Report on Global Anti-Semitism
July 1, 2003 – December 15, 2004, submitted by the Department of State to
the Committee on Foreign Relations and the Committee on International Relations
in accordance with Section 4 of PL 108-332, December 30, 2004
Released by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
January 5, 2005
Executive Summary
I. Anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism has plagued the world for centuries. Taken to its most far-reaching
and violent extreme, the Holocaust, anti-Semitism resulted in the deaths
of millions of Jews and the suffering of countless others. Subtler, less
vile forms of anti-Semitism have disrupted lives, decimated religious communities,
created social and political cleavages, and complicated relations between
countries as well as the work of international organizations. For an increasingly
interdependent world, anti-Semitism is an intolerable burden.
The increasing frequency and severity of anti-Semitic incidents since the
start of the 21st century, particularly in Europe, has compelled the international
community to focus on anti-Semitism with renewed vigor. Attacks on individual
Jews and on Jewish properties occurred in the immediate post World War II
period, but decreased over time and were primarily linked to vandalism and
criminal activity. In recent years, incidents have been more targeted in
nature with perpetrators appearing to have the specific intent to attack
Jews and Judaism. These attacks have disrupted the sense of safety and well
being of Jewish communities.
The definition of anti-Semitism has been the focus of innumerable discussions
and studies. While there is no universally accepted definition, there is
a generally clear understanding of what the term encompasses.
For the purposes of this report, anti-Semitism is considered to be hatred
toward Jews—individually and as a group—that can be attributed to the Jewish
religion and/or ethnicity. An important issue is the distinction between
legitimate criticism of policies and practices of the State of Israel, and
commentary that assumes an anti-Semitic character. The demonization of Israel,
or vilification of Israeli leaders, sometimes through comparisons with Nazi
leaders, and through the use of Nazi symbols to caricature them, indicates
an anti-Semitic bias rather than a valid criticism of policy concerning a
controversial issue.
Global anti-Semitism in recent years has had four main sources:
Traditional anti-Jewish prejudice that has pervaded Europe and some countries
in other parts of the world for centuries. This includes ultra-nationalists
and others who assert that the Jewish community controls governments, the
media, international business, and the financial world.
Strong anti-Israel sentiment that crosses the line between objective criticism
of Israeli policies and anti-Semitism.
Anti-Jewish sentiment expressed by some in Europe's growing Muslim population,
based on longstanding antipathy toward both Israel and Jews, as well as Muslim
opposition to developments in Israel and the occupied territories, and more
recently in Iraq.
Criticism of both the United States and globalization that spills over to Israel,
and to Jews in general who are identified with both.
II. Harassment, Vandalism and Physical Violence
Europe and Eurasia
Anti-Semitism in Europe increased significantly in recent years. At the
same time it should be noted that many European countries have comprehensive
reporting systems that record incidents more completely than is possible
in other countries. Because of this significant difference in reporting systems,
it is not possible to make direct comparisons between countries or geographic
regions. Beginning in 2000, verbal attacks directed against Jews increased
while incidents of vandalism (e.g. graffiti, fire bombings of Jewish schools,
desecration of synagogues and cemeteries) surged. Physical assaults including
beatings, stabbings and other violence against Jews in Europe increased markedly,
in a number of cases resulting in serious injury and even death. Also troubling
is a bias that spills over into anti-Semitism in some of the left-of-center
press and among some intellectuals.
The disturbing rise of anti-Semitic intimidation and incidents is widespread
throughout Europe, although with significant variations in the number of
cases and the accuracy of reporting. European governments in most countries
now view anti-Semitism as a serious problem for their societies and demonstrate
a greater willingness to address the issue. The Vienna-based European Union
Monitoring Center (EUMC), for 2002 and 2003, identified France, Germany,
the United Kingdom, Belgium, and The Netherlands as EU member countries with
notable increases in incidents. As these nations keep reliable and comprehensive
statistics on anti-Semitic acts, and are engaged in combating anti-Semitism,
their data was readily available to the EUMC. Governments and leading public
figures condemned the violence, passed new legislation, and mounted positive
law enforcement and educational efforts.
In Western Europe, traditional far-right groups still account for a significant
proportion of the attacks against Jews and Jewish properties; disadvantaged
and disaffected Muslim youths increasingly were responsible for most of the
other incidents. This trend appears likely to persist as the number of Muslims
in Europe continues to grow while their level of education and economic prospects
remain limited.
In Eastern Europe, with a much smaller Muslim population, skinheads and
others members of the radical political fringe were responsible for most
anti-Semitic incidents. Anti-Semitism remained a serious problem in Russia
and Belarus, and elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, with most incidents
carried out by ultra-nationalist and other far-right elements. The stereotype
of Jews as manipulators of the global economy continues to provide fertile
ground for anti-Semitic aggression.
Holocaust and tolerance education as well as teacher training provide a
potential long-term solution to anti-Semitism; however, the problem is still
rapidly outpacing the solution. At the end of 2003, and continuing into this
year, some Jews, especially in Europe, faced the dilemma either of hiding
their identity or facing harassment and sometimes even serious bodily injury
and death. The heavy psychological toll in this increasingly difficult environment
should not be overlooked or underestimated.
Middle East
Jews left the countries of the Middle East and North Africa in large numbers
near the mid-point of the last century as their situation became increasingly
precarious. This trend continues. Today few remain, and few incidents involving
the remaining members of the Jewish community have been reported. Nonetheless,
Syria condoned and, in some cases, even supported through radio, television
programming, news articles, and other mass media the export of a virulent
domestic anti-Semitism. The official and state-supported media's anti-Zionist
propaganda frequently adopts the terminology and symbols of the Holocaust
to demonize Israel and its leaders. This rhetoric often crosses the line
separating the legitimate criticism of Israel and its policies to become
anti-Semitic vilification posing as legitimate political commentary. At the
same time, Holocaust denial and Holocaust minimization efforts find increasingly
overt acceptance as sanctioned historical discourse in a number of Middle
Eastern countries.
Other Regions
The problem of anti-Semitism is not only significant in Europe and in the
Middle East, but there are also worrying expressions of it elsewhere. For
example, in Pakistan, a country without a Jewish community, anti-Semitic
sentiment fanned by anti-Semitic articles in the press is widespread. This
reflects the more recent phenomenon of anti-Semitism appearing in countries
where historically or currently there are few or even no Jews.
Elsewhere, in Australia, the level of intimidation and attacks against Jews
and Jewish property and anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric decreased
somewhat over the past year. This year, New Zealand experienced several desecrations
of Jewish tombstones and other incidents. In the Americas, in addition to
manifestations of anti-Semitism in the United States, Canada experienced
a significant increase in attacks against Jews and Jewish property. There
were notable anti-Semitic incidents in Argentina and isolated incidents in
a number of other Latin American countries.
III. Media
The proliferation of media outlets (television, radio, print media and the
internet) has vastly increased the opportunity for purveyors of anti-Semitic
material to spread their propaganda unhindered. Anti-hate laws provide some
protection, but freedom of expression safeguards in many western countries
limited the preventive measures that governments could take. Satellite television
programming easily shifts from one provider to another and Internet offerings
cross international borders with few or no impediments.
In June, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
organized a separate meeting in Paris dealing with intolerance on the Internet,
and subsequently approved a decision on "Promoting Tolerance and Media
Freedom on the Internet." The decision is prescriptive in nature and
carefully caveated to avoid conflict with the varied legal systems within
the countries of the OSCE. It calls upon Participating States to investigate
and fully prosecute criminal threats of violence based on anti-Semitic and
other intolerance on the Internet, as well as to establish programs to educate
children about hate speech and other forms of bias.
Critics of Israel frequently use anti-Semitic cartoons depicting anti-Jewish
images and caricatures to attack the State of Israel and its policies, as
well as Jewish communities and others who support Israel. These media attacks
can lack any pretext of balance or even factual basis and focus on the demonization
of Israel. The United States is frequently included as a target of such attacks,
which often assert that U.S. foreign policy is made in Israel or that Jews
control the media and financial markets in the United States and the rest
of the world. During the 2004 United States presidential campaign, the Arab
press ran numerous cartoons closely identifying both of the major American
political parties with Israel and with Israeli Prime Minister Sharon.
"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a text debunked many years
ago as a fraud perpetrated by Czarist intelligence agents, continued to appear
in the Middle East media, not as a hoax, but as established fact. Government-sponsored
television in Syria ran lengthy serials based on the Protocols. The presentations
emphasized blood libel and the alleged control by the Jewish community of
international finance. The clear purpose of the programs was to incite hatred
of Jews and of Israel. Copies of the Protocols and other similar anti-Semitic
forgeries were readily available in Middle Eastern countries, former Soviet
republics and elsewhere. Similarly, allegations that Jews were behind the
9/11 attacks were widely disseminated.
In November 2004, Al-Manar, the Lebanon-based television network controlled
by Hizballah featuring blatantly anti-Semitic material, obtained a limited
1-year satellite broadcast license from the French authorities. This was
revoked shortly thereafter due to Al-Manar's continued transmission of anti-Semitic
material. Al-Manar is now off the air in France. Other Middle East networks
with questionable content, such as Al-Jazeerah and Al-Arrabiya, maintain
their French broadcast licenses.
IV. Actions by Governments
In Europe and other geographic regions, many governments became increasingly
aware of the threat presented by anti-Semitism and spoke out against it.
Some took effective measures to combat it with several countries, including
France, Belgium, and Germany, now providing enhanced protection for members
of the Jewish community and Jewish properties.
For the most part, the police response to anti-Semitic incidents was uneven.
Most law enforcement officials are not specifically trained to deal with
hate crimes, particularly anti-Semitic hate crimes. Police sometimes dismissed
such crimes as hooliganism or petty crime, rather than attacks against Jews
because of their ethnicity or religion, or because the assailants identified
the victims with the actions of the State of Israel.
In countries where anti-Semitism is a serious problem, specialized training
for police and members of the judiciary remains a pressing need. Many nations
still do not have hate crime laws that address anti-Semitic and other intolerance-related
crimes. In some instances where such laws already exist, stronger enforcement
is needed.
V. Multilateral Action
Anti-Semitism is a global problem that requires a coordinated multinational
approach. Thus far, the most effective vehicle for international cooperation
has been the OSCE, comprised of 55 participating states from Europe, Eurasia
and North America plus Mediterranean and Asian partners for cooperation.
The OSCE organized two groundbreaking conferences on anti-Semitism--in June
2003, in Vienna and in April 2004, in Berlin. These were the first international
conferences to focus high-level political attention solely on the problem
of anti-Semitism. The Vienna Conference identified anti-Semitism as a human
rights issue.
OSCE Foreign Ministers gave further high-level political acknowledgment
to the seriousness of anti-Semitism at their December 2003 meeting in Maastricht.
There they took the formal decision to spotlight the need to combat anti-Semitism
by deciding to task the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human
Rights (ODIHR) to serve as a collection point for hate crimes information.
ODIHR is now working with OSCE member states to collect information on hate
crimes legislation and to promote "best practices" in the areas
of law enforcement, combating hate crimes, and education. ODIHR established
a Program on Tolerance and Non-Discrimination and now has an advisor to deal
exclusively with the issue.
At their December 2004 meeting in Sofia, OSCE Foreign Ministers welcomed
the Chair-in-Office's decision to appoint three special representatives for
tolerance issues, including a special representative for anti-Semitism, to
work with member states on implementing specific commitments to fight anti-Semitism.
In addition, the Foreign Ministers accepted the Spanish Government's offer
to host a third anti-Semitism conference in June 2005 in Cordoba.
The United Nations also took important measures in the fight against anti-Semitism.
One was a June 2004 seminar on anti-Semitism hosted by Secretary General
Kofi Annan. Another measure was a resolution of the United Nations Third
Committee in November 2004, which called for the elimination of all forms
of religious intolerance, explicitly including anti-Semitism.
Education remains a potentially potent antidote for anti-Semitism and other
forms of intolerance. Following the first Stockholm Conference in 1998, convoked
out of concern for the decreasing level of knowledge of the Holocaust particularly
among the younger generation, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States
decided to address the issue collaboratively. The Task Force for International
Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research (ITF) emerged
from this initial effort.
Today the ITF, an informal international organization operating on the basis
of consensus, and without a bureaucracy, consists of 20 countries. ITF member
states agree to commit themselves to the Declaration of the Stockholm International
Forum on the Holocaust and to its implementation. Current members of the
ITF include Argentina, Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany,
Hungary, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Poland, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States.
In addition, four other countries (Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Slovakia) maintain
a liaison relationship with the ITF.
VI. U.S. Government Actions to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism
The U.S. Government is committed to monitoring and combating anti-Semitism
throughout the world as an important human rights and religious freedom issue.
As President Bush said when he signed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act
on October 16, 2004, "Defending freedom also means disrupting the evil
of anti-Semitism."
Annually, the U.S. Department of State publishes the International Religious
Freedom Report and the Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. Both detail
incidents and trends of anti-Semitism worldwide. The State Department's instructions
to U.S. Embassies for the 2004 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices
explicitly required them to describe acts of violence against Jews and Jewish
properties, as well as actions governments are taking to prevent this form
of bigotry and prejudice.
In multilateral fora, the Department of State called for recognition of
the rise of anti-Semitism and the development of specific measures to address
it. The Department played a leading role in reaching agreement in the OSCE
to hold the two conferences on combating anti-Semitism noted above in Section
V. Former New York City Mayors Rudolph Giuliani and Edward Koch led the United
States delegations to the conferences in Vienna and Berlin, respectively.
Each brought a wealth of knowledge and experience in fostering respect for
minorities in multicultural communities. Key NGOs worked productively with
the Department to prepare for these conferences. In his address to the Berlin
Conference, Secretary Powell said: "We must not permit anti-Semitic
crimes to be shrugged off as inevitable side effects of inter-ethnic conflicts.
Political disagreements do not justify physical assaults against Jews in
our streets, the destruction of Jewish schools, or the desecration of synagogues
and cemeteries. There is no justification for anti-Semitism." At the
United Nations, the United States has supported resolutions condemning anti-Semitism
both at the General Assembly and at the UN Commission on Human Rights.
An important lesson of the Holocaust is that bigotry and intolerance can
lead to future atrocities and genocides if not addressed forcefully by governments
and other sectors of society. The United States is committed to working bilaterally
to promote efforts with other governments to arrest and roll back the increase
in anti-Semitism. President Bush affirmed that commitment during his visit
to Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2003, stating: "This site is a sobering reminder
that when we find anti-Semitism, whether it be in Europe, in America or anywhere
else, mankind must come together to fight such dark impulses."
U.S. Embassies implement this commitment by speaking out against anti-Semitic
acts and hate crimes. Ambassadors and other embassy officers work with local
Jewish communities to encourage prompt law enforcement action against hate
crimes. In Turkey, the U.S. Embassy worked closely with the Jewish community
following the November 2003 bombing of the Neve Shalom Synagogue. In the
Middle East, our embassies have protested to host governments against practices
that have allowed their institutions to promote anti-Semitism, such as the
heavily watched television series Rider Without a Horse and Diaspora that
respectively promoted the canard of the blood libel, and "The Protocols
of Elders of Zion." U.S. bilateral demarches were effective in specific
instances, but more remains to be done to encourage national leaders to speak
out forcefully against anti-Semitism and in support of respectful, tolerant
societies.
Building on the success achieved to date, the Department of State is accelerating
its efforts with its partners globally to improve both monitoring and combating
anti-Semitism in three specific areas: education, legislation, and law enforcement.
The Department will continue to promote the development of Holocaust education
curricula and teacher training programs. A successful program in this area
has been summer teacher training partially funded through U.S. Embassies
in cooperation with the Association of American Holocaust Organizations (AHO)
and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). At the October 2004
OSCE Human Dimension Meeting, the United States and France hosted a seminar
on methodologies for teaching the Holocaust in multicultural societies. The
United States also supports the work of NGOs in promoting educational programs
abroad, in part based on successful seminars in the United States that teach
respect for individuals and minority groups. Additionally, the U.S. State
Department has supported efforts to promote tolerance in the Saudi educational
system including by sponsoring the travel of religious educators to the United
States to examine interreligious education.
The roots of anti-Semitism run deep and the United States does not underestimate
the difficulty of reversing the recent resurgence of this ancient scourge.
The legislative and executive branches, together with NGOs, constitute an
important partnership in continuing the vital effort to find creative ways
to monitor, contain, and finally stop anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism in Europe and Eurasia
Anti-Semitism was a widely dispersed problem in the region, although the severity
and scope of abuses varied significantly among individual countries. During
the reporting period, the most serious incidents of anti-Semitism—beatings
and other physical abuses—occurred in 12 countries. Verbal harassment was reported
in 28 countries, while desecration of cemeteries and synagogues was reported
in 30 countries. The recent rise in anti-Jewish acts and sentiments in Western
Europe was often influenced by Middle Eastern events or conflated with anti-Israeli
views.
In 16 countries in the Europe and Eurasia region, there were few or no reported
anti-Semitic incidents in recent years. This report is not intended as a
comprehensive description of all incidents, but focuses on illustrative or
particularly egregious cases. In the European context, the number of incidents
reported in some countries reflects not only the depth of the problem, but
also the thorough reporting on anti-Semitism by active civil societies, religious
representatives, and governments themselves. As a result, there is sometimes
an imbalance in the scope of reporting in the country narratives below.
Government responses have varied as well. Many European governments effectively
prosecute those who perpetrate or incite anti-Semitic attacks or harassment,
while others include officials who themselves make anti-Semitic statements
or discriminate against Jews. Many European leaders have condemned anti-Semitism
and called for tolerance, and several countries have joined the Council of
Europe in declaring a Holocaust Memorial Day. In a June 2003 anti-Semitism
conference, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)
called on member states to reaffirm their commitments to condemn racial and
ethnic hatred, including anti-Semitism, and to undertake effective follow-up
plans of action to demonstrate these commitments in practice. In response,
some countries have already implemented action plans.
Armenia
The Jewish community reported several incidents of verbal harassment during
the reporting period. The director of ALM TV frequently made anti-Semitic
remarks on the air, and the Union of Armenian Aryans, a small, ultranationalist
group, called for the country to be "purified" of Jews and Yezidis.
On September 17, offices of the Jewish community in Yerevan received a message
that vandals had damaged the local memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.
Several photographs of the memorial were taken and the vandalism was immediately
reported to the local police, the Ministry of Religious Affairs, and the
government-owned television channel. A television crew arrived at the site
together with an official from the Jewish community in Yerevan and to their
surprise discovered that the memorial had been wiped clean, apparently by
the park guard.
In May, Jewish groups complained to several government authorities about
the distribution and importation of hate literature. Each government agency
they contacted responded that the literature was in apparent violation of
the "Law on Distributing Literature Inflaming National Hatred" and
suggested they press formal charges with the Prosecutor General's office.
Jewish leaders have not yet decided whether to press charges.
Austria
The Austrian NGO Forum gegen Antisemitismus (the Forum against Anti-Semitism,
FGA) reported five physical attacks during the reporting period and eight
in 2003. On July 30, 2003, according to the Coordination Forum, several unidentified
persons beat an Orthodox Jew. The man was attacked from behind and beaten
with belts. The assailants fled the scene and have not been arrested or identified.
The victim was hospitalized suffering from bruises but was fully conscious.
In a separate incident, an unknown assailant attacked two Orthodox Jews,
one of whom was injured. In another incident, skinheads attacked the vice-director
of a Jewish school in Vienna with a beer bottle, leaving the victim with
injuries.
