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Tuesday, April 23, 2002
World Jews call on Europe to fight anti-Semitism
BRUSSELS, Belgium (Reuters) - World Jewish leaders blamed Europe's
political and intellectual elites Tuesday for indirectly fueling
anti-Semitic violence that has swept Western Europe in recent weeks.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC), holding an emergency executive meeting
two days after the stunning electoral success of the far-right in France,
urged European governments to kill off anti-Semitism before it spread.
"To the political and intellectual leaders we send the following
message -- we will never forget that once again you are standing by and
doing nothing while synagogues burn in your cities," the Congress said in
a statement.
It said media prejudice and pro-Palestinian statements by many
politicians and prominent intellectuals had encouraged extremists in
Europe to attack Jews and their property.
"The WJC notes with concern that European intellectual and political
elites are creating an ambience in which anti-Semitism is considered
legitimate," it said.
According to figures from the Congress, there have been 300 anti-Jewish
attacks in the last three weeks, ranging from graffiti daubed on Jewish
property to fire-bombings of synagogues and physical assaults on
rabbis.
The WJC said in would set up a European Jewish Information Center to
monitor anti-Jewish attacks, suggest ways to prevent them and respond to
media reports on the Middle East which it deems biased against Israel.
"We find Europe pretty sick. European Jewry is confronted with the
strongest wave of anti-Semitic attacks since the end of World War Two,"
Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary-general of the Paris-based European Jewish
Congress, told Reuters.
ALARMED BY LE PEN
Cwajgenbaum said far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen's surprise win
through to the second round of the French presidential election showed
that nationalism and anti-Semitism were on the rise in Western Europe.
"It reflects the malady which exists in different countries in Europe
... . We could never have expected even in our worst nightmares that Le
Pen would succeed so much," he said.
The union of Jewish communities in France appealed Tuesday to Jewish
voters to turn out en masse to vote against Le Pen, calling him a
dangerous anti-Semite.
Israel's most powerful religious party, Shas, has urged French Jews to
leave for Israel after Le Pen's strong performance.
Berlin police have given informal advice to Jewish people to avoid
wearing skullcaps after recent anti-Semitic attacks in the German capital,
a police spokesman said Tuesday.
Most significant Jewish sites in Berlin are guarded by armed police.
Barricades surround buildings such as the historic New Synagogue.
The violence against Jews and Jewish property appears to be linked to
protests against Israel's military incursions into Palestinian areas of
the West Bank, although investigators have so far said it is the work of
delinquents rather than an orchestrated campaign.
The World Jewish Congress reiterated its controversial view that
anybody who is against Israel must automatically be anti-Semitic.
"It sees in the vilification and demonization of the Jewish state,
anti-Semitism, plain and simple," the leaders said, voicing "unconditional
solidarity" with Israel.
Five European governments appealed last week for joint EU action to
combat racism after a spate of attacks on Jewish targets from Marseille to
Kiev, but the EU and United Nations have also called on Israel to end its
assault on the Palestinian territories.
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