Jewish Week - 07.11.03

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The Jewish Week

Rudy To Stay On Anti-Semitism Beat?

James D. Besser

Jewish leaders are hoping former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani’s performance at the recent Vienna summit on European anti-Semitism was just a warm-up for a bigger role.

Giuliani was appointed by Secretary of State Colin Powell to head the U.S. delegation to the conference, the first official multinational meeting specifically dealing with the growing anti-Semitism problem. The meeting was held under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

Delegates from 55 nations, mostly in Europe, agreed to begin developing formal systems to monitor anti-Semitism and to beef up anti-hate education programs.

Delegates also agreed to hold a follow-up meeting in Berlin next year. That almost got derailed at a separate meeting of OSCE parliamentarians in Rotterdam when some delegates sought to broaden the focus to include other types of bigotry.

“But we were able to deal with that, and now it looks like the Berlin meeting is back on track,” said Rep. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who attended that meeting.

Giuliani’s high-profile presence at the Vienna conference was a major reason for its success, several Jewish leaders said this week.

“It was a big plus,” said Mark Levin, executive director of NCSJ, a Soviet Jewry group. “He made a big push on the Europeans to track anti-Semitic acts and hate crimes. He effectively used his experience in New York to show these countries that are ways to get a handle on the problem.”

Jewish leaders are making it clear they would like Giuliani to continue his role as U.S. representative in the continuing effort to come to terms with rising European anti-Semitism — sort of a roving ambassador on anti-Semitism.

“Both Giuliani and the secretary of state would like to see him have an ongoing role,” said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League. “In my conversations with him, he’s ready and willing.”

Calls to Giuliani Partners LLC, the former mayor’s consulting business, were not returned.

Foxman, who attended the Vienna meeting, attributed Giuliani’s success to his “celebrity status, and the fact that he is a law enforcement figure and because he’s not Jewish. And he knew the subject; it got everybody’s attention.”

Foxman predicted that the accelerating international effort to fight anti-Semitism could be a “vehicle for rapprochement” as U.S. and European leaders try to ease strains over the U.S.-led war against Iraq.

Dan Mariaschin, executive vice president of B’nai B’rith, said the meeting produced new momentum for Jewish groups to keep up the pressure within the OSCE framework.

“There are a number of upcoming (OSCE) meetings, and I think there will be a very high Jewish profile at all of them,” he said. “We want to keep the issue in the public eye, we want to convince these nations to begin to institutionalize this process.”