FGA also recorded 122 anti-Semitic incidents in the first 11 months of the
year and 134 in 2003. The incidents included name-calling, graffiti/defacement,
threatening letters, anti-Semitic Internet postings, property damage, vilifying
letters and telephone calls, and physical attacks. The European Union's Monitoring
Center on Racism and Xenophobia declared that anti-Semitism in the country
is characterized by diffuse and traditional anti-Semitic stereotypes rather
than by acts of physical aggression.
On May 24, the Coordination Forum reported that a letter with anti-Semitic
and xenophobic contents was received at the Jewish Community Building in
Vienna.
On June 1, in Villach, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), vandals
smashed a memorial honoring Holocaust victims in southern Austria. The memorial
consisted of 17 glass plates engraved with the names of 108 local Holocaust
victims. Vandals previously damaged the memorial in March 2003.
On October 24, the Coordination Forum reported that anti-Semitic comments
were made at a neo-Nazi convention in the Province of Klagenfurt. Local authorities
are examining whether holding the convention was a violation of the law.
On November 25, 2003, according to the Coordination Forum, an anonymous
telephone call was received at the Jewish school in Vienna; the caller said: "There
is a bomb in the school." He repeated the announcement and hung up.
The school was evacuated and police conducted a search of the premises, but
found nothing.
The law prohibits any racially motivated or anti-Semitic propaganda, and
as a result, anti-Jewish propaganda does not exist in government publications.
Nongovernmental media that seek to promote anti-Semitism cannot do so openly,
but attempt to use veiled language that is nevertheless clearly understood
by most citizens. Such groups are under close observation by the Government
(especially the Bureau for Protection of the Constitution) and by private
anti-discrimination groups. The Documentation Center of Austrian Resistance
(DOEW) monitors the activities and publications of extreme right-wing groups
and considers the following to contain revisionist and extremist viewpoints:
Aula, Kommentare zur Zeitgeschehen, Arbeitsgemeinschaft fuer demokratische
Politik (AFP), Huttenbriefe-Deutsches Kulturwerk Europaeischen Geistes (DKEG)/Deutsche
Kulturgemeinschaft (DKG), Die Kameradschaft (Kameradschaft IV (K IV)), Fakten
(published by "Die Kritischen Demokraten"), Der Eckart (Oesterreichische
Landsmannschaft (OELM)), PNO-Nachrichten (Partei Neue Ordnung (PNO)), Top
Secret – Phoenix, Die Umwelt, and Halt.
The 1947 Law Against Neo-Nazi Activity ("Verbotsgesetz") prohibits
any form of neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism and any type of activity in the
spirit of National Socialism. In particular, it bans National Socialist or
neo-Nazi organizations, and prohibits incitement to neo-Nazi activity, as
well as the glorification or praise of National Socialist ideology. It also
prohibits public denial, belittlement, approval, or justification of National
Socialist crimes, including the Holocaust. The Criminal Code prohibits public
incitement to hostile acts, insult, or contempt against a church or religious
society, or public incitement against a group based on race, nationality,
or ethnicity, if that incitement could pose a danger to the public order.
The Government strictly enforces its anti-neo-Nazi legislation and provides
police protection for Jewish community institutions. During the reporting
period, the country implemented the EU anti-discrimination guidelines.
The Ministry of the Interior's Internet hotline for reporting National Socialist
activity received 140 reports of right-wing extremist activity, particularly
in connection with the Internet.
The FGA reported that cooperation with the police and federal and regional
authorities is very good. The FGA also stated that leading newspapers have
been very responsive to requests to remove anti-Semitic postings on their
online forum pages.
The Government recognized the Jewish faith community as one of 13 religious
societies under an 1874 law. This had wide-ranging implications, such as
providing the authority to participate in the mandatory church contributions
program, to provide religious instruction in public schools, and to bring
religious workers into the country to act as ministers, missionaries, or
teachers. The Government also provided financial support to religious teachers
affiliated with religious societies at both public and private schools.
Holocaust education was generally taught as part of history instruction,
but also was featured in other subjects under the heading "political
education (civics)." Religious education classes were another forum
for teaching the tenets of different religions and overall tolerance.
Special teacher training seminars were available on the subject of Holocaust
education. The Education Ministry also ran a program through which Holocaust
survivors talked to school classes about National Socialism and the Holocaust.
One example of a large-scale Holocaust education project was the "Letters
to the Stars" in 2003, in which more than 15,000 students participated.
Students chose a Holocaust victim who had lived in their neighborhood, did
research on the person's life, and then wrote a letter to that victim. The
letters were released on balloons during a ceremony on May 5.
Azerbaijan
The Mountain Jewish Community has resided in the country for 2,700 years;
the Ashkenazi Jews have been present for more than 100 years.
Cases of prejudice and discrimination against Jews in the country were very
limited, and in the few instances of anti-Semitic activity the Government
has been quick to respond. There was only one reported incident during the
period covered by this report. In April, the Lubavitch community received
an anonymous letter containing threats during the observance of Passover.
The police and military responded by blocking and securing Jewish places
of worship to ensure the peaceful observance of the Passover holiday. The
subsequent investigation revealed that a member of a small radical Islamic
group wrote the letter, resulting in his conviction and imprisonment.
The Government does not condone or tolerate persecution of Jews by any party.
No laws specifically address anti-Semitism.
Belarus
According to the Union of Councils for Jews in the Former Soviet Union (UCSJ),
in 2003 memorials in Minsk and Lida commemorating victims of genocide were
vandalized. During the reporting period, vandalism at Jewish cemeteries occurred
in Bobruisk and Tcherven and at a Holocaust memorial in Brest. The local
authorities refused to react to these incidents. The Prosecutor's office
and the Committee for State Security (KGB) did nothing to investigate groups
of skinheads and Russian National Unity (RNE), which functioned openly in
Minsk, Grodno, Gomel, Vitebsk, and Polotsk. The RNE was banned in the country.
According to Jewish leaders, cases of vandalism decreased during the reporting
period. Authorities initiated investigations, but in the past 15 years no
vandals have been fined or jailed. The police failed to prosecute suspects
to the fullest extent of the law. The Government restored monuments and memorials
that were vandalized. The Government also allowed the erection of a memorial
to Jews killed by Soviet security forces at Kurapaty.
On August 18, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs notified the local chapter
of the UCSJ that it would not be reregistered, because the chapter submitted
some documents late. The UCSJ is one of the primary Jewish human rights organizations
in the country and previously worked with the Ministry of Education to provide
material on the Holocaust.
Despite a May 2003 order by the Prosecutor General and the Ministry of Information
to terminate distribution of the anti-Semitic and xenophobic newspaper Russki
Vestnik, distribution of the newspaper resumed in February through the government-distribution
agency Belzoyuzprechat. Sales of similar literature continued throughout
the year in government-owned buildings, in stores, and at events affiliated
with the Belarusian Orthodox Church (BOC). Anti-Semitic and Russian ultranationalistic
literature continued to be sold at Pravoslavnaya Kniga (Orthodox Bookstore),
a store operated by Orthodox Initiative that sells Orthodox literature and
religious paraphernalia. The head of the BOC, Metropolitan Filaret, promised
to stop such sales; however, no action has been taken.
In January, the RNE distributed anti-Semitic leaflets in Gomel, which stated: "The
Jews are trying to destroy Christianity," "Now hostile activities
against the Jews will begin," "The Jews are the forces of evil," and "The
fighters against God must be exterminated." In addition, the letters
RNE were sprayed on the walls of the Jewish Community building in Gomel.
No suspects were arrested.
There were reports of anti-Semitic statements made by public officials.
In September 2003, Sergei Kostyan, Deputy Chairman of the International Affairs
Committee of the Lower House of Parliament, rejected criticism regarding
the installation of a gas pipeline near a Jewish cemetery in Maozyr. Kostyan
accused Jews of sowing "ethnic discord." During an October press
conference, Information Minister Vladimir Rusakevich said the country should
live with Russia like brothers, but to bargain with Russia "like a Yid."
The Committee of Religious and Nationalities Affairs of the Council of Ministers
(CRNA) reported that it regularly responded to all public expressions of
xenophobia by notifying the government agencies responsible for pursuing
legal action against the perpetrators; however, no such legal actions were
observed during the period covered by this report.
Belgium
In November, the quasi-governmental Anti-Racism Center (Center for Equal
Opportunity and the Struggle against Racism and Other Forms of Discrimination)
reported an increase in anti-Semitism in recent years. The Center reported
that the annual number of complaints rose to 30 between 2000 and 2003; prior
to 1999, an average of 4 anti-Semitic incidents were registered per year.
There were 40 complaints filed in the first 11 months of the year. The most
serious incident was the stabbing of a Jewish youth in Antwerp. Most complaints
concerned anti-Semitism in the media, on the Internet, graffiti, and verbal
abuse. An Anti-Racism Center spokesperson pointed out that the increase in
the number of incidents is partially due to increased reporting resulting
from greater public awareness.
On January 28, during an indoor Belgium-Israel soccer match in the city
of Hasselt, spectators with Hamas and Hizballah banners heckled the Israelis
and shouted anti-Semitic slogans, some in Arabic. The city of Hasselt, the
Anti-Racism Center, and a local Jewish organization filed a criminal complaint
over the incident a few days later, which the police continued to pursue
actively. No arrests were made during the reporting period. In February,
a group of students at a Jewish school in Brussels were assaulted by youths
from the neighborhood, which is inhabited primarily by Muslim immigrants.
In late June, there were several incidents of physical attacks on Jewish
citizens. These incidents were prominently covered in the national media.
On June 24, a number of allegedly North African youths assaulted four Jewish
students as they departed their Jewish school in an Antwerp suburb; one fleeing
student was stabbed and seriously injured. Jewish students at the school
previously had been subjected to verbal insult and harassment from these
youths. On June 26, three Jewish students from the same school were harassed
by four youths in a car. One fired what is believed to be a toy gun at the
students before driving away; there were no injuries. Later that evening,
elsewhere in the Antwerp suburbs, a 13-year-old Jewish boy was beaten by
three youths. An 11-year-old Moroccan and two Belgians, ages 8 and 16, were
arrested and charged with racially motivated assault and battery by a court
for youthful offenders; they were required to apologize to the victim and
pay damages. Also that evening, several immigrant youths reportedly kicked
a Jewish youth repeatedly on the main street of Antwerp, before escaping.
On October 30, at a youth soccer match involving Maccabi Soccer Club, an
Antwerp-based team composed mainly of Jewish players, members of the opposite
team shouted "Heil Hitler" and other abusive language. The referee
reported the incident in writing to the Belgian Soccer Federation. On November
18, the Federation suspended the offending team for a year and fined it $335
(250 euro), a considerable sum for an amateur club. The Anti-Racism Center
indicated that prosecution was a possibility.
The Jewish community was increasingly concerned about anti-Semitism. Community
representatives expressed concern that criticism of Israel, particularly
from the left, was increasingly being transferred to the Jewish community.
Senior representatives of the Muslim community have vocally condemned anti-Semitic
acts and have participated in events organized by the Jewish community.
There continued to be a few cases of anti-Semitic speech generated from
extreme right, neo-Nazi groups. These were pursued by the Anti-Racism Center,
which won a conviction in September 2003 against two Holocaust deniers, such
denial being illegal in the country; the two were sentenced to a year in
prison, a $670 (500 euro) fine, and the costs of the trial.
The politically resurgent far right has not only renounced anti-Semitism,
but as part of an effort to appeal for Jewish community votes in Antwerp,
became a strong supporter of the Jewish community and of stronger Belgian-Israeli
relations.
Anti-Semitic acts or speech are illegal. Several lawsuits were filed by
government entities or by the Anti-Racism Center, and there already were
a few cases of courts issuing guilty verdicts. The Government so far has
had limited success in apprehending and convicting (partly as a result of
the very slow place of the judicial processes) perpetrators of anti-Semitic
acts. In one example of strong government enforcement responsiveness, the
police rapidly deployed a heavily armed unit to a Jewish school in reaction
to a possible threat.
The Government investigated web sites containing anti-Semitic language with
the intent of filing cases under antiracism legislation.
The Government continued to move forward with its action plan against anti-Semitism,
which was approved by the Council of Ministers in July. In response to the
anti-Semitic incidents of the past year, protection for the Jewish community
and its institutions was strengthened. Ministerial changes over the summer
may have slowed implementation, but the commitment remained firm and effort
continued.
The Minister of Social Integration convoked a working group that included
the Ministers of Justice and Interior, enforcement agencies, the Anti-Racism
Center, and representatives of the Jewish community. In May, she also mandated
the compilation of research on the problem and perceptions of it. Promotion
of tolerance education is a major element of the Government's action plan
against anti-Semitism.
Government officials at all levels, including the Prime Minister, promptly
condemned anti-Semitic incidents and remained in close touch with the Jewish
community. On June 26, the federal Minister of Justice announced that she
would require investigating magistrates to prosecute those engaged in anti-Semitic
acts, whether verbal, physical, or on the Internet. On June 28, at a demonstration
to protest growing anti-Semitism, the mayor of Antwerp promised the city's
Jewish community that the police would make the problem their highest priority.
On June 29, the federal Minister of Interior announced increased police protection
at places such as schools and synagogues and said that the federal government
would investigate other measures. On June 30, Prime Minister Verhofstadt
met Jewish community leaders, expressed the Government's concern regarding
recent attacks, and noted the increased police protection. The following
day, he told Parliament that such incidents were attacks on the country's
fundamental values and institutions and would not be tolerated. The judicial
system has been tasked with giving such attacks full priority. For example,
in Brussels, 61 investigations and an indictment were underway, with similar
efforts in Antwerp. The Prime Minister also pledged to urge the regions to
intensify educational efforts to counter anti-Semitism and racism. Jewish
community leaders have indicated to foreign diplomatic observers that they
were reassured by government efforts, but they remained apprehensive regarding
new outbreaks of violence.
Investigations revealed that some recent attacks on Jews had criminal or
personal, not anti-Semitic origins.
Bosnia-Herzegovina
The small Jewish community membership was estimated to be between 500 and
1000 persons. The community maintained a special place in society by virtue
of its long history of coexistence with other religious communities, and
its active role in mediating among those communities. However, isolated acts
of vandalism were reported. For example, in September, several tombstones
in the Jewish cemetery in Sarajevo were vandalized. Jewish leaders state
that there was a growing tendency in the country to mix anti-Israeli sentiment
with acts of anti-Semitism, as the general public and media often fail to
distinguish between criticism of Israeli policy and anti-Semitic rhetoric.
Following the terrorist attack against a mosque in Turkey during the reporting
period, the Jewish community was quickly granted police security at its synagogues
and no incidents were reported.
Bulgaria
The Jewish population is estimated to total 3,000 persons. The Bulgarian
Helsinki Committee (BHC), in cooperation with Shalom, the primary Jewish
organization in the country, conducted a survey of all print media from December
2002 through December 2003 for instances of anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli
articles and comments. The project examined 2,162 Jewish/Israeli-related
articles and found only around 7 percent to be anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli,
or pro-extremist; of these, over 50 percent were anti-Israeli. Of these negative
articles, 74 percent were concentrated in two publications (52 percent in
Monitor and 22 percent in Sega), which combined make up a small segment of
the national mass media; the articles in Sega tended to be exclusively critical
of Israel and its policies.
Croatia
The Croatian Jewish community has approximately 2,000 members and had generally
good relations with the police and other governmental institutions. In June,
a member of the municipal council in Dubrovnik commented on a potential Jewish
hotel investor that when, "choosing between Serbs and Jews, Jews were
still a greater evil." Local authorities and the Government condemned
the comments; the local branch of the ruling party took no disciplinary action
against its member.
The Croatia Working Group of the ITF focused on the implementation of Holocaust-related
educational programs, dissemination of academic knowledge on the Holocaust,
and preservation of the memory of the victims.
Czech Republic
A small, but persistent and fairly well organized, extreme right-wing movement
with anti-Semitic views exists in the country.
In August, unknown vandals toppled approximately 80 tombstones at a Jewish
cemetery in the eastern town of Hranice. In October, vandals damaged a memorial
to victims of the Holocaust for the second time since it was erected in July
in the town of Bohumin. According to local Jewish leader, the memorial was
covered in brown paint. The memorial was built on the site of a former synagogue,
which was destroyed by fire during World War II. In November, a swastika
was daubed on a wall of the ancient Altneu Synagogue in Prague, and two youths
were arrested in a pub in Sumerk after they shouted "Heil Hitler." They
continued giving the Nazi salute even after police removed them from the
pub.
In October and November 2003, unknown vandals damaged gravestones at Jewish
cemeteries in eastern Bohemia. In November 2003, police in the northern Bohemian
town of Krupka apprehended two youths painting Nazi symbols on a monument
to the victims of a World War II death march.
On January 30, police arrested Denis Gerasimov, member of the Russian Neo-Nazi
band Kolovkrat, and charged him with supporting and propagating a movement
aimed at suppressing human rights. Gerasimov was detained at Prague's Ruzyne
International Airport after police found large amounts of Nazi propaganda
in his luggage. His case was pending at year's end.
The Ministry of Interior continued its efforts to counter the neo-Nazis,
which included monitoring their activities, close cooperation with police
units in neighboring countries, and concentrated efforts to shut down unauthorized
concerts and gatherings of neo-Nazi groups.
Denmark
From January through June, there were five incidents of anti-Semitic vandalism,
primarily graffiti, and one incident of an anti-Semitic mailing, which the
Government criticized and investigated. Reported incidents also involved
theft and racist Internet and written messages. Minority group members were
sometimes the perpetrators of the incidents. The Government effectively investigated
and dealt with cases of racially motivated violence.
The law prohibits publicly disseminated statements that threaten, insult,
or degrade persons based on their religion. In November 2003, the Government
launched an action plan to Promote Equal Treatment and Diversity and Combat
Racism (Equal Treatment Plan). Although not exclusively aimed at anti-Semitism,
the goal of the Equal Treatment Plan was to ensure protection for all citizens,
regardless of their beliefs. Under the Equal Treatment Plan, the Government
allocated $416,000 (2.5 million DKK) for education and integration programs
to combat religious discrimination.
Estonia
During the reporting period, a number of World War II veterans groups held
commemorations for Estonians who fought in German uniform (including that
of the Waffen SS) against the Soviet occupation. In one case a monument was
erected depicting a soldier in Waffen SS uniform, absent Nazi insignia. The
Government had the monument removed in September. There were reports that
participants made anti-Semitic remarks in response to international criticism
of these events. The commemorations generated considerable public commentary
on how Estonia could appropriately honor its war dead. The Government subsequently
tasked the Ministry of Population and Ethnic Affairs with creating a plan
for an appropriate memorial, and a nonpartisan parliamentary commission has
been established for that purpose.
In March, two persons were arrested in the northeastern town of Sillamae
for painting anti-Semitic slogans and swastikas on the walls of a building.
They were charged with incitement. On April 16, the rabbi of a synagogue
in Tallinn found a swastika painted on the building.
In June 2003, three skinheads were sentenced to conditional imprisonment
for activities that publicly incited hatred on the basis of national origin
and race. They were convicted for having drawn swastikas and anti-Semitic
inscriptions on buildings in Sillamae. There are two pending investigations
related to the posting of anti-Semitic remarks on the Internet.
The country introduced an annual Holocaust and Other Crimes against Humanity
Memorial Day in January 2003. Members of the parliament and ambassadors attended
the ceremony marking the first observation of this day in Tallinn.
Following a July meeting with the President of the Jewish Community of Estonia,
the Prime Minister said that the Government "was determined to condemn
any signs of anti-Semitism and racism." He also said that the Government
needed to continue raising awareness of the country's recent history.
