will be meaningless unless there is follow-up. The conference itself produced no resolutions or specific actions, but Germany did offer to hold a follow-up session in Berlin next year. 

Now that the OSCE has recognized the concern of the Jewish community, it must take steps to alleviate the concerns. 

The way to begin that is not just to consider but to implement at least parts of the eight-point plan put forth by former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who led the U.S. delegation to the conference. 

Among the recommendations are that OSCE member nations pass hate crimes legislation that include extra penalties beyond that for the crime itself; compile uniform lists of hate crimes statistics that will allow governments to track hate crimes, enabling law enforcers to know where to focus their efforts (Such lists might have prevented the French from denying for so long that anti-Semitism is a problem in that country.); and, as Giuliani said in a conference call with journalists during the OSCE meeting, "discipline the political debate so disagreements about Israel and Palestine don't flip over ... to attacks on the Jewish people and Israel." 

Talk without such action will go nowhere in alleviating the millennia-old anti-Semitism.