|
Breaking News Stories
These are news stories filed after the publishing of this Word
from.
The NEW Anti-Semitism
...an End Time Factor?
'Anti-Semitism still a world problem'
By JONATHAN SCHNEIDER
"Anti-Semitism is a world problem, not a Jewish problem, and the
Government of Israel will fight against it," declared Minister of
Tourism Avraham Hirschson (Kadima) during a press conference hosted by
the Global Forum Against Anti-Semitism (GFAA) Thursday. Speaking after a
cabinet meeting during which the GFAA presented statistics highlighting
an overall decrease in the number of violent anti-Semitic attacks
worldwide, Hirschson emphasized that in certain specific cases, "the
world had still not learned its lesson."
He pointed to the fact that the burning of synagogues and the defacing
of gravestones was still a problem in many countries, while in Russia
and the Ukraine the number of overall incidents had actually increased
dramatically. "Governments must take more responsibility for controlling
anti-Semitism, while a change in the education system is required both
for Jews and non-Jews," he added.
Amos Hermon, chairman of the Education Department at the Jewish Agency,
asserted that present day violent anti-Semitism originates from two
separate sources: radical Islamists in the Middle East and Western
Europe as well as the neo-Nazi youth element in Eastern Europe and Latin
America.
In presenting the report's specific findings, Hermon noted that though
the number of overall anti-Semitic incidents recorded in Britain - which
featured at the top of this inauspicious list - had decreased from 330
in 2004 to 300 in 2005, this still represented the highest numbers in
that country for more than twenty years. Hermon also alluded to
Britain's proposed academic boycott of Israeli universities and the
London Mayor Ken Livingstone's negative attitude towards Israel as
examples of left-wing anti-Semitic tendencies in the country.
The report also showed that France, Russia and the Ukraine had all
chalked up more than 160 incidents, while in Argentina, Germany, Czech
Republic, Belgium and Australia, there were less than 50 in each. Though
the GFAA are still waiting for statistics from the US, Hermon noted that
North America was by no means free of anti-Semitism, citing the recent
capture of an Al-Qaeda cell by the FBI in Los Angeles just prior to a
planned attack on local Jewish institutions. In American university
campuses, he said, Jewish students were being discriminated against by
both faculty and the students.
Referring to the recent announcements of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad "to wipe Israel off the map," the report also shows that the
media in Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon
and Saudi Arabia are vehemently anti-Semitic. However, it also claimed
that despite incitement being widespread in the media of the Palestinian
terror organizations, there has been a noticeable decline in this area
in the PA's official media since Mahmoud Abbas came to power.
Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski told The Jerusalem Post that
although it is "unlikely" that anti-Semitism will ever be completely
eradicated, it is important to deal as best as possible with the cause
rather than just the symptoms. Maintaining that there are tools
available to combat the problem, he exhorted people "to stop being
apathetic about this issue."
In a related story, the Anti-Defamation League in New York said they
were encouraged by the Ukrainian government's recent public condemnation
of anti-Semitism, particularly in MAUP University, one of the country's
leading institutions, described by ADL as a "hotbed of anti-Semitism."
In a letter to Borys Tarasiuk, Ukraine's foreign minister, Barbara B.
Balser, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National
Director, welcomed his "strong statement condemning the anti-Semitic
actions of MAUP University as unlawful and wrongful and proclaiming that
there is no place for any form of anti-Semitism and xenophobia in the
Ukraine."
Andrea de Felip, first secretary of the Head consular section in the
Italian Embassy, also present at the conference, told the Post that this
was a sensitive issue for the Italian people, who were "proud of the
fact that there is no anti-Semitism in Italy." He also said that a group
of Italian teachers would soon be making a trip to Yad Vashem in order
to learn about how they could teach the Holocaust to children.
|