At the Berlin OSCE Anti-Semitism Conference in April, the Minister of Population
and Ethnic Affairs said that government preparation of law enforcement officers
would have to include sensitivity training so the country could more effectively
act against manifestations of intolerance, xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism.
Finland
There were a few reports of anti-Semitic activity, chiefly graffiti such
as swastikas with anti-Semitic slogans being spray-painted in public locales.
Support for the Palestinians was strong, and critiques of Israeli policy
occasionally took on anti-Semitic features. The Helsingin Sanomat, the country's
largest newspaper, ran a political cartoon in a magazine supplement that
was interpreted by members of the Jewish community and others as anti-Semitic.
The newspaper subsequently apologized.
The Government condemned the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Europe. In June,
the Justice Ministry ruled that the distributor of an anti-Semitic book was
liable under the country's "hate speech" provisions; the distributor
was ordered to pay a fine and the book was removed from circulation. The
Parliament and a local NGO cosponsored a conference in Helsinki on anti-Semitism,
and officials played an active role in international conferences and fora
on anti-Semitism. The Government sponsored a visit of a Holocaust survivor
to the country to speak with schoolchildren about the Jewish experience during
World War II.
France
The Government reports that there were 510 anti-Semitic incidents (both
actions and threats) in the first 6 months of the year, as compared to 593
for all of 2003 and 932 for 2002. Interior Minister Dominique de Villepin
announced in August that there were 160 attacks against persons or property
in the first 7 months of 2004 versus 75 during the same period in 2003. More
recently, Justice Minister Dominique Perben stated that there were 298 anti-Semitic
acts between January 1 and August 20, of which 162 were attacks against property,
67 were assaults against individuals, and 69 were press violations. This
compares, according to Perben, with 108 for all of 2003.
The National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (NCCHR) released an
extensive analysis of anti-Semitic incidents reported by the police in 2003.
Such incidents ranged from graffiti and desecration (256) and verbal or written
harassment (166) to the diffusion of written tracts (31) and bomb threats
(10). There were 21 persons injured in anti-Semitic attacks in 2003. Based
on investigations of the attacks, the NCCHR stated its conclusions that disaffected
French-North African youths were responsible for many of the incidents, which
French officials linked to tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
A small number of incidents were also attributed to extreme-right and extreme-left
organizations.
In its report on anti-Semitic attacks in 2003, the NCCHR focused on an increase
in the proportion of anti-Semitic incidents that took place in schools. In
2003, 22 of 125 attacks (18 percent) and 73 of 463 threats (16 percent) occurred
in schools; the report shows this to be the highest proportion of incidents
in schools since 1997, the oldest data in the report.
On May 30, in Boulogne-Billancourt, a 17-year-old Jewish youth was attacked
outside his home by a group of young men yelling anti-Semitic slogans. The
youth is the son of a local rabbi.
In June, an individual shouting "Allah Akbar" stabbed a Jewish
student and assaulted two other Jewish students in the city of Epinay-sur-Seine.
This same person is believed to be responsible for similar knife attacks
on five other victims, including those of Haitian and Algerian origin. A
suspect, reportedly identified by several of the victims, was in custody
at the end of the period covered by this report. The varied and random nature
of the victims made the true motive of the attacks hard to discern.
In 2003, some Jewish groups were outraged when a court ordered that--in
the case of two 11-year-old Muslim youths expelled for accusations of physical
and verbal attacks against a Jewish student--the two students be readmitted
to school, and also ordered the Government to reimburse the families $1,340
(1,000 euro) each for court costs. The courts found that, while the behavior
of the Muslim students merited action, the age of the students and the circumstances
did not justify expulsion.
On March 23, in Toulon, a Jewish synagogue and community center was set
on fire. According to media reports, the arsonist broke a window and threw
a Molotov cocktail into the building. There was minor damage and no injuries.
On May 7, in Villier-le-Bel, a small explosive device was discovered outside
a synagogue north of Paris. According to media reports, the bomb was in a
bag with the writing "Boom anti-Jews" and a swastika. On May 14,
an 18-year-old man was found guilty of putting the fake bombs on the grounds
of the synagogue and was sentenced to 2 months in prison.
On October 29-30, close to 100 gravestones were desecrated at a Jewish cemetery
in Brumath, just outside Strasbourg. The vandals painted swastikas and "SS" symbols
on 92 Jewish gravestones.
In November 2003, Hizballah's Al-Manar satellite television channel broadcast
an anti-Semitic, Egyptian pseudo-documentary called "Ash Shatat" (The
Diaspora). The Government and Jewish organizations strongly criticized Al-Manar
for the blatant anti-Semitism of this series and for the incendiary intent
of some of Al-Manar's news coverage. These complaints against Al-Manar prompted
the Audio Visual Superior Council (CSA) to seek to cut off Al-Manar's dissemination
via its France-based satellite operator, Eutelsat. France's highest appeals
court for regulatory matters, the Conseil d'Etat, ruled in August that Al-Manar
could continue satellite broadcasting pending application for a broadcast
license from the CSA. The CSA then entered into negotiations with Al-Manar
that resulted in the agreement and temporary license. The CSA signed a 1-year,
limited license with Al-Manar on November 19 that included provisions banning
anti-Semitic broadcasts, propaganda in favor of suicide bombings, and the
diffusion of hate. The CSA's reversal of its decision to cut off Al-Manar
was vigorously protested by Jewish organizations. Shortly thereafter, the
CSA petitioned the Conseil d'Etat to ban the station based on anti-Semitic
programming broadcast after Al-Manar signed the restricted license. On December
13, the Conseil d'Etat ordered Eutelsat to cease broadcasts of Al-Manar within
48 hours. Prime Minister Raffarin has called Al-Manar's anti-Semitic programming "incompatible
with French values" and urged the issue of satellite broadcasts be taken
up at the EU level. Authorities are similarly investigating Iranian-broadcast
Al-Alam channel.
Government officials at the highest level vigorously and publicly condemned
acts of anti-Semitism. In October, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs called
comments by Radio France International editor Alain Menargues "unacceptable." In
an interview publicizing his book on the West Bank security barrier, Menargues
called Israel a "racist" state. Menargues was forced to resign
as a result of his comments.
Of these anti-Semitic acts committed during the reporting period, the Minister
of Justice reported that suspects have been identified in 59 of the cases,
resulting in 46 cases going to court and 13 cases closed after the offender
paid a fine or was found legally inculpable. Of the 2003 incidents, the Government
reported that police had sufficient evidence to question 91 suspects, arrest
69 suspects, and bring to trial 43 suspects. In 2003, there were 7 convictions
for anti-Semitic attacks committed that year and 15 convictions for attacks
committed in 2002; punishments ranged from fines to 4 years' imprisonment.
Authorities condemned anti-Semitic attacks, maintained heightened security
at Jewish institutions, investigated the attacks, made arrests, and pursued
prosecutions. More than 13 mobile units, totaling more than 1,200 police
officers, were assigned to those locales having the largest Jewish communities.
Fixed or mobile police were present in the schools, particularly during the
hours when children are entering or leaving school buildings. All of these
measures were coordinated closely with leaders of the Jewish communities
in the country, notably the Representative Council of Jewish Institutions
in France (CRIF). In addition, the Ministry of Interior has earmarked $20.1
million (15 million euro) for additional security at Jewish sites.
In November 2003, after an arson attack destroyed a Jewish school in Gagny,
President Chirac stated, "An attack on a Jew is an attack on France" and
ordered the formation of an interministerial committee charged with leading
an effort to combat anti-Semitism. Since its first meeting in December 2003,
the committee has worked to improve government coordination in the fight
against anti-Semitism, including the timely publication of statistics and
reinforced efforts to prosecute attackers.
In June, the Government commissioned Jean-Cristophe Rufin, a doctor, writer,
and president of the humanitarian association Action Against Hunger, to prepare
an in-depth report on racism and anti-Semitism in the country. The Rufin
Report, released in October, concluded that racism and anti-Semitism attacked
the country's republican values and threatened democracy. The report identified
the perpetrators of anti-Semitic acts as elements of the extreme right, Maghrebian
(North African origin) youth, and "disaffected individuals" whose
anti-Semitic obsessions prompt their attacks against Jews and Jewish institutions.
The Rufin Report also warned against radical anti-Zionists who question Israel's
right to exist. The report recommended that a law be created to punish those
publicly equating Israel or Zionism with apartheid or Nazism. The report
also recommended removing injunctions against incitement to racism and anti-Semitism
from the press law and writing a new law, specific to those crimes. The current
provisions in the press law are too cumbersome for prosecuting public hate
speech and too lenient in their sanctions against private hate speech, it
notes.
Many local and international Jewish organizations, as well as foreign governments,
praised the Government for vigorous action in combating anti-Semitism; however,
some groups asserted that the judicial system was lax in its sentencing of
anti-Semitic offenders.
The Government took steps to combat intolerance, particularly among the
youth. In March, the Government published an educational tool, intended to
help public school teachers promote tolerance and combat anti-Semitism and
racism; however, it is still too early to judge its efficacy. In August,
Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe sent letters to all Paris-area school principals
calling for "debates on anti-Semitism, racism and discrimination" when
classes resume in September. In addition, the Minister of Education called
for a national debate in schools at the beginning of the academic year to
highlight the need for tolerance and announced that 5,500 schools would receive
copies of the film "Shoah" for use in classroom education. These
actions followed the creation of a National Commission to Combat anti-Semitism
in schools in 2003.
The Government has taken other proactive steps to fight anti-Semitic attacks,
including instructing police commissioners to create monitoring units in
each department and announcing in June the creation of a department-level
Council of Religions that will raise public awareness of increased racial
and anti-sectarian incidents. In September, the Mayor of Paris launched a
campaign to fight all forms of intolerance that included 1,200 municipal
billboards and bulletins in major newspapers.
Germany
Approximately 87,500 persons are members of Jewish congregations and account
for 0.1 percent of the population. According to press reports, the country's
Jewish population is growing rapidly; more than 100,000 Jews from the former
Soviet Union have come to the country since 1990, with smaller numbers arriving
from other countries as well. Not all new arrivals join congregations, resulting
in the discrepancy between population numbers and the number of congregation
members.
While anti-Semitism based on religious doctrines and traditional anti-Jewish
prejudices continued to exist, Jewish leaders, academics, and others believe
that a newer, nontraditional form of anti-Semitism is emerging in the country.
This form tends to promote anti-Semitism as part of its other stands against
globalization, capitalism, Zionism, and foreigners. According to the 2003
report by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the total number
of registered anti-Semitic crimes decreased to 1,199 (from 1,515 in 2002).
However, among these, the number of violent crimes increased from 28 to 35,
and the number of desecrations of Jewish cemeteries, synagogues, or memorials
went up from 78 to 115.
On July 22, a 15-year-old boy in Hagen, along with two others, threatened
synagogue visitors with a knife and made anti-Semitic remarks.
On July 31, a young man wearing a Star of David sticker was walking on a
street in Pankow, a suburb of Berlin, when a right-wing extremist put a National
Democratic Party (NPD) leaflet in his hand. After dropping the leaflet on
the sidewalk, the rightist attempted to strangle the victim and throw him
on the ground. The victim had minor injuries, and the police arrested the
offender.
In August, the Zionist Organization of Frankfurt received an eyewitness
report that four men harassed an English-speaking orthodox Jew in downtown
Frankfurt. According to the report, the men shouted "they forgot to
send your parents to the gas chamber" and jostled the individual until
he fell to the ground. The men fled the scene immediately. Police refused
to disclose the victim's identity or other information on the incident.
An ancient Jewish cemetery in Duesseldorf was desecrated in June. Forty-five
gravestones were covered with swastikas, SS signs, and anti-Jewish slogans.
Other Jewish cemeteries, including in Bochum, Nickenich, and Bausendorf,
were vandalized during the reporting period. Police investigators were unable
to identify the perpetrators.
On September 23, 350 people demonstrated in the district of Neunkirchen
(Saarland) against the desecration of the Hermanstrasse Jewish cemetery earlier
in the month. According to police, the desecration nearly destroyed the cemetery.
Vandals have desecrated the Hermanstrasse graves on 10 occasions since 1971,
including twice during the reporting period. The incident took place after
significant electoral gains by the far-right party NPD in Neunkirchen (5.6
percent) and neighboring Voelklingen (9.7 percent) in Saarland's September
5 state elections.
During the reporting period, the extreme right wing "National Democratic
Party" (NPD) organized two demonstrations in the city of Bochum under
the motto "stop the construction of the synagogue – give the 4 million
to the people!"
Jewish community leaders expressed disappointment in the leaders of other
religious communities, as well as in some local and national politicians,
for not speaking out more forcefully against anti-Semitism. In October 2003,
Martin Hohmann, a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) Member of Parliament,
publicly compared the actions of Jews during the Russian Revolution to those
of the Nazis during the Holocaust. These remarks led to a criminal complaint
alleging incitement and slander and to the opening of an inquiry. Hohmann
was expelled from the CDU Bundestag Caucus in November 2003 and from the
CDU Hesse state organization in July. Leading politicians from all major
parties continued to assert that neo-Nazi groups posed a serious threat to
public order and to call for continuing vigilance by law enforcement agencies.
On the other hand, some observers blamed the actions in the Middle East for
rising anti-Semitism.
Frankfurt's Jewish community harshly criticized anti-Semitism on the part
of some Islamic representatives at the October Frankfurt Book Fair. Jewish
representatives cited open displays of anti-Semitic texts such as the Saudi
Arabian book "Terror and Zionist Thinking" (featuring a cover illustration
of a person standing in a pool of blood with a skull and a Star of David).
The Aachen-based Islamist group, the Al Aqsa Association, which was banned
by Federal Interior Minister Otto Schilly in 2002 due to its financial support
of the terrorist organization Hamas, lodged an appeal against the ban at
the Federal Administrative Court in August 2002. In July, the court decided
to suspend the ban until conclusion of the proceedings. In a final decision
on December 3, the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig confirmed the
ban of the Al Aqsa Association.
Nine members of the Kameradschaft Süd, a neo-Nazi gang from Southern Germany,
were charged in an alleged 2003 plot to bomb the site of a planned Jewish
community center in downtown Munich. The first of two trials started in October
involving three teenage girls and two men. The public has been largely excluded
from this trial in order to protect the defendant minors. The trial of the
alleged ringleader, Martin Wiese, and three members of his inner leadership
circle began in November.
Distribution of the propaganda of proscribed organizations, statements inciting
racial hatred and endorsing Nazism, and denial of the Holocaust are illegal,
and the authorities sought to block what they considered dangerous material
on the Internet. In March, police nationwide raided over 300 apartments to
search for and seize right-wing extremist CDs and other banned music products.
The state of Lower Saxony took legal action against some of the growing number
of neo-Nazi musical bands in the state, which called for violence or employed
xenophobic or racist lyrics. In 2003, members of the Berlin neo-Nazi band "Landser" were
convicted of forming a criminal organization and sentenced to terms ranging
from 21 months probation to 3 years and 4 months in prison.
Officials estimated that there were more than 1,000 Internet sites with
what they considered to be objectionable or dangerous right-wing extremist
content. The Federal Court of Justice held that the country's laws against
Nazi incitement might apply to individuals who post Nazi material on Internet
sites available to users in the country, even if the site resides on a foreign
server.
In April, the Government hosted a historic Organization for Security and
Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) conference on anti-Semitism. With strong support
from the Government, the conference led to a declaration calling on OSCE
member states to implement a set of concrete measures to combat anti-Semitism.
Authorities ran a variety of tolerance-education programs, many focusing
on anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Government agencies cooperated with NGOs
in the formulation and administration of these programs. These measures included
promoting educational programs that not only fight anti-Semitism, but also
remember the Holocaust and foster tolerance and respect for all religious
groups; collecting and maintaining information of anti-Semitic incidents
and other hate crimes; and compiling best practices. With active participation
from the Muslim community, Hamburg has begun work on establishing interreligious
education at public schools, labeled the "Hamburg Model."
Greece
Vandalism of Jewish monuments continued to be a problem during the reporting
period; however, the Government condemned the acts. Jewish monuments in Ioannina
were desecrated three times in 2003. The Holocaust memorial in Thessaloniki
was desecrated in February 2003. Police have not found perpetrators. Anti-Semitic
graffiti was painted, removed by authorities, and repainted in several places
on the busy Athens-Corinth Highway. The extreme right-wing group "Golden
Dawn" regularly paints anti-Semitic graffiti on bridges and other structures
throughout Greece. Some schoolbooks still carry negative references to Roman
Catholics, Jewish persons, and others. Bookstores in Northern Greece sold
and displayed anti-Semitic literature including "The Protocols of the
Elders of Zion."
The Wiesenthal Center issued a travel advisory in November 2003 warning
Jewish visitors about "the failure of Greece to curb growing anti-Semitism;" however,
local Jewish community leaders do not support the advisory. The National
Tourist Organization continued to promote on its website Easter traditions
such as the burning of an effigy of Judas on some islands, sometimes known
locally as the "burning of the Jew," which propagate hatred and
fanaticism against Jews. The Wiesenthal Center protested the revival of this
tradition.
Anti-Semitism continued to exist, both in the mainstream and extremist press.
The Wiesenthal Center and the ADL denounced the press for anti-Semitic articles
and cartoons on several occasions, particularly after Israeli forces killed
Hamas leader Sheik Yassin. The line between opposition to Israeli policies
and attitudes toward Jews in general is often blurred, giving rise to anti-Semitic
sentiment in the media and among the public.
The mainstream media often use the terms "genocide" and "Holocaust" to
describe the situation in Israel and the West Bank/Gaza, drawing a parallel
with Nazi Germany. The press and public often do not clearly distinguish
between Israeli policies and Jews. The Jewish community leaders have condemned
anti-Semitic broadcasts on small private television stations, but no charges
have been brought against these largely unlicensed operators.
The renowned composer Mikis Theodorakis called Jews "the root of evil" in
November 2003, and made strong anti-Semitic remarks during the reporting
period. Government officials stated that Theodorakis' statements were directed
against Israel and not against the Jewish people.
Populist Orthodox Rally (LAOS), a small, extreme right-wing party, supports
virulent nationalism, anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia. LAOS's leader,
George Karatzaferis, won a seat in the European Parliament in June elections.
Karatzaferis regularly attributes negative events involving Greece to international
Jewish plots. He used the party-owned television station to denounce politicians
with Jewish origins and to claim that Jews were behind the September 11 attacks.
The Government condemned all acts of vandalism. The Government provided
24-hour police protection to Jewish Community offices in Athens and other
major cities. Negotiations between the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki and
the Government to find acceptable recompense for the community's cemetery
were ongoing.
The Constitution establishes the Eastern Orthodox Church of Christ (Greek
Orthodoxy) as the prevailing religion, but also provides for the rights of
all citizens to practice the religion of their choice. Jews freely practice
their religion, and Jewish organizations have not complained or requested
additional legal protection.
Judaism is one of the three religious groups (the others are Greek Orthodox
and Islam) considered to be "legal persons of public law." In practice,
this beneficial distinction primarily means that Jewish organizations can
own property as religious entities rather than as legal entities.
On January 15, the Parliament unanimously approved the declaration of January
27, the day Auschwitz was liberated, as Holocaust Remembrance Day. The following
week, the country commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day with events in Athens
and Thessaloniki and the participation of Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel. In
April, a commemorative stone was placed at the railway station from which
Jews were deported to concentration camps.
In October, the Government participated in the organization of a seminar
on "Teaching the Holocaust." Held under the auspices of the Ministry
of Education, it addressed 150 educators and Athens University education
majors. This teacher-training seminar aimed to introduce Holocaust education
in primary and secondary schools.
A memorial to Greek-Jewish veterans of World War II was unveiled in October
2003 in Thessaloniki.
