Palm Beach Post - 05.22.2004

Palm Beach Post

Europe finally facing anti-Semitism wave

By U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler

Saturday, May 22, 2004

On April 28, I joined 600 leaders from 55 nations in Berlin for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe conference on anti-Semitism. This historic conference -- held, remarkably, in the city in which the "Final Solution" commenced -- marked a dramatic shift in the international community's response to anti-Semitism in Europe.

It drew international attention to this impending crisis and mobilized world leaders, such as Secretary of State Colin Powell, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer and their European counterparts to take decisive action to combat this widespread violation of human rights. It laid out a framework for developing education initiatives, hate-crime legislation and monitoring procedures aimed at combating anti-Semitism. Most important, it affirmed that developments in Israel never justify acts of anti-Semitism.

These recommendations mark a monumental development, particularly because anti-Semitic behavior and sentiment have increased in Europe commensurate with the resurgence of violence in the Middle East. This "new anti-Semitism" is anti-Jewish doctrine subtly masked by virulent demonization of Israel. While all nations reserve the right to criticize Israel, a dangerous line is crossed when Jews collectively are attacked for the policies of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon or when Israel is targeted by fictitious conspiracy theories, criticism and political attacks inspired by anti-Semitic beliefs.

Until the past year, many Europeans turned a blind eye as synagogues were desecrated, Jewish children were assaulted, Jewish shops were vandalized and cemeteries were all but destroyed. Hesitant to acknowledge anti-Semitism in its new form, European leaders simply denied the problem or excused some incidents as legitimate acts of political expression. Only when facing pressure from the American and European Jewish communities did leaders begin to confront this reoccurring epidemic of hate.

For example, the European Union Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia released its first two reports on anti-Semitism in the past year, which was followed by a conference on anti-Semitism hosted by the European Union in February. In addition, the OSCE hosted its first conference on anti-Semitism in Vienna in June, which set the stage for the second 10 months later in Berlin.

Recent developments indicate that Europe finally is coming to terms with the darkest moments of its past as a means of ensuring that they are not repeated. The initiative of the German government in hosting the OSCE conference demonstrated its desire to fulfill the promise of "never again." In Hungary, the prime minister recently acknowledged -- for the first time -- that Hungarian citizens participated in the killing of Hungarian Jews during the Holocaust. And the recent reaction of the French government in fighting anti-Semitism -- while long overdue -- represents the most poignant example of government-led change among all European states.

As home to half of Europe's Jews (600,000 out of 1.2 million) and an increasingly large Muslim community, France has experienced in the past four years the worst epidemic of anti-Semitism since the end of World War II. Within weeks of the outbreak of violence in Israel in September 2000, five synagogues were burned and 19 Jewish institutions were attacked in Paris alone. But the past year has seen a remarkable turnabout whereby French President Jacques Chirac and former Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy created a model "zero-tolerance policy" for anti-Semitism. They implemented stricter standards of punishment for hate crimes, which led to a 35 percent decrease in anti-Semitic acts in 2003.

Of course, these are only the first steps toward curing this social disease plaguing Europe for the past 60 years. Next week, I will travel to Paris to meet with government officials regarding implementation of the Berlin principles and France's upcoming conference on Internet-based hate.

On my recent trip to Slovakia, a Holocaust survivor explained to me that while I, as an American, viewed the situation through the lens of promise and possibility, his generation sees only fear. My message to him and other European Jews is that now -- possibly for the first time in history -- there is genuine reason to hope.

U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler is a Democrat who represents the 22nd Congressional District of Florida.