Posted on 04/29/2004 7:31:47 AM PDT by FourPeas
BERLIN (AP) — A 55-nation group of European and North American countries on Thursday denounced "new forms and expressions" of anti-Semitism and rejected any attempt to justify them on the basis of strife in the Middle East.
In a final declaration, the governments unanimously condemned "all attacks motivated by anti-Semitism or by any other forms of religious or racial hatred or intolerance, including attacks against synagogues and other religious places, sites and shrines."
U.S. and German delegates welcomed the document as a strong, timely denunciation of anti-Semitism and a pledge by each member to combat hate crimes against Jews.
The conference by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe came amid concern by Jewish groups about recent increases in anti-Semitic incidents and attacks in France, Britain and other European countries.
Delegates agreed that anti-Semitism "has assumed new forms and expressions, which along with other forms of intolerance pose a threat to democracy" and civilization in Europe, North America and elsewhere.
The declaration, adopted unanimously, committed the countries to teach children about combating anti-Semitism and to promote remembrance of the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis.
It also pledged them to collect and submit reliable information about anti-Semitic and other hate crimes.
The conference declared "unambiguously that international developments or political issues, including those in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, never justify anti-Semitism."
That was as close as the declaration came to meeting the demand of Jewish organizations that the conference point a finger at extremist Muslim groups, whom they blame for the rise in attacks on Jews and other anti-Semitic acts.
"This is an historic Berlin conference," said Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., deputy head of the U.S. delegation to the two-day meeting in the German capital.
All 55 countries "are at long last united in both acknowledging that anti-Semitism is a serious problem and an egregious violation of human rights and that this hate must be crushed," he said.
The document "commits each nation to seriously monitor and combat hate crimes" and promote Holocaust remembrance and education, Smith said.
The OSCE gathering, held amid tight security, is the third major conference in Europe to address anti-Semitism in the past year.
An American Jewish leader said earlier that Europeans must stop excusing attacks on synagogues as legitimate political expression by Muslims upset with Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.
"This is not a political statement. This is anti-Semitism," said Abraham Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League. "You need to have the guts to say what it is."
Foxman said the conference had "broken the taboo" of permitting criticism of Israeli government policies as long as they do not cross a line where they become anti-Semitic. Much of the discussion was an attempt to define where that line is, he said.
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