Hungary
The Jewish community stated that there were fewer acts of vandalism in Jewish
cemeteries than in 2003, attributed most of the incidents to youths, and
did not consider the incidents anti-Semitic.
On July 1, a Jewish cemetery in northern Hungary was vandalized. More than
90 gravestones were smashed just weeks after the local town council had renovated
the cemetery to mark the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust.
Representatives of the Jewish community expressed concern over anti-Semitism
in some media outlets, in society, and in coded political speech. For example,
certain segments of an ongoing Sunday news magazine, Vasarnapi Ujsag, on
Hungarian Public Radio were criticized for presenting guests who held anti-Semitic
viewpoints. In October 2003, a weekly talk show, Ejjeli Menedek, reported
on Holocaust denier David Irving, who made derogatory statements regarding
Jewish persons. The show was subsequently cancelled. The weekly newspaper
Magyar Demokrata published anti-Semitic articles and featured articles by
authors who have denied the Holocaust.
Jewish Community Mazsihisz representatives requested the Ministry of Cultural
Heritage to close a county museum exhibition highlighting the Arrow Cross
and Hungarian nationalism during World War II. The exhibition was closed,
and the materials were returned to their owners. During their visit to the
country in April, the Chief Rabbi and the President of Israel spoke positively
of the situation of the Jewish community in Hungary.
Local NGOs are attempting to get a court order stripping the neo-Nazi group "Blood
and Honor" of its official registration. A new unregistered neo-Nazi
group, "Hungarian Future," planned a public demonstration to commemorate
the 60th anniversary of the fascist takeover of the country. Several groups
have planned anti-fascist counter demonstrations for the same day and at
the same locale. The police have found no legal grounds on which to ban the
demonstration.
On April 5, hundreds of persons participated in the unveiling ceremony of
a statue of Pal Teleki, the Prime Minister of Hungary in the 1920s, who was
the first in Europe to enact anti-Semitic legislation. The Minister of Culture,
Istvan Hiller, cancelled plans for setting up the statue (in Budapest) in
the wake of pressures from the Wiesenthal Center. The statue, which was to
have been set up opposite the President's official residence in Budapest,
was eventually built in the courtyard opposite the Catholic church in the
town of Balatonbolgar on the shore of Lake Balaton.
The Government made strong efforts to combat anti-Semitism by clearly speaking
out against the use of coded speech by right-wing extremists, and the Prime
Minister himself publicly stated that Hungarians were also responsible for
the Holocaust.
The 1997 changes to the hate speech law that were intended to resolve conflicting
court decisions and make it easier to enforce and stiffen penalties for hate
crimes committed on the basis of the victim's ethnicity, race, or nationality
proved inadequate and often led to conflicting court decisions. In early
2003, the Office of the Prosecutor successfully prosecuted a member of the
extremist Justice and Life Party for publishing an anti-Semitic article in
a local newspaper. In November 2003, the Budapest Appeals Court acquitted
a former Member of Parliament, who is a Calvinist pastor, of a charge of
incitement to hatred. The conflicting court decisions prompted Parliament
to pass a more restrictive law on hate speech, this time incorporating religious
groups within its scope. Pressured from both the right and the left, President
Madl referred it to the Constitutional Court for an advisory opinion in January.
In May, the Constitutional Court ruled that the law is too vague and returned
it to Parliament for refinement.
Iceland
Harassment of the Jewish community in the country was infrequent and not
organized. The absence of anti-Semitism may have been due to the fact that
the Jewish population was tiny and inconspicuous. Iceland had no synagogue,
no Jewish community center, and no Jewish religious services available. The
Jewish population had yet to organize formally and register as a religious
community under applicable law. Anti-Semitism rarely figured in Icelandic
news reports. The Government and NGOs had no programs to counter anti-Semitism.
One incident of harassment was reported in August. A Jewish visitor reported
in an online news magazine that he and a friend had been harassed by a group
of young teenagers who pointed at his yarmulke, gave a 'Heil Hitler' salute,
and then briefly blocked the visitors' exit from a parking lot, intimidating
them. An Icelandic daily newspaper picked up the story, sparking over 30
online comments from Iceland-based correspondents. Some of the comments were
themselves anti-Semitic or xenophobic in tone and content.
The March 22 issue of Icelandic tabloid newspaper DV carried a cartoon that
raised concerns in the small Jewish community. The drawing showed a flying
saucer that had touched down next to Jerusalem's Western Wall. Two smiling
aliens, anthropomorphized as swastikas, were disembarking and pointing. Their
speech balloon contained nonsense signs. Facing them and bearing expressions
of shock were two Orthodox Jews, with hats, tallis, black coats, and sidelocks.
The cartoon's caption stated, "The 'Galactic Council' regarded the situation
in the Middle East on the planet Earth as threatening to the stability of
the solar system, viewed in the long term, and thus sent its best negotiators,
Zorg and Xuri, to the scene for talks." The cartoonist seemed to be
suggesting that the solution to the Middle East conflict would be to dispatch
Nazis to Israel's capital.
Holocaust education was not required by the national curriculum. However,
the Ministry of Education mandated that the subject be covered as part of
mandatory history education. References to the Holocaust appeared in several
textbooks that touch on Nazism and persecution against Jews and other minorities
in 1930s and 1940s Germany and in the countries it occupied. According to
staff of the state textbook producer, teachers were permitted to take the
initiative for more in-depth teaching on the subject than the little that
was offered in textbooks.
Ireland
During the reporting period, the Irish Times newspaper reported three instances
of anti-Semitism in the country. One incident included a swastika painted
on the Irish Jewish Museum in Dublin, while the other incidents involved
vandalism at a Jewish cemetery and synagogue. A 2003 study by the European
Commission's European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia described
the country as having "relatively little reported in the way of a problem
with anti-Semitism." In fact, the study categorized all the 2003 cases
as "abusive behavior" (threatening letters or phone calls), totaling
only 16. Recent evidence shows that these acts may be interrelated with the
emergence of a racist group calling itself Irish Nationalist, which has expressed
anti-British and anti-Israeli views. In spite of these developments, the
country has very little evidence of anti-Semitism.
The most recent study, published by the Government's National Consultative
Committee on Racism and Interculturalism (NCCRI), showed increases in "cases
of abuse or discrimination, which is above average from past studies." However,
further research of most of these cases occurred soon after a citizenship
referendum was held in May, that allowed citizens to vote on whether or not
being born in Ireland provided automatic citizenship. It was discovered that
most of the reported abuse and discrimination cases involved refugees and
new immigrants. In spite of this slight increase, only one percent of discrimination
reports were based on racial or ethnic origin. In addition, the Irish Police's
(An Garda Siochana) Racial and Intercultural Unit also "records racially
motivated crime" and provides police with instruction booklets on how
to interact with different ethnic, cultural, and racial groups. The Police
Commissioner has also appointed Police Ethnic Liaison Officers in district
and divisional police stations throughout the country. The country consistently
follows the EU laws and regulations regarding religious tolerance.
During its EU Presidency, Ireland encouraged all member states to be pro-active
in combating anti-Semitism and explained how proper education and training
about anti-Semitism, human rights, and cultural diversity would strengthen
the EU community and reduce discrimination. On the international level, the
country has sponsored a UN Resolution on Religious Tolerance for the last
20 years. In response to Israel's request that anti-Semitism be specifically
mentioned in the annual resolution for 2003, Ireland proposed a General Assembly
resolution on anti-Semitism, which all EU member states supported.
Italy
Surveys conducted by independent research centers confirmed the persistence
of some societal prejudices against Judaism. Recent public opinion surveys
indicate that anti-Semitism is growing in Italy. According to pollsters,
this trend is tied to, and in some cases fed by, widespread opposition to
the Sharon Government and popular support for the Palestinian cause. There
have been examples of anti-Semitic graffiti in several large cities. In November,
vandals desecrated several graves at a Jewish cemetery in Reggio Emilia,
but no anti-Semitic signs or inscriptions were found at the site.
In January, Prime Minister Berlusconi created a new "Inter-Ministerial
Commission to Combat Anti-Semitism" to ensure strong, uniform responses
to any anti-Semitic acts by the police and government officials. In April,
the mayor of Rome announced the establishment of a museum dedicated to the
Shoah. In November, the Government created a new office to combat racial
and ethnic discrimination through education, mass media campaigns, and judicial
assistance to victims of discrimination. The new office lists Muslims, Jews,
and foreign workers as the three cultural minorities most likely to face
racial or ethnic prejudice in the country. In 2003, the Parliament approved
the creation of a National Holocaust Memorial Museum in Ferrara; planning
is in process, but construction has not begun. In November 2003, newly appointed
Foreign Minister (and Deputy Prime Minister) Gianfranco Fini publicly repudiated
his party's Fascist origins, condemned Mussolini's treatment of the Jews,
and sought forgiveness during a historic visit to Israel.
The Government hosted meetings to increase educational awareness of the
Holocaust and to combat anti-Semitism in Europe.
The country commemorated Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27. During
the reporting period, thousands marched in commemorative processions across
the country, several cities staged exhibitions of the 'memory train' used
to transport Italian Jews to Nazi concentration camps, and Italian public
school students participated in educational and commemorative programs in
schools.
With the Foreign Ministry and the Office of the Prime Minister, the Anti-Defamation
League hosted a conference on anti-Semitism in Rome in December. Prime Minister
Berlusconi, Foreign Minister Fini, and other high-ranking Italian officials
participated in the conference.
The Vatican made a serious effort to combat anti-Semitism. The Holy See
is active in OSCE endeavors and sent a high-level delegation to the April
OSCE anti-Semitism conference in Berlin. A Vatican document released on March
8, instructed bishops on the exercise of their ministry, and implored them
to encourage respect for Jews to combat anti-Semitism. It also asked bishops
to ensure that the study of Judaism is on the curriculum in their seminaries
for priests and to promote dialogue regarding Judaism. The Pope made several
statements condemning anti-Semitism. These attracted notice of the Jewish
community. For example, Israel's Chief Rabbis expressed thanks to the Pope
for his strong condemnation of anti-Semitism during a January 16 audience.
Kazakhstan
Other than the actions of members of Hizb ut-Tahrir, who printed and distributed
leaflets that supported anti-Semitism among other beliefs, there were no
reports of anti-Semitic incitement or acts during the reporting period. There
were reports of anti-Semitic propaganda in pamphlets distributed by followers
of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Government considers Hizb ut-Tahrir to be an illegal
extremist group and has taken action to prosecute members engaged in handing
out these pamphlets under Articles 164 ("Fanning Social, National, Tribal,
Racial or Religious Enmity") and 337 ("Creating An Illicit Public
Association and Participating in its activities") of the Criminal Code.
In August, the Chief Rabbi of the country addressed an international religious
conference in Brussels, stating that in his 10 years living in Kazakhstan,
he had never faced a single case of anti-Semitism, and he praised the Government
for its proactive protection of the Jewish community. In July, a visiting
rabbi praised the Government for its efforts to promote religious tolerance
and dialogue among Christians, Jews, and Muslims. On September 7, the Chief
Rabbi of Israel arrived in Astana to attend the opening and dedication of
the largest synagogue in Central Asia.
Latvia
There were several incidents of desecration of cemeteries, vandalism, and
anti-Semitic graffiti. In September 2003, vandals overturned dozens of tombstones
and sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on the walls of Riga's New Jewish Cemetery.
Government leaders moved quickly to denounce the vandalism, and Riga city
services cleaned and restored the cemetery within 2 days of the event. Latvian
police arrested five youthful suspects the following week, and the Prosecutor
General's office indicted them in October 2003. The vandals could face up
to 8 years in prison.
In October, a nationalist organization distributed a commemorative envelope
bearing the likeness of an aviation pioneer who also participated in the
Holocaust. The Foreign Minister condemned the activity.
The Latvian National Front (LNF) is an organization that purports to represent
Latvian cultural values. Its director, Aivars Garda, owns and operates a
publishing house that publishes nationalist historical texts and a sensationalist
newspaper and newsletter called "Deoccupation, Decolonization, Debolshevization" (DDD).
The Chief of the Latvian Security Police has stated that the LNF "borders" on
being an extremist organization, and the Ministry of Social Integration has
asked the Prosecutor General's Office to evaluate whether or not DDD promotes
ethnic hatred. A prominent Jewish businessman alleged this year that the
website published a call to kill four Latvian Jews.
In 2002, the Government created a new ministry, the Ministry of Social Integration,
whose mission is to promote inter-ethnic tolerance by strengthening civil
society and encouraging NGOs to create and participate in educational programs
that bridge ethnic group boundaries. The ministry was an active voice in
political affairs and was a vocal critic of organizations, like the LNF,
that perpetrated anti-Semitic sentiments. The Ministry, in November, asked
the Prosecutor General's Office to review whether or not the LNF's newsletter "DDD" promotes
ethnic hatred and violates state law.
In October 2002, the country became the first Baltic state to sign "The
Protection and Preservation of Certain Cultural Properties" agreement
that protects and maintains Holocaust sites. The Government is collaborating
with the family of noted American-Latvian Jewish painter Mark Rothko to renovate
a synagogue in the city of Daugavpils, the town of his birth.
The country has taken many positive steps toward promoting anti-bias and
tolerance education. The Government worked on a Holocaust curriculum development
project that will change Holocaust education in classrooms, folding the history
of the Holocaust into the country's educational materials. In addition, Ministry
of Education regulations required teaching about the Holocaust in schools.
For the past 5 years, high school teachers participated in Holocaust teaching
methodology seminars.
Lithuania
In April, the police launched an investigation into the desecration of a
Jewish cemetery in the Kaisiadorys region. They had detained no perpetrators
at the end of the period covered by this report.
The country's Jewish communities expressed concern over an increase in anti-Semitic
remarks made by extremists and a few mainstream politicians. The political
leadership of the country and the national press generally condemned anti-Semitic
statements when they occurred.
In April 2003, the Council of Europe (COE) criticized the Government for
not taking action against the anti-Semitic statements of individuals seeking
political office; the publication of anti-Semitic articles in the media;
the distribution of anti-Semitic proclamations and other materials; acts
of vandalism against Jewish graves and monuments; and anti-Semitic statements
during public gatherings. There were similar occurrences this year; in addition,
multiple anonymous anti-Semitic comments appeared on the Internet.
In February, state institutions received anonymous anti-Semitic proclamations.
The proclamations railed against Jews, calling them among other things "vampires
of the population," an epithet that the country's Ambassador to Israel,
Alfonsas Eidintas, cited in his book "Jews, Lithuanians, and the Holocaust" as
an example of Nazi propaganda. In response, government representatives publicly
condemned anti-Semitism. Also in February, a popular national daily Respublika
carried a series of editorials with obvious anti-Semitic undertones. The
series was entitled "Who Rules the World?" and the final editorial
answered—"the Jews." A cartoon accompanying the series was reminiscent
of Nazi propaganda, and featured grotesque caricatures of a Jew and a homosexual
supporting a large globe. The editorial blamed Jewish organized crime figures
for exploiting the Holocaust tragedy to avoid punishment for their own criminal
activities, and it focused on the alleged failure of the Jewish Community
to disassociate themselves from such criminals. The main thrust of the article
was that Jews are the wealthiest and most powerful societal group in the
world and control world events. Government officials at the highest levels
condemned the publication of the series and the anti-Semitic sentiments therein,
but the Jewish community and others criticized the Government for responding
too slowly. Local NGOs and representatives of other religious groups similarly
denounced the anti-Semitic articles. The Prosecutor General's Office and
the State Security Department launched pre-trial investigations of Respublika's
editor-in-chief for inciting ethnic and racial hatred. The case was pending
at year's end. In April, the Parliament formed a working group to draft legislation
increasing the penalties for inciting discord, anti-Semitism, racism, and
xenophobia.
In June 2003, media reports prompted the State Security Department to investigate
the publication of "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" in a low-circulation
periodical Zemaitijos Parlamentas, and the publication was discontinued.
In December 2003, members of the National Democratic Party, led by a member
of the Siauliai city council, attempted to prevent the lighting of a menorah
during a Hanukkah celebration and insulted members of the local Jewish community.
The Siauliai mayor publicly apologized for the incident.
The Jewish community has argued that, while most school textbooks accurately
and fairly present the Holocaust, some perpetuate unfavorable stereotypes
of Lithuania's pre-World War II Jewish community and thereby promote intolerance.
Although the Ministry of Education attempted to ensure the historical accuracy
of school textbooks, the educational system allowed a great deal of leeway
for individual teachers to choose their own texts. Teachers are therefore
able to use textbooks that are not recommended by the Government and that
may portray an unfavorable and outdated view of the country's pre-War Jewish
community.
An estimated 10 percent of the population of the country before World War
II was Jewish. More than 200,000 Jewish persons (approximately 95 percent
of that population) were killed in the Holocaust. The country still was reconciling
itself with its past and working to understand it better. In 1998, President
Valdas Adamkus established a historical commission to investigate both the
crimes of the Holocaust and the subsequent Soviet occupation. The commission
has held annual conferences and several seminars, published several reports,
and cosponsored a Holocaust education program.
From January to September, the Prosecutor General's Office initiated six
investigations of genocide cases, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
These new cases (which brought the total of such cases initiated since 1990
to approximately 188) included six investigations of killings in 1941, according
to the Simon Wiesenthal Center. There were 25 such cases, involving 140 to150
individuals, pending in September. The Government continued to support the
International Commission to Investigate the Crimes of Nazi and Soviet Occupation
Regimes in Lithuania. The Commission, which includes historians, human rights
representatives, representatives of international Jewish organizations, and
both Lithuanian and foreign lawyers, produced new reports during the reporting
period. The Commission in cooperation with Yad Vashem (the Holocaust Martyrs'
and Heroes' Remembrance Authority) and other organizations continued to implement
a program of Holocaust education, including tolerance development, in the
country's schools. The Commission organized conferences and seminars to promote
the development of a tolerant civil society.
A March poll indicated that anti-Semitism was more alarming to residents
in large cities, while people living in rural areas tended not to notice
it. Respondents of older generations had a poorer opinion of Lithuanian-Jewish
relations than people aged between 18 and 25 who more often defined relations
as good.
The Seimas (Parliament) commemorated Holocaust Day by publicly acknowledging
and apologizing for the killing of Jews and destruction of Jewish culture
in the country during World War II.
The Government and City of Vilnius continued a program using private funds
to rebuild parts of the Jewish quarter in Vilnius with the understanding
that the Jewish community will have use of some of the space upon completion
of the project. In September 2003, the Government returned 46 Torah scrolls
(in addition to 309 such scrolls turned over in January 2002) to an Israeli
spiritual and heritage group for distribution among Jewish congregations
worldwide.
Macedonia
On March 4, several spectators hung banners with swastikas at a handball
match near the city of Bitola. Police officials present did not confront
the individuals responsible for the banners, and pictures of the policemen
standing in front of the banners appeared in newspapers the following day.
Several newspapers published editorials critical of the police's inaction,
and the Ministry of the Interior later disciplined the officers in question.
Moldova
In March more than 70 tombstones were desecrated in the Jewish cemetery
in Tiraspol, the principal city of the breakaway Transnistria region that
is not controlled by the Moldovan authorities. Swastikas and other Nazi symbols
were painted on monuments, and many tombstones were damaged beyond repair.
On May 4, unknown persons attempted to set the Tiraspol synagogue on fire
by throwing a Molotov cocktail onto the premises. The attack failed when
passers-by extinguished the fire. Transnistrian authorities believed the
attacks were perpetrated by the same persons and claimed they were investigating
the incidents.
