Let's see...Palestinians or Israel. Hmmm, that's a tough one. I think I'll suppoooooort...ISRAEL!!!
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Posted on 05/12/2003 12:08:34 PM PDT by yonif
An international conference on intolerance opened Monday with a stern warning that acts of hatred against Jews, particularly in Europe, have reached their highest level since World War II.
"A new generation of haters has been brought up and are ready to act," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based Jewish rights group.
The center jointly organized the three-day meeting in Paris with the United Nations' cultural agency to discuss ways to reverse the trend and promote religious tolerance in schools and universities.
But dozens of protesters outside UNESCO's Paris headquarters accused the Wiesenthal center of mislabeling criticism of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians as anti-Semitism. They also criticized the list of conference speakers and a report on Internet hate sites.
Conference participants include Natan Sharansky, Israeli minister for Diaspora Affairs, Rep. Robert Beauprez, Republican of Colorado, and France's Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. Also scheduled to attend are U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello and Gen. Wesley Clark, former NATO commander in Europe.
In a statement, the Wiesenthal center said it recorded 1,300 anti-Semitic acts in France since 2001 - the highest level since World War II. British government figures show that in 1998 there were 385 anti-Semitic attacks and incidents, but in 1999 that increased to 402. In 2001 there were 521 incidents.
"These are critical times," Hier said. "Never since the end of the Second World War have we witnessed such proliferation of anti-Semitism."
Attacks in France and Britain on Jewish schools, temples and cemeteries have coincided with heightened tensions in the Middle East. Many in France have been blamed on young Muslims.
But Hier dismissed the notion that Israeli-Palestinian violence was to blame, instead attributing the resurgence of anti-Semitism to a fundamental, age-old hatred of Jews.
"There is nothing new about the oldest hatred," he said. "Some will hide behind what Israel is doing ... but those are just excuses, that's a ruse."
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Wiesenthal center, presented a report detailing 4,000 international Web sites that he said promote terrorism, hatred or Holocaust denial.
"We are seeing now a very sophisticated manipulation of the Internet by terrorists and their supporters," he said. "They are ahead of the curve in understanding the possibilities of the Internet."
But protesters outside, including many Jews and members of the Americans Against the War coalition, said Cooper had deliberately excluded radical Zionist groups from the list.
In a letter to the conference host, UNESCO Director-General Koichiro Matsuura, the protesters said the Wiesenthal center, "under the deceitful cover of the struggle against anti-Semitism, is on the contrary encouraging intolerance and racism in our societies."
Protesters also denounced the decision to invite Sharansky, who is also in charge of Jerusalem affairs, saying he "is avidly against making even the slightest concession toward the Palestinians."
In his opening remarks, Matsuura said efforts to combat anti-Semitism include promoting unbiased teaching, revising school textbooks to reflect universal values and introducing classes on religious, ethnic and racial tolerance.
Beauprez, the US congressman, said "Americans are all acutely aware of the devastating impact that hate crimes... have on innocent communities."
He said he had come to Paris to "express on behalf of the American people our solidarity with the victims of these (hate) crimes in France and wherever they have occurred"
I wonder how this is measured ? ...
Can someone give a link to the charts and graphs and such that can me used for this ?
The Jew hating UN meeting in the Jew hating capital of Europe.
There was a story posted from a Boston newspaper about how liberal Jews are going to the GOP "because of Bush"
As much as I like Bush, I think there is a larger reason, the policies he has choosen have exposed this unholy alliance between the anticapitalism protestors and radical muslims.
This quote is a window onto what is really waking up Jews to the reality that their home is truely on the Conservative side of politics.
I wonder how this is measured ? ...
Can someone give a link to the charts and graphs and such that can me used for this ?
Probably just an intuitive impression based on public anti-semitism, rather than some statistical mind-reading act. Considering the source, I'm inclined to give it credence.
In reference to the Holocaust, I highly recommend the movie, "The Pianist." IMO, it was an excellent movie, and young people, especially, who have no sense of history should see it.
Let's see...Palestinians or Israel. Hmmm, that's a tough one. I think I'll suppoooooort...ISRAEL!!!
Please add me to your PING List. Thanks.
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