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Friday May 7, 2004

Conference tackles anti-Semitism, barely addresses Muslim violence

by toby axelrod
jta

berlin | An international conference on anti-Semitism failed to condemn its growth among Muslims in Europe, but participants nevertheless are hailing the gathering as a success.

A resolution passed at the end of the two-day conference on Thursday, April 29, declared that “international developments or political issues, including those in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism.”

The mention of Israel in the final document acknowledged a major source of anti-Semitism in Europe today.

However, Arab states convinced members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which hosted the event, to remove references from official documents linking criticism of Israel and Muslim anti-Semitism.

At a time when public opinion in much of the world has turned sharply against Israel — resulting in a wave of attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions across Europe — a gathering intended to help the Jewish people “is a success in and of itself,” said Shelley Klein, director of advocacy for Hadassah.

The conference was preceded by several other events in Berlin last week targeting anti-Semitism.

Several hundred participants attended, ranging from politicians to religious leaders to OSCE representatives. Observers said the high-level officials participating sent a signal to political leaders on the eve of European Union enlargement that all forms of discrimination are unacceptable.

Chief among many participants’ concerns was growing international vilification of Israel and the spillover effect it has had on Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe in recent years. A significant number of perpetrators have been young Muslims, particularly in France, but that point was hardly addressed directly at the conference.

At workshops, participants committed to honing their legal systems, promoting academic exchange and educational programs and pledged to collect and maintain reliable information and statistics about anti-Semitic crimes and other hate crimes committed within their territory. They agreed to report such crimes to the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, which is charged with monitoring anti-Semitism with the cooperation of the 55 OSCE member states.

The OSCE’s human rights branch is to collect “best practices” from non-governmental organizations throughout the region “for preventing and responding to anti-Semitism.”

While several concrete recommendations emerged — including a call for a coordinator to monitor anti-Semitic crimes across the continent — some observers said the mere convening of the event made it a success.

Such a conference on the highest political level “shows that anti-Semitism is not a legitimate political instrument, and it sends a signal to the Eastern European states that have not always seen it that way,” said Wolfgang Benz, head of the Technical University of Berlin’s Center for Research on Anti-Semitism.

The final declaration condemns all manifestations of anti-Semitism and other forms of discrimination based on ethnic origin or religious belief, as well as attacks on religious institutions motivated by such hatred.

“There were too many people who were nervous about it,” said Rabbi Andrew Baker, the American Jewish Committee’s head of international affairs.. “The question is whether you will note what the declaration says or what it doesn’t say. And the answer is that it is noteworthy for what it does say.”

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