In February 2003, unknown persons destroyed eight tombstones in a Jewish
cemetery in Balti. However, according to a leading rabbi in Chisinau, it
was not clear whether anti-Semitism motivated the event.
Netherlands
The National Expertise Center for Discrimination, founded in 1998, deals
with cases of discrimination that come under Dutch criminal law and registers
all criminal cases in this area. In the years 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003,
the joint prosecutor offices recorded 214, 198, 242 and 204 discrimination
cases respectively, of which about a quarter concerned cases of anti-Semitism.
Anti-Semitism, particularly among Muslims, was linked in many cases to the
ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Most anti-Semitic incidents
were not violent and included abusive language, hate mail, verbal insults
at soccer matches, Internet "chat room" discussions, as well as
persistent historical revisionism (such as Holocaust denial). However, pockets
of militant young Muslims, mostly Moroccans, on a number of occasions assaulted
or intimidated identifiable Jews. In addition to the anti-Semitic acts carried
out by a relatively small group of Arab youths, the virulent anti-Israel
sentiment among certain groups in society, such as the Arab European League
and the Stop the Occupation movement, also have contributed to an anti-Semitic
atmosphere in some quarters.
The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel (CIDI) in its latest
report covering the period January 2003 to May 2004 registered 334 anti-Semitic
incidents in 2003, compared to 359 in 2002, the first decrease (7.5 percent)
in anti-Semitic incidents since 2000. In addition, the number of serious
incidents (physical violence, threat with violence, and defacing of cemeteries
and synagogues) decreased by 40 percent. Provisional statistics covering
the first 4 months of 2004 confirmed this trend. Reportedly, a considerable
number of anti-Semitic offenders were of north-African origin.
Reacting to CIDI reports on increasing anti-Semitism in recent years, the
Parliament requested that the Government present an action plan to combat
anti-Semitism in June 2003. The Government responded in October 2003 but
placed the action plan in the broader context of its efforts to combat discrimination
of all kinds, and it did not propose new policy specifically designed to
combat anti-Semitism. The plan proposed that parents have primary responsibility
for preventing anti-Semitic incidents; however, schools also could help to
combat discrimination and inculcate respect and tolerance. Public debate
and dialogue were other tools to achieve these goals, and several NGOs launched
projects such as Een Ander Joods Geluid (An Alternative Jewish Viewpoint)
to foster debate on equality, tolerance, and human dignity. Also, the Dutch
Coalition for Peace called on Jews, Palestinians, and other Muslims in the
country to work together to restore peace in the Middle East.
Stricter instructions to prosecutors and the police took effect in April
2003 to ensure proper attention to incidents of discrimination. Measures
also were taken to deal more effectively with discrimination on the Internet.
The Ministry of Education provided schools with guidelines to offer instruction
on different religions and ideologies in conjunction with discrimination
and intolerance as well as on the persecution of Jewish persons in World
War II. The Ministry of Welfare subsidized a special program to teach children
about World War II and the persecution of Jewish persons. In particular,
the program was designed to raise awareness about the consequences of prejudice.
The Government promoted dialogue and supported initiatives to create a better
understanding between Jewish persons and Muslims persons.
Norway
Members of the Jewish community reported a doubling of anti-Semitic incidents
in the last 2 years. The majority of the roughly 40 reported incidents in
2003 involved verbal harassment of primary and secondary school Jewish students
by non-Jewish students. A small number of incidents involved threats against
Jewish persons. There were no reports of anti-Semitic violence or vandalism.
The Government was vigilant in fighting anti-Semitism and promoting religious
tolerance. In April, Prime Minister Bondevik met with two Norwegian Jewish
children who had been harassed on the basis of their religion. At the conclusion
of the meeting, he issued a strong public statement condemning anti-Semitism
and calling on the public to fight anti-Semitism more actively.
Poland
Surveys over the past several years showed a continuing decline in anti-Semitic
sentiment, and avowedly anti-Semitic candidates have won few elections. However,
anti-Semitic feelings persisted among certain sectors of the population,
occasionally resulting in acts of vandalism and physical or verbal abuse.
In prior years, there were reports of sporadic incidents of harassment and
violence against Jews and occasional desecration of Jewish cemeteries committed
by skinheads and other marginal elements of society.
A credible NGO reported that on October 26 a Jewish youth from Sweden wearing
a skullcap while visiting the Auschwitz Extermination Camp encountered three
young Poles who shouted anti-Semitic slurs at him. The youth, who reported
the incident by e-mail, said that this was not typical of his entire visit
to Poland.
In April, the pastor of St. Brigid Church in Gdansk told parishioners during
services that "Jews killed Jesus and the prophets" and displayed
posters asserting that only Christians could be true citizens. The Archbishop
of Gdansk subsequently removed the priest for this and other improprieties.
In June, police in Krakow discovered the desecration of a 19th-century synagogue.
Vandals had painted swastikas and a Star of David hanging from gallows on
the Temple Synagogue. The desecration occurred a few days before the opening
of an International Festival of Jewish Culture in Krakow's Kazimierz district.
In December 2003, a group of Catholics protested what they considered to
be anti-Semitic literature sold in a bookstore in the basement of a Warsaw
church. The group called for church authorities to close the bookstore, which
was run by a private company renting the basement space, and for state authorities
to prosecute the bookstore owner for hate crimes. The state prosecutor's
office examined the case and found no basis for prosecution. Catholic Church
authorities stated that they could not take action due to the bookstore's
lease.
The Government supported the American Jewish Committee in establishing a
$4 million memorial at the site of the Belzec death camp, where Nazi Germany
murdered 500,000 Jews during the Holocaust. Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski
took part in the dedication of the memorial in June.
The Government cooperated with the country's NGOs and officials of major
denominations to promote religious tolerance and lend support to activities
such as the March of the Living, an event to honor victims of the Holocaust.
On April 19, the 13th March of the Living took place. An estimated 6,000
to 7,000 participants, including schoolchildren, Boy Scouts, the Polish-Israeli
Friendship Society, Polish survivors of Auschwitz, and the Polish Union of
Jewish Students, walked from the former Auschwitz concentration camp to the
former Birkenau death camp. In June, the Government held a major international
conference to unveil its proposal to open an international center for human
rights education in Oswiecim.
The Government provided grants to a number of organizations involved in
anti-bias education, including the public-private Jewish Historical Institute
(ZIH) in Warsaw. Many of ZIH's staff were also government employees. ZIH
was the largest depository of Jewish-related archival documents, books, journals,
and museum objects in the country. The Government also provided grants to
the Jewish Historical Association, which produces educational materials on
Jewish culture, the Holocaust and religious tolerance, and to other NGOs.
The Institute of National Remembrance - Commission for the Prosecution of
Crimes against the Polish Nation (IPN), created by parliament in 1998, is
under the direction of a president who acts independently of government control
and is elected for a 5-year term. One of the three principal departments
of IPN was the Public Education Office, which produces materials for schools,
teachers, and students. The office also held competitions, sponsored exhibitions
on historical themes, and supported workshops, seminars, and other activities.
Educational materials included a major research and documentation project
on "The Extermination of Jews in Poland" during World War II. This
project included a critical review of attitudes towards the Jewish population
during the war, and instances of collaboration with the Nazis, as well as
activities undertaken by underground organizations and individuals to rescue
Jews.
Local governments have also been active in encouraging tolerance. On December
13, Deputy Mayor of Warsaw Andrzej Urbanski, together with the Chief Rabbi
of Israel and Chief Rabbi of Poland, participated in the first public lighting
of a Menorah in the history of the Polish capital. Together with Jewish organizations
from Poland and abroad, several towns have contributed to the renovation
of Jewish cemeteries. Such towns include Ozarow Swietokrzyski, Iwaniska,
Goldap, Karczew and Wyszkow.
Romania
The extremist elements of the press continued to publish anti-Semitic articles.
The Legionnaires (Iron Guard)--an extreme nationalist, anti-Semitic, pro-Nazi
group--continued to republish inflammatory books from the interwar period.
A new Iron Guard monthly, Obiectiv Legionar (Legionnaire Focus), carrying
mostly old legionnaire literature, began publication in July 2003 and was
distributed in several of the largest cities, including Bucharest. The New
Right organization (also with legionnaire orientation) continued to sponsor
marches and religious services to commemorate Corneliu Zelea Codreanu, the
founder of the Legionnaire Movement. Extremists made repeated attempts to
deny that Holocaust activities occurred in the country or in territory administered
by the country. In March, a private television station broadcast a talk show
on "Gypsies, Jews, and Legionnaires," which voiced xenophobic,
anti-Semitic, and racist views. The station owners did not respond to a protest
sent by the Jewish Communities Federation.
In March, unidentified persons broke into a synagogue in Bacau and broke
its windows. The perpetrators were not identified, but were believed to be
local youths, rather than members of an organized anti-Semitic movement.
In August, Nazi and anti-Semitic signs were found on the inside of the walls
of the Jewish cemetery in Sarmasu, Mures County. Five Jewish cemeteries were
desecrated in 2003, but no perpetrators were identified in these cases.
On a number of occasions government officials denied or minimized the occurrence
of the Holocaust in the country. In July 2003, in an interview with an Israeli
newspaper, President Iliescu appeared to minimize the Holocaust by claiming
that suffering and persecution were not unique to the Jewish population in
Europe. He later said that his interview had been presented in an incomplete
and selective way. In December, President Iliescu decorated extremist Greater
Romania Party (PRM) leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor with the "Star of Romania," the
nation's highest honor. In addition, President Iliescu decorated Gheorghe
Buzatu, PRM Vice Chairman and an outspoken Holocaust denier, with the prestigious "Faithful
Service" award. This action prompted Elie Wiesel, a Nobel Peace Prize
Laureate and Chairman of President Iliescu's International Commission on
the Holocaust in Romania, to "resign" from the "National Order
of the Star of Romania," and to vow not to wear the decoration that
accompanies the award. (Wiesel had received his award in 2002.)
Most mainstream politicians criticized anti-Semitism, racism, and xenophobia
publicly. President Iliescu, Prime Minister Adrian Nastase, and several members
of the cabinet (the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of Culture
and Religious Denominations, and others) continued to make public statements
on various occasions against extremism, anti-Semitism, and xenophobia and
criticized attempts to deny the occurrence of the Holocaust in the country.
Two government-issued decrees banned fascist, racist, and xenophobic organizations;
prohibited the personality cult of war criminals; and protected Jewish cemeteries
and synagogues. The Government sponsored several seminars and symposiums
on anti-Semitism.
In May, the Government designated October 9 as an annual Holocaust Remembrance
Day. On October 9, 1941, the pro-Nazi government of Marshal Antonescu initiated
the deportation of thousands of victims from Bessarabia and Bukovina to Transnistria.
Senior Government leaders commemorated the first Holocaust Remembrance day
by laying wreaths at a Holocaust memorial in the courtyard of a Bucharest
synagogue and by holding an ecumenical religious service in the Parliament
building.
In May 2003, the Government inaugurated a Holocaust memorial in Targu Mures,
a Transylvanian town under Hungarian administration in World War II.
The Government took several steps to improve teaching of the Holocaust in
teaching materials and textbooks, although efforts remained limited and inconsistent.
In September 2003, the Government released a teaching manual for schools
that dealt with Holocaust denial and provided figures for the number of Jews
killed and details about concentration camps, death chambers, and the persecution
of other groups. History teachers participated in training courses for the
teaching of the Holocaust in Paris in 2003 and during the reporting period.
Over 50 teachers graduated from the training program at the Holocaust teaching
center in Bacau, which was established with the support of the Ministry of
Education in 2002.
In October 2003, President Iliescu established the International Commission
on the Holocaust in Romania to analyze and to improve public understanding
of Holocaust events in the country. The committee, chaired by Elie Wiesel,
presented its findings to President Iliescu on November 11, 2004. In addition
to fully charting the progression and atrocities of the Romanian Holocaust,
the report contained a list of recommendations for the Romanian Government
to ensure that the Holocaust is accurately remembered by the Romanian people.
Among the commission's recommendations was that the Romanian Government reverse
its rehabilitation of war criminals; open prosecutions for unpunished war
crimes; and enforce 2002 legislation making Holocaust denial in Romania a
crime.
Russia
An estimated 600,000 to 1 million Jewish persons lived in the country (0.5
percent of the total population) following large-scale emigration during
the last 2 decades.
Many in the Jewish community stated that conditions for Jewish persons in
the country had improved, primarily because there was no longer any official "state-sponsored" anti-Semitism;
however, anti-Semitic incidents against individuals and institutions continued
to occur and violence was used during these attacks with increasing frequency.
The Anti-Defamation League reported that while the number of anti-Semitic
incidents remained stable in 2003, the nature of the attacks became more
violent. Anti-Semitic statements were discouraged and have been legally prosecuted.
While the Government publicly denounced nationalist ideology and supported
legal action against acts of anti-Semitism, reluctance on the part of lower-level
officials to call such acts anything other than "hooliganism" remained
problematic.
On April 22, eight skinheads stormed the Ulyanovsk Jewish Center screaming, "don't
pollute our land," smashing windows, and tearing down Jewish symbols
as Jewish women and children hid inside. No one was injured, but police failed
to respond quickly, arriving 40 minutes after they were called. A member
of the extremist National Bolshevik Party later was arrested in connection
with the attack. The investigation was ongoing at year's end, but it was
suspected that both events were prompted by the anniversary of Hitler's birthday.
On April 29 in Voronezh, two skinheads attacked Aleksey Kozlov outside the
headquarters of the Inter-Regional Human Rights Movement of which he is in
charge. Kozlov is the regional monitor for anti-Semitism and racism in the
country, a project sponsored by the European Commission.
On October 17, a group of skinheads tried to enter the synagogue in Penza,
but were stopped by parishioners. A group of approximately 40 people armed
with chains and iron clubs approached the synagogue later that day. The parishioners
locked themselves inside and called the police. There were reports that three
skinheads were detained.
Unknown persons vandalized Jewish institutions. On many occasions, vandals
desecrated tombstones in cemeteries dominated by religious and ethnic minorities.
These attacks often involved the painting of swastikas and other racist and
ultra-nationalist symbols or epithets on gravestones. On January 27, an explosion
shattered several windows in a synagogue in Derbent in the southern region
of Dagestan. Vandals attempted to torch a synagogue and library in Chelyabinsk
in February, but neighbors managed to extinguish the fire before the arrival
of firefighters. Local Jewish community representatives suspected a local
anti-Semitic group was responsible for the attack. On March 29, vandals broke
the windows of the only kosher restaurant in St. Petersburg. On April 11,
a group of young persons threw bottles at a synagogue in Nizhniy Novgorod.
The police failed to catch the vandals, and the criminal investigation was
dropped on April 22. In September 2003, an anti-Semitic poster with wires
attached to it was found at the Velikiy Novgorod Synagogue. There were several
attacks on a synagogue in Kostroma. A Jew was injured during an attack in
December 2003. Reportedly, teenagers threw stones at the windows and covered
the synagogue fence with anti-Semitic inscriptions. Local police doubted
they would be able to find the vandals, and a local rabbi said the attack
was blamed on hooliganism.
During the reporting period, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated in Bryansk,
Kaluga, Kostroma, Petrozavodsk, Pyatigorsk, St. Petersburg, Ulyanovsk, and
Vyatka. In Petrozavodsk, unknown persons sprayed anti-Semitic graffiti on
tombstones on the day a local court was to render a decision in another case
concerning cemetery desecration. In February, several Jewish tombs were desecrated
in one of the oldest cemeteries in St. Petersburg; vandals again desecrated
Jewish graves there in December. On March 31, a Jewish cemetery was desecrated
in Kaluga and, after the local Jewish community chairman notified the governor
about the incident, four teenagers and two adults suspected in the vandalism
were detained. On November 25, three of the individuals, including one minor,
were sentenced to two years probation. The other two participants were too
young to be prosecuted. In April, vandals damaged 14 tombstones in Pyatigorsk's
Jewish cemetery. In October 2003, a suspected bomb was found on a tomb at
the Kostroma Jewish cemetery.
Anti-Semitism and xenophobic thought has become increasingly popular among
certain sectors of the population. Nationalistic parties, such as Rodina
and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), gained a wider voter base
by addressing issues of nationalism, race, ethnicity, and religion. Allegations
of anti-Semitism were leveled at the Rodina bloc, LDPR, and the Communist
Party of the Russian Federation (KPRF). Anti-Semitic themes figured in some
local election campaigns. There were multiple cases of anti-Semitic statements
from government authorities in some of the country's regions, particularly
in Krasnodar Kray and Kursk Oblast, as well as in the State Duma.
Originally registered with well-known neo-Nazis on its electoral list, the
Rodina bloc attempted to improve its image by rejecting openly neo-Nazi candidates;
however, it allowed others known for their anti-Semitic views to remain.
Vladimir Zhirinovskiy and his LDPR party also were known for their anti-Semitic
rhetoric and statements. In Moscow during a May Day celebration, LDPR supporters
rallied, carrying anti-Semitic signs and spoke out against what they called "world
Zionism."
The KPRF also made anti-Semitic statements during the 2003 Duma elections.
Krasnodar Kray Senator Nikolai Kondratenko blamed Zionism and Jews in general
for many of the country's problems and blamed Soviet Jews for helping to
destroy the Soviet Union, according to a November 2003 article in Volgogradskaya
Tribuna.
The ultranationalist and anti-Semitic Russian National Unity (RNE) paramilitary
organization continued to propagate hostility toward Jews and non-Orthodox
Christians. The RNE has lost political influence in some regions since its
peak in 1998, but the organization maintained high levels of activity in
other regions, such as Voronezh.
Most anti-Semitic crimes were committed by groups of young skinheads. The
estimated number of skinheads increased from only a few dozen in 1992 to
more than 50,000 in 2004. Typically, skinheads formed loosely organized groups
of 10 to 15 persons, and, while these groups did not usually belong to any
larger organized structure, they tended to communicate through the hundreds
of fascist journals and magazines that exist throughout the country, and
increasingly on the Internet.
Many small, radical-nationalist newspapers were distributed throughout the
country, sometimes containing anti-Semitic, as well as anti-Muslim and xenophobic
leaflets. Anti-Semitic themes continued to figure in some local publications
around the country, unchallenged by local authorities. For example, an anti-Semitic
novel, The Nameless Beast, by Yevgeny Chebalin, has been on sale in the State
Duma's bookstore since September 2003. The xenophobic and anti-Semitic text
makes offensive statements about Jews and non-ethnic Russians. According
to the Anti-Defamation League, books sold in the Duma were not typically
monitored for content. In cases where Jewish or other public organizations
attempted to take legal action against the publishers, the courts generally
were unwilling to recognize the presence of anti-Semitic content. Some NGOs
claimed that many of these publications are owned or managed by the same
local authorities that refuse to take action against offenders.
The larger anti-Semitic publications were Russkaya Pravda, Vitaz, and Peresvet,
which were available in metro stations around Moscow. In addition, there
were at least 80 Russian Web sites dedicated to distributing anti-Semitic
propaganda; the law does not restrict Web sites that contain hate speech.
Responses to anti-Semitic violence were mixed. Authorities often provided
strong words of condemnation, but preferred to label the perpetrators as
terrorists or hooligans rather than xenophobes or anti-Semites. Occasionally,
the Government redesignated these events as criminal acts resulting from
ethnic hatred. Human rights observers noted that considerable legislation
prohibits racist propaganda and racially motivated violence, but complained
that it was invoked infrequently. There were some efforts to counter extremist
groups during the year.
Federal officials maintained regular contact with Jewish community leaders.
