Posted on 12/02/2003 1:16:16 PM PST by Nachum
Against the wishes of the European Union, a European Jewish organization has released the much-anticipated report on anti-Semitism in Europe that was withheld by the EU for fear of offending European Muslims.
Contrary to the wishes of the European Union, a large European Jewish organization has released the much-anticipated report on anti-Semitism in Europe, buried by the EU for fear of offending European Muslims.
It was reported last week that the EU Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia had decided not to release the findings of an extensive study it had commissioned on the basis that the results were ‘flawed’. Participants in the study told the press that the EU was simply unwilling to confront the study’s findings that hold Muslims and anti-Israel groups responsible for the bulk of Europe’s rising anti-Semitism.
Explaining the decision by European Jewish Congress President Coby Benatoff to release the report without EU permission, Serge Cwajgenbaum, Secretary General of the EJC said, “We cannot accept that a study be confiscated on the grounds that it could create tensions.”
The report was prepared for the EU Monitoring Center last year but was not released upon its completion in February of this year. A new report is reportedly being written up to replace the initial one.
The 105-page report finds an “increasing number of anti-Semitic attacks, committed frequently by young Arabs/Muslims” in most EU member countries.
Cwajgenbaum told the JTA that other attempts to address the problem of growing anti-Semitism had failed. “We have approached governments on a national level and on a European level and in spite of good will and good intentions, the result is that Jews are still being threatened, which means that more has to be done. This is one of the reasons why [the EJC] decided to circulate this document.”
The report, “Manifestations of Anti-Semitism in the European Union,” was prepared by Berlin’s Center for Research on Anti-Semitism, and had been kept under wraps for the past 10 months. The Monitoring Center continues to insist it withheld the report on the basis of quality. It says a more comprehensive report will be released in early 2004.
However, members of the research team that prepared the report, Juliane Wetzel and Werner Bergmann, have both said that the real reason for withholding the report is political. The report found an increase in anti-Semitic crimes committed, and attributed them to Europeans of Arab or Muslim background, as well as left-wing and anti-globalization activists. It is also worth noting that the steep rise in anti-Semitism that has taken place since the war in Iraq began did not factor into the 105-page report, as the report was completed before the war began.
According to the report, the rise in attacks “was accompanied by a sharp criticism of Israeli politics across the entire political spectrum, a criticism that in some cases employed anti-Semitic stereotypes,” reads the report, which also lays blame on Arab media: “Observers point to an ‘increasingly blatantly anti-Semitic Arab and Muslim media,’ including audio tapes and sermons, in which the call is not only made to join the struggle against Israel but also against Jews across the world. Although leading Muslim organizations express their opposition to this propaganda, observers assume that its calling for the use of violence may exert a certain influence on readers and listeners.”
Yad VaShem, Israel's Holocaust museum and information center responded to the report in a press release today (Monday), berating the EU. "Withholding the report from publication is alarmingly irresponsible," said the press release, "it is counterproductive for Jews and European society as a whole. As the world learned 60 years ago, anti-Semitism can undermine the foundations of civilization as we know it. The EU should publish the report immediately and take decisive action to implement its recommendations."
The European Jewish Congress refused to say how it obtained a copy of the report, but released it on Monday. It can be viewed, in English, on the official web site of the French Jewish community.
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