World - Reuters
Criticizing Israel Not Always Anti-Semitic-Powell
Date: Wed, Apr 28, 2004
By Philip Blenkinsop
BERLIN (Reuters) - Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, but using Nazi symbolism and racist language to do so certainly is, Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) told an international conference on Wednesday.
Europe has seen a rise in attacks on Jews coinciding with an escalation in Middle East violence since 2000. Jewish groups say Europe has been slow to fight the rise in anti-Semitism, but some say dislike for Israel's policies is behind the attacks.
"It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel but the line is crossed when Israel or its leaders are demonized or villainised for example by the use of Nazi symbols and racist caricatures," Powell told the Organization for Security and Cooperation (news - web sites) in Europe meeting.
An EU report said attacks on Jews increased in several member states in 2002 from 2001. The sharpest rise was in France where incidents rose six-fold.
German President Johannes Rau said racists had seized on the Middle East conflict and the policies of the Israeli government.
"Everyone knows that massive anti-Semitism is behind some of the criticism of the Israeli government's politics in the last decades," he said.
But Irish Foreign Minister Brian Cowen, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, said playing the race card was wrong whether used to attack or in defense.
"The exploitation of race for political purposes by any government or any politician, be it as an offensive weapon or as a shield to fend off criticism, is quite simply unacceptable."
ANTI-SEMITIC OR ANTI-ISRAELI?
An Anti-Defamation League report on Monday concluded anti-Semitic views were in fact waning in many European countries, but distrust of Israel was rising.
Powell said there was no excuse for race crimes.
"We must not permit anti-Semitic crimes to be shrugged off as the inevitable side-effect of inter-ethnic conflicts."
Powell and Israeli President Moshe Katsav are the highest profile guests at the two-day meeting of the OSCE (news - web sites)'s 55 nations from North America, Europe and Central Asia, which aims to agree measures to counter anti-Jewish violence and propaganda.
The Berlin meeting follows a similar meeting in Vienna last June. Germany, the country responsible for the Holocaust, is a poignant location, a point picked up by many speakers.
"There is no capital in the world where this topic is more compelling," said Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel.
"Today we confront the ugly reality that anti-Semitism is not just a fact of history but a current event," Powell said.
"May future generations of school children read that in the early decades of the 21st century mankind finally consigned anti-Semitism to history, never to darken the world again."
SOURCE
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