In March, then Russian Minister for Nationalities Vladimir Zorin brought
extremism to the forefront of public attention by calling anti-Semitism and
xenophobia major threats to the country. Zorin called for stricter enforcement
of the country's existing statutes outlawing extremism and anti-Semitism
and urging tolerance education programs. In addition, Interior Minister Rashid
Nurgaliyev became the first high-ranking official to acknowledge the existence
of right-wing extremist youth groups in the country and noted combating this
extremism was one of the top priority tasks for the Ministry of Internal
Affairs and the Federal Security Service. These statements marked a positive
step by the Government to prosecute those who commit acts of anti-Semitism,
although few concrete steps were taken to solve high-profile cases.
A criminal proceeding was initiated against Boris Mironov, one of the three
co-chairs of the National Sovereign Party of Russia, who ran for governor
in Novosibirsk. The charges were instigation of national hatred. The major
slogan of his election bulletin was "We'll not allow Jews to take power." Experts
found the texts of the bulletin anti-Semitic.
In December, Igor Kolodezenko, the publisher of the newspaper Russkiy Sibir,
was given a 2˝ year suspended sentence after being convicted of inciting
ethnic hatred for publishing anti-Semitic articles. In June, the Arbitration
Court of Sverdlovsk Oblast ordered the shutdown of a local anti-Semitic paper,
Russkaya Obshchina Yekaterinburga, after the Court found that the newspaper
violated the laws banning incitement of ethnic hatred, according to the Jewish
National-Cultural Autonomy of Sverdlovsk Oblast. The newspaper had received
three warnings from the Ministry of the Press based on complaints from activists.
In 2002, the Prosecutor's office had closed the criminal case. The court
also fined a company that published the newspaper approximately $34 (1,000
rubles).
In September, a new course "A History of World Religions" was
introduced at some Moscow schools, pursuant to which some students were taken
on field trips to local synagogues and other religious institutions to increase
mutual understanding. The Government backed away from previous plans to promote
a compulsory nationwide course in schools on the "Foundations of Orthodox
Culture," using a textbook by that title, which detailed Orthodox Christianity's
contribution to the country's culture. Although the book was still used by
some schools, the Ministry of Education has rejected funding for another
edition and further circulation of the textbook. Many religious minorities
had complained about negative language describing non-Orthodox groups, particularly
Jewish persons.
In March, prominent rabbis Berl Lazar and Pinchas Goldschmidt together requested
that the Government better define the meaning of extremism. Lazar and Goldschmidt
said that law enforcement was prone to dismiss anti-Semitic actions as simple
hooliganism to avoid calling attention to the presence of extremists in their
region, and to consciously protect extremist groups with which they sympathized.
In October, President Putin met with Rabbi Lazar and promised that the state
would help to revive Jewish communities in Russia.
Serbia and Montenegro
Since July 2003, according to the Forum 18 News Service, more than 50 acts
of vandalism on religious property occurred. Many of the attacks involved
spray-painted graffiti, rock throwing, or the defacing of tombstones, but
a number of cases involved more extensive damage. There were a number of
incidents in which gravestones were desecrated, including those in Jewish
cemeteries.
Jewish leaders in Serbia reported a continued increase in anti-Semitism
on the Internet and the frequent appearance of anti-Semitic hate speech in
small-circulation books. The release of new books (or reprints of translations
of anti-Semitic foreign literature) often led to an increase in hate mail
and other expressions of anti-Semitism. These sources associated anti-Semitism
with anti-Western and anti-globalization sentiments, as well as ethnic nationalism.
In 2002, Serbian courts began proceedings in the Savic case, in which an
author of anti-Semitic literature was tried for spreading racial or national
hatred through the print media. According to sources in the Jewish community,
a number of continuances have been issued in this trial. The latest continuance,
granted to allow for a psychiatric examination of the defendant, has been
ongoing for more than a year.
Slovak Republic
Anti-Semitism persisted among some elements of society and was manifested
occasionally in incidences of violence and vandalism.
In early May, sources within the Ministry of the Interior reported that
skinheads attacked an Israeli citizen at the main bus station in Bratislava.
The man defended himself with a knife and killed his attacker. The police
did not release any information to the public about the attack. The Government
rarely commented on racially motivated crimes.
In October 2003, the Jewish cemetery in Nove Mesto Nad Vahom was vandalized
for the second time, and Jewish leaders reported finding an anti-Semitic
poster on a building formerly owned by Jews. The police did not identify
the vandals who damaged the 19 gravestones. The text of the poster accused
Jews of stealing money received from a government fund for compensation for
wartime-confiscated property.
Also in October 2003, three juvenile offenders vandalized the Puchov cemetery
in the western part of the country causing $1,613 (50,000 Slovak crowns)
in damages and ruining 22 gravestones. The adolescents were given suspended
sentences of 4 months to 1 year. Three other individuals under age 15 were
not required to stand trial. Investigators did not pursue charges of racial
motivation that carried longer sentences because of the lack of physical
evidence.
In November 2003, unknown persons desecrated the cemetery in Humenne in
the eastern part of the country. Graffiti in German on the entrance gate
read "Achtung, Jude" (watch out, Jews) with a swastika below the
writing. Swastikas and inscriptions, such as Heil Hitler, Adolf Hitler, and
Mein Kampf, appeared on three graves. The Humenne police opened a criminal
investigation on charges of supporting movements that suppress the rights
of citizens, vandalism, and defamation of peoples, races, and religion. The
Humenne cemetery is a national cultural monument, and the damage was irreversible
in terms of the tombstones' value. Restoration work in the cemetery had finished
just 6 months before the vandalism occurred.
Jewish community leaders praised the quick action of the police in cases
of vandalism, but perpetrators usually were minors and received light sentences.
The Jewish community successfully pressed for parents of the vandals to pay
damages in the 2002 Banovce cemetery case and hoped this case could be successfully
replicated.
A Slovak Intelligence Service list of persons allegedly harming the country's
interests, which was leaked to the press in mid 2003, identified three individuals
as Jewish. The media and politicians criticized the practice of categorizing
citizens by religious affiliation.
According to estimates, 500 to 800 neo-Nazis and 3,000 to 5,000 sympathizers
operated in the country and committed serious offenses; however, only a small
number of these abuses were prosecuted. The Penal Code stipulates that anyone
who publicly demonstrates sympathy towards fascism or movements oppressing
human rights and freedoms can be sentenced to jail for up to 3 years. Only
a small number of these abuses were prosecuted due to court delays.
The low number of prosecutions for racially motivated crime generally improved
during the past 2 years due to the creation of a specialized police unit
and an advisor in the Bratislava Regional Police. Their successes included
the arrest of 24 skinheads, including a major neo-Nazi organizer, at a large
meeting in 2003. In another success, the Bratislava Police checked 158 suspected
meeting places of extremist groups in an overnight raid, which resulted in
14 arrests. Due to this monitoring unit and its NGO advisory board, the police
were better trained in identifying neo-Nazi members and more informed about
their activities. Interior Minister Vladimir Palko had an advisor on racially
motivated crime, who participated actively on the government's advisory commission
with NGOs. During the reporting period, the Ministry of Interior assigned
specialists on hate crimes to each of the country's eight regions.
Some organizations, such as the official cultural organization, Matica Slovenska,
and the Slovak National Party continued to seek the rehabilitation of former
leaders of the Nazi-collaborationist State under Josef Tiso. Meetings and
demonstrations to commemorate the anniversary of the first Slovak State from
World War II occurred annually throughout the country. At these and other
events, extremists frequently appeared in the uniforms of the Hlinka guards,
who identified and sent Jewish persons to the concentration camps during
World War II.
The Jewish community continued to protest the failure of the courts to resolve
a lawsuit against Martin Savel, a former editor of the publishing house Agres.
Savel published anti-Semitic literature and the anti-Jewish magazine Voice
of Slovakia in the early 1990s.
Public cooperation was integral to the reconstruction of a Jewish cemetery
in Bratislava, which involved rerouting tram tracks. The site, including
the grave of 19th-century Jewish scholar R. Moshe Schreiber (the Chatam Sofer),
was restored in 2001 with substantial financing from the Bratislava Local
Council as well as from a foreign organization, the International Committee
for the Preservation of the Gravesites of Geonai in Pressburg.
The Government promoted interfaith dialogue and understanding by supporting
events organized by various religious groups. The Central Union of Jewish
Religious Communities was invited to, and participated in the activities.
The Government approved an extension of its action plan to fight all forms
of discrimination, racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and other expressions
of Intolerance for the years 2004-2005. The prior plan supported training
for police officers, penitentiary workers, and teachers and also included
public awareness campaigns.
The Ministry of Education and the Institute of Judaism conducted a joint
educational project on Jewish history and culture targeted to elementary
and high school teachers of history, civic education, and ethics to educate
the public about Jewish themes and increase tolerance toward minorities.
The project continued to be very successful and well received. Since 2002,
several teachers participated in summer training programs abroad. Groups
of teachers visited former concentration camps for training in Holocaust
education. To assist teachers with instruction about the Holocaust, the Ministry
of Education published and distributed a textbook to four teacher-training
centers. In 2003, a Holocaust Center was established as a joint project of
the Bratislava Jewish community and the Milan Simecka Foundation. It released
several publications dealing with the Holocaust in the country, Jewish wartime
history, and memoirs of Jewish personalities.
In May, the Director of the Union of Jewish Religious Communities (UZZNO)
criticized the state-run Slovak Television (STV) for canceling a documentary
film about the country during wartime. The documentary chronicled a Jewish
pogrom in the town of Topolcany and included an anti-Semitic statement from
a local citizen. UZZNO believed societal attitudes should be discussed openly
and addressed by the Government. STV management defended its decision pointing
to possible liability issues relating to the Broadcasting and Retransmission
Act. The station eventually aired the documentary and a panel discussion
on anti-Semitism and the Holocaust.
The NGO People Against Racism and the Ministry of Interior monitored websites
on the Internet that contained hate speech and provided information about
skinheads. Foreign servers hosted many of these Web sites.
Slovenia
The Jewish community had 140 official members and approximately 300-400
people who informally self-identified as Jews.
In early October, there was one incident involving the desecration of a
Jewish family grave.
Jewish community representatives reported widespread prejudice, ignorance,
and false stereotypes being spread within society. Reportedly, negative images
of Jews were common in private commentary and citizens generally did not
consider Jews to be a native population, despite their uninterrupted presence
in the country for many centuries. While prejudice existed beneath the surface,
there were no reports of overt verbal or physical harassment.
The Government promoted anti-bias and tolerance education through its programs
in primary and secondary schools, with the Holocaust as an obligatory topic
in the contemporary history curriculum. However, teachers had a great deal
of latitude in deciding how much time to devote to it. The country formally
established May 9 as Holocaust Memorial Day. Schools commemorated the day
by showing documentaries, assigning essay topics, and holding discussions
on the Holocaust.
Spain
The Jewish community reported incidents of verbal harassment, vandalism
of synagogues and Jewish community institutions, and increasing anti-Semitic
sentiment in newspaper commentary and at sporting events. Local officials
were accused of sharing anti-Jewish views. Members of the Jewish community
have said that they fear identifying themselves or wearing their traditional
Kippa because it could make them a target for attacks. There were reports
of vandalism to Jewish community institutions in Toledo, Melilla, and Barcelona,
where incidents of harassment also occurred. Jewish groups also reported
that local extremist groups monitored them. The regional government responded
by increasing security at the center.
In Barcelona, an official of the Barcelona Israeli Community (CIB) said
a grandfather and son and some Jewish worshippers were verbally attacked
as they left a cultural activity in March and April.
In March, two Jewish synagogues in Barcelona belonging to the Jewish Community
of Barcelona and the ATID Jewish Community were vandalized with anti-Semitic
graffiti on the walls of the synagogue.
In June, a plaque honoring victims of the Holocaust in the Montjuic Cemetery
in Barcelona was vandalized for the fourth time since 2002. The Barcelona
City Council paid for part of the restoration. In October, a group of individuals
painted anti-Semitic slogans in German on the walls of the ATID community
center and the Sefardi School. After the June and October incidents, the
Catalan Government temporarily provided additional security for the community
center and the school. The president of the CIB stated that attacks represented
a threat not only to the Jewish community in Barcelona, but also to society
in general.
During the week of August 9, on a Jewish holy day, local youth attacked
a synagogue in Melilla with stones as worshippers celebrated the Prayer of
Shabaat. No arrests were made in the incident.
Officials from B'nai B'rith suggested there was an increasing anti-Semitic
tone in newspaper commentary and political cartoons as well as public displays
of anti-Semitism at major sporting events. They cited the example of a soccer
game held in Madrid following the March 11 train bombings. Some participants
at the game wore swastikas and other Nazi emblems and displayed a banner
with an anti-Semitic epithet.
Jewish officials in Catalonia reported that local officials were insensitive
to anti-Jewish sentiment and expressed the view that anti-Semitism was openly
present in government institutions. One example was the placement of a Star
of David side-by-side with a swastika on a City Hall Web page. Jewish representatives
in Barcelona approached local government officials requesting the symbol
be removed. City officials removed the symbols without explanation and did
not apologize for the incident.
In November, the mayor of Oleiros, La Coruna approved public signs that
described the Israeli Prime Minister as an "animal" and labeled
members of his government "neo-Nazis." Foreign Minister Miguel
Angel Moratinos responded to the incident by issuing a strong statement calling
on the mayor to remove the signs. Facing intense pressure from national and
local government officials and extensive criticism in the national press,
the mayor agreed to remove the signs.
In March, the Spanish Ministries of Justice and Education met with representatives
of a B'nai B'rith to discuss how to revise inaccurate historical references
on Jewish history and other materials related to the Jewish religion in textbooks.
They made a general nonbinding agreement that textbook editors would consult
with religious groups before publishing material, including those that refer
to Jewish religion or history.
On May 27, Catalan police arrested three leaders of a neo-Nazi group called
the Circle of Indo-European Research on charges of being members of an illicit
association that opposes the fundamental rights and public freedom of citizens
within the international community. The police and Jewish community leaders
believed the Circle leaders were involved in synagogue attacks in March.
One of the group leaders was charged with illicit association, one was released
on bail, and a third case was still pending.
On October 15, partly in response to attacks against Jewish persons and
institutions, the Council of Ministers approved a proposal from the Ministry
of Justice called the Foundation for Pluralism and Coexistence. The Foundation
provided approximately $4 million (3 million euro) in public funding to contribute
to cultural, educational, and social integration programs and projects of
all non-Catholic confessions (Muslim, Jewish, and Evangelical) that had a
Cooperation Agreement with the country and were not directly related with
religious practices.
The Law of Religious Freedom provided for religious freedom and the freedom
of worship by individuals and groups, and the Government generally enforced
this law in practice.
The Catalonia Government provided public funds to renovate traditional Jewish
centers of learning and culture. In Girona, Catalonia, city officials funded
the renovation of the birthplace of a prominent Jewish intellectual, Bonastruc
ca Porta, who was born there in the twelfth century. Jewish communities welcomed
the city's efforts to renovate traditional Jewish quarters in Girona, which
they considered to be the birthplace of Jewish intellectual heritage in the
country.
In December, the country designated January 27 as Holocaust Remembrance
Day. Also in December, the OSCE Ministerial meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria welcomed
Spain's offer to host a third conference on anti-Semitism and other tolerance
issues in June 2005 in Cordoba.
Sweden
According to police statistics, the number of reported anti-Semitic hate
crimes has increased since the end of the 1990s, averaging approximately
130 annually during the period 2000 to 2003. During 2003, 128 crimes were
reported; of these 3 were classified as assaults, 52 as agitation against
an ethnic group, and 35 as unlawful threat/harassment. There was a growing
awareness of that there were particular problems with anti-Semitism among
certain immigrant populations.
Some members of the Jewish community believed that increases in attacks
were linked directly to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and increased tensions
in the Middle East. Since the beginning of the second intifada in 2000, the
Jewish community felt increasingly threatened by Islamic and leftist extremists.
There were a number of high profile incidents in Malmo in the past years.
In March, four young people of Arab origin broke into a Jewish-owned shop
in Malmo, shouting anti-Semitic epithets and threats, and attacked the shop
owner and another Jewish person. The shop owner was sent to the hospital
for treatment. Two weeks earlier, Muslims had thrown stones at employees
of the Jewish Burial Society at the Jewish cemetery in Malmo. In June, a
football match ended with Jewish players being attacked by Muslim Somali
players. In April 2003, there was an attempted arson at the purification
room of the Jewish cemetery.
On March 26, an NGO reported that two members of Hizb ut-Tahrir handed out
leaflets near a mosque in Stockholm that urged the liquidation of Jews in
Palestine. The Imam of the mosque subsequently denounced violence against
Jews.
On April 15, a credible NGO reported that a swastika appeared near the Jewish
community building in Gothenburg and an empty cartridge was found nearby.
The police investigation continued at year's end. During the night of April
17, the same NGO also reported that 17 gravestones were broken in the Jewish
cemetery in Stockholm.
During the past few years, the Government took steps to combat anti-Semitism
by increasing awareness of Nazi crimes and the Holocaust. Following a 1998
public opinion poll that showed a low percentage of schoolchildren had even
basic knowledge about the Holocaust, the Government launched nationwide Holocaust
education projects. Approximately one million copies of the education project's
core textbook were in circulation and available in many languages at no cost
to every household with children.
Switzerland
The Swiss Observatory of Religions based in Lausanne believed that anti-Semitic
feelings increased during the last decade. Although physical violence was
rare, most anti-Semitic remarks were fueled by extensive media reports over
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the Holocaust Assets issue.
There were few anti-Semitic incidents and, with one exception, they were
of a purely verbal nature that resulted in no physical harm to any member
of the Jewish community or any damage to Jewish property. The only act of
physical violence against Jewish property during the reporting period occurred
over the weekend of February 14 to15 in Geneva. Unknown vandals entered the
joint premises of a Jewish kindergarten and a sports association, smashing
windows and furniture, stealing computer equipment, and spray-painting anti-Semitic
graffiti on the entrance door.
A study released by the Zurich University on March 26 found no evidence
of anti-Semitism in the country's German-language media but noted that newspapers
and electronic media often resorted to questionable stereotypes. The few
journalists who engaged in anti-Semitic rhetoric later apologized. Nevertheless,
other xenophobic and revisionist publications existed, sometimes using Internet
websites abroad to avoid prosecution.
On April 26, the Zurich lawyer and honorary chairman of the Jewish religious
community, Sigi Feigel, sued the political party Europa Partei Schweiz, claiming
that it sponsored newspaper advertisements comparing Israel to Nazi Germany.
The party, which was not represented in Parliament, ran advertisements in
the daily Tages-Anzeiger the day after the killing of Hamas leader Abdel
Aziz Rantisi calling on the country to cut off diplomatic relations and end
military cooperation with Israel. The advertisements referred to "Israel,
nation of the Jews" and stated, "with the exception of the gas
chambers, all the Nazi instruments are being used against (Israel's) resident
population." The party was charged under antiracism laws.
The Penal Code criminalizes racist or anti-Semitic expression, whether in
public speech or in printed material.
At an April conference sponsored by the OSCE on anti-Semitism in Berlin,
Franz von Daniken, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, highlighted the various
ways the country was confronting anti-Semitism. He condemned all forms of
racism and anti-Semitism and fully endorsed the OSCE measures to promote
tolerance and nondiscrimination.
To counter anti-Semitism and racism, in 2002 the Federal Department of the
Interior established a Federal Service for the Combating of Racism to coordinate
antiracism activities of the Federal Administration with cantonal and communal
authorities. The Federal Service had a budget of $11.1 million (15 million
Swiss francs) to use over a 5-year period. Of this money, $370,000 (500,000
Swiss francs) per year was reserved for the establishment of new local consultation
centers where victims of racial or religious discrimination may seek assistance.
Approximately 130 of these consultation centers or contact points already
exist in the country. In addition, the Federal Service for the Combating
of Racism sponsored and managed a variety of projects to combat racism, including
some projects specifically addressing anti-Semitism.
On January 27, schools across the country held a day of remembrance for
victims of the Holocaust. Education authorities said the aim was to remember
the Holocaust and other forms of genocide committed in the past century and
raise awareness of inhumane ideologies.
Turkey
In March, two bombers attacked an Istanbul Masonic Lodge, killing 2 persons
and injuring seven others. Evidence gathered in the subsequent investigation
suggested that anti-Semitism was at least a partial motivating factor in
the attack. According to press reports, one of the suspects later arrested
also confessed to the August 2003 killing of a Jewish dentist in Istanbul.
Reports also suggested that the perpetrator used his victim's address book
and subsequently telephoned a number of Jewish board members of an Istanbul
retirement home and threatened them with violence.
In November, simultaneous suicide attacks against two of Istanbul's major
synagogues killed 23 persons and injured more than 300 others, including
many passersby. The trial for those charged with perpetrating these bombings
resumed briefly in November for final introductory statements; the next court
session is scheduled for 2005. The Government condemned the bombings and
provided assistance to victims and their families.
In an incident that arose out of the bombings, the 17-year-old son of one
of the alleged perpetrators of the synagogue attacks and three journalists
were convicted of anti-Semitism and could face up to 3 years in jail. The
youth said in an interview with the daily Milliyet: "The attacks did
not touch the hearts of the members of my family because the target was Jews.
We couldn't be happy, but we were satisfied. If Muslims hadn't been killed
we would have been happy. We don't like Jews." The journalist and the
editors of the newspaper were convicted of providing a platform for incitement
against members of another religion. This was the first time in history that
citizens were convicted of anti-Semitic activities.
Several Islamist newspapers regularly published anti-Semitic material. Columnists
in other mainstream papers sometimes indulged in remarks with an anti-Semitic
tone.
Ukraine
There were acts of anti-Semitism during the reporting period. For example,
on July 21 the media reported that the main opposition bloc in Parliament,
Our Ukraine, expelled Oleh Tyahnybok, a Member of Parliament who made an
anti-Semitic speech during a campaign rally in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
On August 24, three men attacked two rabbis in central Odessa. Police captured
one of the alleged perpetrators, who, while being interrogated, told police
that he wanted to kill Jews. As of September, police were still searching
for the other assailants.
In April, Jewish community activists discovered that vandals were removing
gold from the mass graves of Jews killed by Nazis at the Sosonky memorial
in Rivne. However, according to the head of the Rivne Oblast Jewish Council,
the municipal authorities took prompt action to restore the vandalized memorial.
On May 23, vandals destroyed several dozen tombstones at Jewish and Christian
burial sites at the Kurenivske Cemetery in Kiev. Police were continuing to
investigate these incidents at year's end.
On August 8, the media reported that 26 gravestones were vandalized in the
Jewish section of the Donetske More graveyard in Donetsk Oblast and that
police had caught the perpetrator. On August 20, it was reported that 15
more gravestones in the same cemetery were vandalized. The number "666" had
been spray-painted on some of the overturned gravestones. Local police were
still searching for the perpetrators.
Anti-Semitic articles appeared frequently in small publications and irregular
newsletters, although such articles rarely appeared in the national press.
The monthly journal Personnel, whose editorial board included several parliamentary
deputies, generally published one anti-Semitic article each month. The Jewish
community received support from public officials in criticizing articles
in the journal. On April 20, the State Committee for Nationalities and Migration
filed a lawsuit with the Kiev Economic Court to stop publication of Personnel
journal and Personnel-Plus newspaper for violation of the Law on Information
and the Law on Print Mass Media. On March 12, the State Committee for Nationalities
and Migration also filed a lawsuit against Idealist newspaper for publication
of anti-Semitic articles.
On January 28, a local court in Kiev ruled that publication of the newspaper
Silski Visti be suspended for fomenting interethnic hatred in connection
with the 2002 publication of an article by Professor Vasyl Yaremenko entitled "Myth
about Ukrainian Anti-Semitism," and a September 2003 article, "Jews
in Ukraine: Reality without Myths." Silski Visti viewed the court decision
as a government attempt to close the major opposition newspaper (circulation
515,000) prior to the October presidential elections and appealed the ruling.
At year's end, Silski Visti's appeal remained under review.
A dispute between nationalists and Jews over the erection of crosses in
Jewish cemeteries in Sambir and Kiev remained unresolved, despite mediation
efforts by Jewish and Greek Catholic leaders.
A local court ordered a halt in the construction of an apartment building
at the site of an old Jewish cemetery in Volodymyr-Volynsky. However, apartment
construction was completed during 2003 and most of the units were occupied.
Local Jewish groups complained that the State Committee on Religious Affairs
continued to refuse to help resolve this dispute.
A large number of high-level government officials continued to take part
in the annual September commemoration of the massacre at Babyn Yar in Kiev,
the site of one of the most serious crimes of the Holocaust directed against
Jews and thousands of individuals from other minority groups. Discussions
continued among various Jewish community members about erecting an appropriate
memorial, and possibly a heritage center, to commemorate the victims. The
Government was generally supportive of these initiatives.
United Kingdom
Anti-Semitic incidents included physical attacks, harassment, desecration
of property, vandalism and hateful speech, and racist letters and publications.
The Community Security Trust, an organization that analyzed threats to the
Jewish community and coordinated with police to provide protection to Jewish
community institutions, recorded 511 anti-Semitic incidents between July
2003 and June 2004.
On June 25, near Manchester, a group of five persons physically assaulted
a rabbi while shouting anti-Semitic statements. In October 2003, a man driving
past Borhamwood Synagogue shouted anti-Semitic statements at members of the
synagogue's security team.
The media also reported instances of desecration of synagogues, Jewish cemeteries,
and religious texts. On June 17, vandals caused a fire in the South Tottenham
United Synagogue that resulted in the destruction of Jewish prayer books
smuggled out of Central Europe before World War II. On June 18, in an apparently
unrelated incident, a suspicious fire damaged a synagogue and Jewish educational
center in Hendon. On August 22, cemetery officials discovered the desecration
of approximately 60 gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Birmingham. Police
charged two suspects with racially aggravated criminal damage, racially aggravated
public disorder, and causing racially aggravated harassment, alarm, or distress.
In November, vandals spray-painted swastikas and other Nazi symbols on 15
gravestones in a Jewish cemetery in Aldershot.
Nazi slogans and swastikas were painted on 11 Jewish gravestones at a Southampton
cemetery in July 2003, and 20 Jewish gravestones were damaged at Rainsough
cemetery in Manchester in August 2003. Police investigated the attacks as
a racist incident. In November 2003, vandals desecrated 21 graves at a Jewish
cemetery in Chatham, East Kent. Later in November, a deliberately set fire
caused severe damage to the Hillock Hebrew Congregation near Manchester,
and, in a separate incident, attackers used bricks to smash the windows of
London's Orthodox Edgware Synagogue.
Members of some far-right political parties--such as the BNP, the National
Front, and the White Nationalist Party--and some extremist Muslim organizations,
such as Al-Muhajiroun, occasionally gave speeches or distributed literature
expressing anti-Semitic beliefs, including denials that the Holocaust occurred.
The Crown Prosecution Service advised victims of anti-Semitic attacks on
how to report the incidents and press charges against the assailants. Police
services investigated anti-Semitic attacks, in addition to providing additional
protection to Jewish community events where threat levels were considered
to be elevated. The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act of 2001 made it
a crime to commit a religiously aggravated offense such as assault, criminal
damage, or harassment. The Act also extended the prohibition against incitement
to racial hatred to include cases where the hatred was directed at groups
located outside the country. In addition, a 2003 regulation explicitly prohibiting
racial harassment and a 1980 case law establishing Jews as a racial group
provide legal protection against anti-Semitism. Authorities charged 18 persons
with religiously aggravated offenses (the religious affiliation of the victims
was not released) between December 2001 and March 2003, the most recent period
for which data are available; of these, 8 were convicted.
In December 2003, new employment equality regulations regarding religion
(or other belief) entered into force. The regulations prohibit employment
discrimination based on religious belief, except where there is a "genuine
occupational requirement" of a religious nature.
On October 19, police charged Abu Hamza al-Masri with four counts of soliciting
or encouraging the killing of Jewish persons based on recordings of some
of his addresses to public meetings.
Officials regularly reiterated the government's commitment to addressing
anti-Semitism and protecting Jewish citizens through law enforcement and
education. In February, Queen Elizabeth II awarded Nazi war crimes investigator
Simon Wiesenthal an honorary knighthood in recognition of his efforts to
counter anti-Semitism.
The Home Office's Faith Communities Unit ensured that members of all faiths
enjoyed the same life opportunities. The unit also sponsored projects that
encourage dialogue and cooperation between the different faith communities
represented in the country. The Home Office also was responsible for an annual
Holocaust Memorial Day.
All publicly maintained schools were required to teach religious tolerance.
On October 28, Education and Skills Secretary Charles Clarke introduced a
new national framework for schools to deliver religious education that, among
other things, teach pupils about others' religious faiths.
Uzbekistan
Anti-Semitic fliers signed by Hizb ut-Tahrir have been distributed throughout
the country; however, these views were not representative of the feelings
of the vast majority of the population.
Jews generally are able to practice their religion in Uzbekistan, and there
were no reports of verbal harassment, physical abuse, or desecration of monuments
or cemeteries related to anti-Semitism. Respected Jewish community members
report they feel very welcome in the country.
The Government of Uzbekistan promotes anti-bias and tolerance education
in its eleventh grade history textbooks. The standardized textbook teaches
students about the horrors of the Holocaust, the Nazis' anti-Semitic policy,
extermination camps, and the number of Jews killed. In addition, Jewish organizations
regularly conduct seminars on Holocaust and anti-Semitism awareness.
Anti-Semitism in the Near East and North Africa Region
Society and legislation in nations in the region, except for Israel and Lebanon,
reflect the views of an overwhelmingly Muslim population and a strong Islamic
tradition. At times, both social behavior and legislation discriminated against
members of minority religions. Government efforts to limit or reprimand anti-Semitic
expressions have been infrequent, and governments in the region generally have
made only minimal efforts to promote anti-bias and tolerance education.
Anti-Semitic violence was almost entirely associated with anti-Israeli terrorism
and was not geographically widespread. Numerous attacks occurred in Israel
and in the Occupied Territories, and incitements to violence originated from
the Occupied Territories. As well, terrorist bombings in Morocco in May 2003
and at the Taba Hilton in Egypt in October were accompanied by communiqués
containing anti-Semitic as well as anti-Israeli statements. Terrorist organizations'
propaganda in the region frequently was anti-Semitic, as well as anti-Israeli.
Anti-Israeli sentiment linked to the Palestinian question was widespread
throughout the Arab population in the region and incorporated anti-Semitic
stereotypes in the print and electronic media, public discourse, religious
sermons, and the educational system. Additionally, there were some restrictions
on Jewish citizens' ability to participate in political life in Syria and
Yemen.
Anti-Semitism in the media was the most common form of anti-Semitism in
the region. Anti-Semitic articles and opinion pieces, usually rhetoric by
political columnists, were published, and editorial cartoons depicted demonic
images of Jews and Israeli leaders, stereotypical images of Jews along with
Jewish symbols, and comparisons of Israeli leaders to Hitler and the Nazis.
These expressions occurred in certain publications and were not common, but
they did occur without Government response in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman,
Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Anti-Semitic articles appeared periodically
in the Algerian press without Government response. Apart from Israel and
the settlements in the Occupied Territories, the Jewish population in the
region is very small. Most of the Jewish population that previously lived
in the region has migrated to Israel, Europe, and North America. The "American
Jewish Yearbook 2004" estimated the Jewish population in the region
to have been: Israel 4,880,000; West Bank and Gaza 220,000; Iran 11,000;
Morocco 5,500; Tunisia 1,500; Yemen 200; Egypt 100; and Syria 100.
Egypt
Anti-Semitic articles and opinion pieces in the print media and editorial
cartoons appeared in the press and electronic media. For example, on March
18, Abdelwahab Ads, deputy editor of Al Jumhuriya, accused the Jews of the
terrorist attack in Madrid on March 11 as well as of the September 11, 2001,
attacks.
On June 24 and July 1, the National Democratic Party (NDP) newspaper al-Lewa
al-Islami published articles by Professor Refaat Sayed Ahmed in which he
denied the Holocaust. On August 25, the NDP announced that it had banned
Professor Ahmed from future publishing, that the editor who approved his
article had been fired, and that the NDP and the Government rejected anti-Semitism
and acknowledged the reality of the Holocaust.
The Government reportedly has advised journalists and cartoonists to avoid
anti-Semitism. Government officials insisted that anti-Semitic statements
in the media are a reaction to Israeli government actions against Palestinians
and do not reflect historical anti-Semitism; however, there are relatively
few public attempts to distinguish between anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli
sentiment.
On January 5, the Supreme Administrative Court upheld a 2001 lower court
decision to cancel the Abu Hasira festival (for Jewish pilgrims) in the Beheira
Governorate. In 2003, the Ministry of Culture had designated Abu Hasira's
tomb as a "historic site" and ruled that an annual festival could
be held. Villagers around the shrine protested, claiming that the Jewish
visitors aggravated the locals with their drinking.
In December 2003, following international expressions of concern, the special
collections section of the Alexandria Library removed a copy of "The
Protocols of the Elders of Zion" from a display of religious manuscripts.
In a statement, the director of the library denied allegations that the book
had been displayed next to the Torah, but nonetheless stated that its inclusion
was a "bad judgment" and regretted any offense the incident might
have caused.
Iran
According to some NGOs, the media contained anti-Semitic content, including
articles and editorial cartoons. Although Jews are a recognized religious
minority with a reserved seat in parliament (the Majlis), allegations of
official discrimination were frequent. The Government's anti-Israeli policies,
along with a perception among radical Muslims that all Jewish citizens support
Zionism and Israel, created a hostile atmosphere for the 11,000-member community.
For example, many newspapers celebrated the 100th anniversary of the publication
of the anti-Semitic "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." Recent
demonstrations have included the denunciation of "Jews," as opposed
to the past practice of denouncing only "Israel" and "Zionism," adding
to the threatening atmosphere for the community.
The Government reportedly allowed Hebrew instruction; however, it strongly
discouraged the distribution of Hebrew texts, which made it difficult to
teach the language. Jewish citizens were permitted to obtain passports and
to travel outside the country, but they often were denied the multiple-exit
permits normally issued to other citizens. With the exception of certain
business travelers, the authorities required Jewish persons to obtain clearance
and pay additional fees before each trip abroad. The Government appeared
concerned about the emigration of Jewish citizens, and permission generally
was not granted for all members of a Jewish family to travel outside the
country at the same time. Jewish leaders reportedly were reluctant to draw
attention to official mistreatment of their community due to fear of government
reprisal.
Iraq
After the promulgation of the Transitional Administrative Law in February,
the former Governing Council addressed the question of whether Jewish expatriates
would be allowed to vote in the 2005 elections. It announced that they would
be treated like any other expatriate group. The Government has also denied
unfounded rumors (sometimes spread in flyers distributed by antigovernment
extremist groups) that Jewish expatriates were buying up real estate in an
attempt to reassert their influence in the country.
Israel
Palestinian terrorist organizations, including Hamas, Palestinian Islamic
Jihad, and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades attacked Israelis and sometimes issued
anti-Semitic statements following their attacks.
The Government has actively sought to enlist the international community,
including international organizations, to address anti-Semitism. Government
officials routinely traveled to other countries to discuss perceived problems
of anti-Semitism in those countries. Several local NGOs were dedicated to
promoting tolerance and religious co-existence. Their programs included events
to increase Jewish-Arab dialogue and cooperation.
Lebanon
Religious tolerance was integral to the country's political system; however,
the Arab-Israeli conflict and Israel's occupation of South Lebanon nurtured
a strong antipathy toward Israelis, and Lebanese media often reflected that
sentiment. Hizballah, through its media outlets, regularly directed strong
rhetoric against Israel and its Jewish population and characterized events
in the region as part of a "Zionist conspiracy."
The TV series, Ash-Shatat ("The Diaspora"), which centered on
the alleged conspiracy of the "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" to
dominate the world, was aired in October and November 2003 by the Lebanon-based
satellite television network Al-Manar, which is owned by the terrorist organization
Hizballah.
Morocco
Representatives of the centuries-old Jewish minority generally lived throughout
the country in safety; however, in September 2003, a Jewish merchant was
murdered in an apparently religiously motivated killing. During the May 2003
terrorist attacks, members of the Salafiya Jihadia targeted a Jewish community
center in Casablanca. After the attacks, Muslims marched in solidarity with
Jews to condemn terrorism. There have been thousands of arrests and many
prosecutions of persons tied to the May bombing and other extremist activity.
Annual Jewish commemorations normally took place around the country, and
Jewish pilgrims from around the region regularly came to holy sites in the
country. The Government actively promoted tolerance. Government officials
and private citizens often cited the country's tradition of religious tolerance
as one of its strengths.
Occupied Territories
Palestinian terrorist groups carried out attacks against Israeli civilians.
While these attacks were usually carried out in the name of Palestinian nationalism,
the rhetoric used by these organizations sometimes included expressions of
anti-Semitism.
The rhetoric of some Muslim religious leaders at times constituted an incitement
to violence or hatred. For example, the television station controlled by
the Palestinian Authority broadcast statements by Palestinian political and
spiritual leaders that resembled traditional expressions of anti-Semitism.
In a sign of positive change, the Friday sermon of December 3, broadcast
on Palestinian Authority Television, preacher Muhammad Jammal Abu Hunud called
for the development of a modern Islamic discourse, to recognize the "other," to
treat him with tolerance, and to avoid extremism and violence.
Saudi Arabia
There were frequent instances in which mosque preachers, whose salaries
are paid by the Government, used strongly anti-Jewish language in their sermons.
Although this language declined in frequency since the May 2003 attacks in
Riyadh, there continued to be instances in which mosque speakers prayed for
the death of Jews, including from the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Prophet's
Mosque in Medina.
Anti-Semitic sentiments, ranging from statements by senior officials to
editorial cartoons, were present in the print and electronic media. The local
press rarely printed articles or commentaries disparaging other religions.
NGOs have reported on intolerance in the Saudi education system, and in
particular the presence of anti-Semitic content in some school textbooks.
Saudi authorities have taken measures to address these concerns, including
in 2003 the wholesale review of textbooks to remove content disparaging religions
other than Islam.
The official Saudi tourism website previously contained a ban on the entry
of Jews among others into the Kingdom; on March 1, the Government removed
this ban from the site replacing it with a statement regretting "any
inconvenience this may have caused."
Syria
The Government barred Jewish citizens from government employment and exempted
them from military service obligations, due to tense relations with Israel.
Jews also were the only religious minority group whose passports and identity
cards noted their religion. Jewish citizens must obtain permission from the
security services before traveling abroad and must submit a list of possessions
to ensure their return to the country. Jews also faced extra scrutiny from
the Government when applying for licenses, deeds, or other government papers.
The Government applied a law against exporting any of the country's historical
and cultural treasures to prohibit the Jewish community from sending historical
Torahs abroad.
Several NGOs reported that the press and electronic media contained anti-Semitic
material. A Syrian production company created a TV series, Ash-Shatat ("The
Diaspora"), an anti-Semitic program, and filmed it inside the country.
The theme of this program centered on the alleged conspiracy of the "Elders
of Zion" to orchestrate both world wars and manipulate world markets
to create Israel. The show was not aired in the country, but it was shown
elsewhere. The closing credits of the programs give "special thanks" to
various government ministries, including the security ministry, the culture
ministry, the Damascus Police Command, and the Department of Antiquities
and Museums.
There were occasional reports of friction between religious faiths, which
could be related to deteriorating economic conditions and internal political
issues. For example, in 2003, there were reports of minor incidents of harassment
and property damage against Jews in Damascus perpetrated by persons not associated
with the Government. According to local sources, these incidents were in
reaction to Israeli actions against Palestinians.
Tunisia
Since 1999, the Government has not permitted registration of a Jewish religious
organization in Djerba; however, the organization performed religious activities
and charitable work unhindered. There were unconfirmed reports of a few incidents
of vandalism directed against the property of members of the Jewish community.
The Government took a wide range of security measures to protect synagogues,
particularly during Jewish holidays, and Jewish community leaders said that
the level of protection that the Government provided increased during the
reporting period. Government officials and private citizens often cited the
country's tradition of religious tolerance as one of its strengths.
United Arab Emirates
In August 2003, the Government closed the Zayed Centre for Coordination
and Follow-up, a local think tank that published and distributed literature,
sponsored lectures, and operated a website. The center published some materials
with anti-Jewish themes, and hosted some speakers who promoted anti-Jewish
views. The Government stated that it closed the center because its activities "starkly
contradicted the principles of interfaith tolerance" advocated by the
president.
Yemen
In June, the Government issued a press release accusing Jews in northern
Yemen of backing a rebellion in Sa'da; however, the Government shortly thereafter
retracted the statement. The media was prone to conspiracy stories involving
Jews and Israel. After the ruling party tried to put forward a Jewish candidate,
the General Election Committee adopted a policy barring all non-Muslims from
running for Parliament.
Anti-Semitism in the Western Hemisphere
Overall, anti-Semitism was not a widespread problem in the Western Hemisphere.
Countries such as Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, and Bolivia reported isolated
acts of anti-Semitic graffiti and anti-Semitic material on Internet sites,
mostly by small neo-Nazi and skinhead organizations. Authorities in these countries
investigated anti-Semitic incidents and prosecuted responsible parties.
Anti-Semitism remained a problem in Argentina. The number of reported anti-Semitic
incidents has stabilized in recent years, although there was an increase
in documented reports towards the end of the year. NGOs continued to report
vandalism of several Jewish cemeteries, threats to Jewish institutions, sales
of Nazi memorabilia, graffiti, and display of Nazi symbols. Authorities continued
investigations of anti-Semitic acts and launched public efforts to promote
interethnic and interreligious understanding.
Canada experienced an increasing number of anti-Semitic incidents in recent
years, including a school bombing, physical violence, and vandalism of synagogues,
schools, cemeteries, and private houses in predominantly Jewish neighborhoods.
B'nai B'rith Canada estimated 600 cases of anti-Semitism during the first
8 months of the year.
Argentina
There have been a number of recent anti-Semitic incidents. Notable incidents
during the reporting period included vandalism of Jewish cemeteries (including
the Israeli Cemetery of Ciudadela on the outskirts of Buenos Aires that was
vandalized on several occasions), numerous anti-Semitic remarks, threats
to Jewish institutions, sales of Nazi memorabilia, and graffiti and display
of Nazi symbols (including a school bus belonging to a Jewish school defaced
with Nazi symbols in November). In 2003, the Delegation of Israeli Argentine
Associations (DAIA) Center for Social Studies reported 177 anti-Semitic incidents.
DAIA had not compiled final figures for the year, but expected to report
a similar number of incidents as 2003. The DAIA noted that anti-Semitic incidents
made up 7 percent of the complaints received by the National Institute Against
Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism (INADI) in 2003.
A City of Buenos Aires legislator came under considerable attack following
accusations that she made anti-Semitic remarks to a city employee who she
subsequently fired. The city legislature investigated the case, and the legislator
admitted the facts and publicly apologized, but the legislature was unable
to obtain the necessary votes to sanction officially the legislator. INADI
issued its determination that the city legislator had committed "ethnic-religious
discrimination" under the provisions of the 1988 Federal Anti-discrimination
Act and will submit its finding to the city legislature, which may take up
the case again in its next session.
There were no developments in the investigations of the January 2002 desecration
of a Jewish cemetery in the Buenos Aires suburb of Berazategui, the April
2001 letter bomb received by Alberto Merenson, or in other open cases. The
Government also reported that there were no developments in the investigation
of the 1992 bombing of the Israeli Embassy. The investigation into the 1994
bombing of the AMIA cultural center, which killed 86 people, resulted in
the issuance of international arrest warrants for 12 Iranian officials and
a Lebanese national associated with Hizballah. In September, a 3-judge panel
acquitted 22 Argentinean defendants charged in connection with the bombing,
but the Argentine Government has pledged to continue the investigation and
efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Brazil
There were isolated reports of anti-Semitism, and there were signs of increasing
tension between Jewish and Muslim citizens. Leaders in the Jewish community
expressed concern over the continued appearance of anti-Semitic material
on Internet websites compiled by neo-Nazi and "skinhead" groups.
There were no reports of violent incidents directed at Jews during the reporting
period, although there were reports of anti-Semitic graffiti at synagogues,
Jewish cemeteries, and Jewish community centers in Campinas, Curitiba, and
Recife. There also were reports of harassment, vandalism, and several anonymous
bomb threats and threats of violence via telephone and e-mail during the
reporting period. In September 2003, the Supreme Court upheld a 1996 Rio
Grande do Sul state court conviction for racism of editor Siegfried Ellwanger,
who edited and wrote anti-Semitic books. The lower court's ruling sentenced
Ellwanger to a prison term of 2 years, although this sentence subsequently
was converted to community service.
Canada
According to the League for Human Rights of B'nai B'rith, the number of
anti-Semitic incidents has been steadily increasing over the last decade,
with the number of reports doubling from 2001 to 2003. B'nai B'rith reported
that there were 600 incidents of anti-Semitism during the first 8 months
of the year, surpassing the total reported during 2003.
During the reporting period, there were several acts of anti-Semitism at
schools, including the firebombing of a Jewish school in Montreal in April
and several incidents of hate speech at Ryerson University in Toronto. In
May, authorities arrested three persons in connection with the firebombing,
including two 18-year-old youths, and charged them with arson and conspiracy.
There were also numerous reports of vandalism at Jewish schools, cemeteries,
and synagogues during the reporting period. In June, vandals toppled more
than 20 gravestones in the historic Beth Israel cemetery in Quebec City,
a designated national historic site.
Senior government officials, including the Prime Minister, have acknowledged
that violence directed against the Jewish community was a growing problem
and condemned anti-Semitic acts when they have occurred.
Mexico
During the reporting period, the country's Jewish community did not encounter
violence, harassment, or vandalism. There were occasional protests associated
with the ongoing turmoil in the Middle East, but the Government acted quickly
to offer protection. In 2003, both houses of Congress unanimously passed
the Federal Law for Preventing and Eliminating Discrimination. The law's
fourth article explicitly mentions anti-Semitism as a form of discrimination.
Uruguay
In April, anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements were painted in and around
Jewish cemeteries. The graffiti was quickly painted over by authorities,
although no arrests were made. In 2002, a limited outbreak of anti-Semitic
graffiti and propaganda received media attention. Several citizens, including
a former minister, were defamed in the graffiti, and there were reports of
harassment by telephone. In response, the police arrested three juvenile "skinheads" and
confiscated their weapons. The adolescents were indicted and were awaiting
trial at year's end.
Venezuela
Statements by senior government officials supporting Iraq's Saddam Hussein
and Islamic extremist movements raised tensions and intimidated the country's
Jewish community. There were several reports of anti-Semitic graffiti at
synagogues in Caracas and two reported threatening phone calls made to Jewish
community centers. In August, President Chavez cautioned citizens against
following the lead of Jewish citizens in the effort to overturn his referendum
victory. Anti-Semitic leaflets also were available to the public in an Interior
and Justice Ministry office waiting room.
In November, the Venezuelan Investigative Police searched the Jewish Day
School in Caracas, claiming to have reports of weapons cached on the school
grounds. According to media reports, rumors of an Israeli connection to the
assassination of a Venezuelan federal prosecutor prompted the search. (The
federal judge who issued the search warrant was also leading the investigation
into the prosecutor's death.) The police found nothing, but their 3-hour
search disrupted the school day and alarmed parents. Leaders of the Jewish
community expressed outrage following the incident.
Anti-Semitism in East Asia and the Pacific
Anti-Semitism was not a widespread problem in East Asian Pacific countries,
where Jewish communities were small. There were overt anti-Semitic incidents
in Australia and New Zealand where the communities were somewhat larger.
Australia
The Federal Parliament and most state and territory legislatures passed
motions condemning racism against the Jewish community following publication
of an Executive Council of Australian Jewry report that noted a continuing,
significant level of anti-Semitic attacks. There was a small decrease in
anti-Semitic incidents in Australia this year compared to 2003, in contrast
to the gradual increase seen in recent years. On January 5, anti-Semitic
slogans were burned into the lawns of the Parliament House in the state of
Tasmania. Between February and July, several Asian businesses and a synagogue
in Western Australia's capital city of Perth were firebombed or sprayed with
racist graffiti. In August, a Perth court convicted three men, two of whom
were associated with the Australian Nationalist Movement, a Neo-Nazi group,
for their roles in the attacks. The ANM members were sentenced to jail for
periods of 7 and 10 months.
New Zealand
In August and September, headstones of Jewish graves were smashed or desecrated
in two cemeteries in and around Wellington and Wanganui, and a Jewish prayer
house was burned in the Wellington area. The Government condemned these actions,
and an investigation was ongoing at year's end. The heads of the city's Muslim
and Jewish communities said that they believed anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim
attacks there were the work of someone outside their communities who wished
to incite racial tension between them. The Human Rights Commission, which
is Government funded, actively promoted tolerance and anti-bias on the issue.
Malaysia
In an October 2003 speech to the summit of the Organization of the Islamic
Conference in the country, then-Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that, "Jews
ruled this world by proxy." Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who succeeded
Mahathir 2 weeks after the speech, subsequently emphasized religious tolerance
towards all faiths. During the period, the Government promoted Islam "Hadhari",
which emphasized tolerance towards other religions and a moderate, progressive
interpretation of Islam.
Anti-Semitism in South Asia
Anti-Semitism is not an issue of any significance in India, nor in the smaller
South Asian countries, specifically Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives,
Nepal, and Bhutan.
Pakistan
Although there are very few Jewish citizens in the country, anti-Semitic
press articles are common in the vernacular press. NGO sources point out
that since India's 1992 establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel,
the Pakistani media, both mainstream and Islamic, sometimes refers to India
as the "Zionist threat on our borders." Nonetheless, the attitude
of the media is not reflected in the actions of the Government. The Government
cooperated in the capture of those responsible for the 2002 abduction and
killing of Wall Street Journal Correspondent Daniel Pearl.
Anti-Semitism in Africa
With the exception of the occasional report of an anti-Semitic article appearing
in newspapers, anti-Semitism in general was not a problem throughout sub-Saharan
Africa. There are very small Jewish populations in most African countries,
and embassy reports overwhelmingly indicate that they do not face problems.
The vast majority of governments generally respect religious freedom.
South Africa
South Africa has largest populations of Jews on the continent with an estimated
80,000. While there were occasional reports of desecration and vandalism
or verbal or written harassment, no violent incidents were noted during the
reporting period.
IZVEŠTAJ O GLOBALNOM ANTISEMITIZMU
Objavila Kancelarija za demokratiju, ljudska prava i rad
5. januar 2005.
I. Antisemitizam
Antisemitizam uznemirava svet vekovima. Uzet u svom najdalekosežnijem i
najnasilnijem ekstremu, holokaustu, antisemitizam je za rezultat imao smrt
miliona Jevreja i patnju nebrojeno mnogo drugih ljudi. Subtilnije, manje
opake forme antisemitizma su poremetile živote mnogih, desetkovale su verske
zajednice, stvorile društveno i političko cepanje i zakomplikovale odnose
među zemljama kao i rad međunarodnih organizacija. Za jedan sve više međusobno
zavisan svet, antisemitizam je nepodnošljiv teret.
Sve učestaliji i ozbiljniji incidenti antisemitizma od početka 21. veka,
posebno u Evropi, primorali su međunarodnu zajednicu da se fokusira na antisemitizam
sa obnovljenom odlučnošću. Napadi na pojedince Jevreje i jevrejsku imovinu
su se događali odmah nakon Drugog svetskog rata, da bi se vremenom smanjili
i uglavnom bili povezivani sa vandalizmom ili kriminalnim delima. U skorašnjoj
prošlosti, incidenti su po prirodi imali određeni cilj i pokazalo se da njihovi
izvršioci namerno napadaju Jevreje i judaizam. Ovakvi napadi su poremetili
osećaj sigurnosti i blagostanja jevrejskih zajednica.
Definisanje antisemitizma je bio glavna tema velikog broja diskusija i studija.
Iako ne postoji univerzalno prihvaćena definicija, postoji jasno shvatanje
šta ovaj termin podrazumeva.
U svrhu ovog izveštaju, pod antisemitizmom se podrazumeva mržnja prema Jevrejima
– pojedincima i kao jednoj grupaciji – koja se može pripisati jevrejskoj
veri i/ili etničkoj pripadnosti. Veoma važno pitanje je razlika između legitimne
kritike upućene politici i praksi države Izrael i tumačenja koje ima antisemitski
karakter. Demonizacija Izraela ili klevetanje izraelskih lidera, ponekad
poređenjem sa vođama nacističkog pokreta i korišćenjem nacističkih simbola
da bi se oni predstavili, pre pokazuje jednu antisemitsku predrasudu nego
opravdanu kritiku politike koja se odnosi na neki kontroverzni problem.
Globalni antisemitizam je poslednjih godina imao četiri glavna izvora:
· Tradicionalna antijevrejska predrasuda koja prožima Evropu i neke zemlje
u drugim delovima sveta već vekovima. Ona uključuje ultranacionaliste i druge
koji tvrde da jevrejska zajednica kontroliše vlade, medije, međunarodno poslovanje
i svet finansija.
· Veoma jak antiizraelski sentiment koji prelazi liniju između objektivnog
kriticizma izraleske politike i antisemitizma.
· Antijevrejski sentiment izražen od strane nekih rastućih muslimanskih populacija
u Evropi, a koji je zasnovan na dugopostojećoj antipatiji prema Izraelu i Jevrejima,
kao i muslimanskom suprotstavljanju događajima u Izraelu i okupiranim teritorijama
i nedavno u Iraku.
· Kritika upućena i Sjedinjenim Državama i globalizaciji koja se prostire do
Izraela, kao i Jevrejima generalno koji su se identifikovali sa oboje.
II. Uznemiravanje, vandalizam i fizičko nasilje
Evropa i Evroazija
Antisemitizam je u Evropi značajno ojačao u poslednjih nekoliko godina.
Istovremeno treba uzeti u obzir da mnoge evropske zemlje imaju sveobuhvatne
sisteme za izveštavanje koji registruju sve incidente mnogo potpunije nego
što je to moguće u drugim zemljama. Zbog ove značajne razlike u sistemu izveštavanja
nije moguće napraviti direktno poređenje između zemalja ili geografskih regiona.
Počevši sa 2000. godinom, broj verbalnih napada usmerenih protiv Jevreja
se povećao, kao i broj i intezitet incidenata vandalizma (grafiti, paljenje
jevrejskih škola, skrnavljenje sinagoga i grobalja). Broj fizičkih napada
uključujući prebijanje, ubode nožem i druge vrste napada na Jevreje u Evropi
je značajno porastao, i u izvesnom broju slučajeva rezultat su bile ozbiljne
povrede pa čak i smrt. Takođe je problematična predrasuda koja se preliva
u anitsemitizam u nekim od štampanih medija koje su levo od centra i među
nekim intelektualcima.
Uznemiravajući porast antisemitskog zastrašivanja i incidenata je veoma
raširen u Evropi, mada sa značajnim varijacijama u broju slučajeva i tačnosti
izveštavanja. Evropske vlade u mnogim zemljama gledaju na antisemitizam kao
na ozbiljan problem u svojim društvima i demonstriraju veću spremnost da
se bave ovim problemom. Evropski centar za praćenje sa sedištem u Beču (EUMC)
je za 2002. i 2003. godinu identifikovao Francusku, Nemačku, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo,
Belgiju i Holandiju kao članice Evropske unije sa značajnim porastom incidenata.
Budući da ove nacije imaju pouzdane i sveobuhvatne statističke podatke o
antisemitiskim delima, i angažovane su u borbi protiv antisemitizma, njihovi
podaci su bili odmah dostupni EUMC. Vlade i vodeće javne ličnosti su osudile
nasilje, donele su nove zakone i omogućile pozitivnu primenu zakona i obrazovnih
programa.
U Zapadnoj Evropi se tradicionalne, krajnje desničarske grupe, još uvek
smatraju odgovornim za značajan procenat napada na Jevreje i njihove posede;
siromašna i otuđena muslimanska omladina je umnogome bila odgovorna za većinu
drugih incidenata. Verovatno je da će ovaj trend potrajati budući da broj
Muslimana u Evropi nastavlja da raste, dok nivo njihovog obrazovanja i ekonomskih
mogućnosti ostaje ograničen.
U Istočnoj Evropi, gde je muslimanska populacija znatno manja, pripadnici
»Skinheads« grupa i drugi članovi radikalnih političkih krila su bili odgovorni
za najveći broj antisemitskih incidenata; ipak rešenje ovog problema još
uvek kasni. Krajem 2003. godine, i nastavljajući se u ovoj godinu, neki Jevreji,
a posebno oni koji žive u Evropi, su se suočili sa dilemom da li da skrivaju
svoj identitet ili da se suoče sa uznemiravanjem, a ponekad čak i ozbiljnim
telesnim povredama i smrću. Jak psihološki pritisak u ovom sve težem okruženju
ne bi smeo biti zanemaren ili podcenjen.
III: Mediji
Uvećavanjem broja medija (televizija, radio, štampani mediji i internet)
se značajno uvećala mogućnost da snadbevači antisemitskim materijalom šire
svoju propagandu neometano. Zakoni koji zabranjuju govor mržnje obezbeđuju
neku vrstu zaštite ali sloboda govora koja je tako dobro čuvana u nekim zemljama
Zapada ograničava preventivne mere koje bi vlade mogle preduzeti. Satelitski
televizijski program se veoma lako premešta sa jednog na drugog provajdera,
a internet ponude prelaze međunarodne granice sa veoma malo ili nimalo teškoća.
OEBS je u junu organizovao poseban sastanak u Parizu i pozabavio se netolerancijom
na internetu, i odmah nakon toga je odobrio odluku o “Promovisanju tolerancije
i slobode medija na internetu.” Odluka je po prirodi propis i pažljivo je
predstavljena da bi se izbegao konflikt sa različitim zakonodavnim sistemima
zemalja članica OEBS-a. Ovom odlukom se pozivaju zemlje članice da istraže
i u potpunosti krivično gone kriminalne pretnje nasilja zasnovane na antisemitizmu
i drugim vrstama netolerancije na internetu, kao i da ustanove programe za
obrazovanje dece o govoru mržnje i drugim formama predrasuda.
Kritičari Izraela često koriste anitsemitske stripove koji prikazuju antijevrejske
slike i karikature da bi napali državu Izrael i njenu politiku, kao i jevrejske
zajednice i sve one koji podržavaju Izrael. Takvim napadima preko medija
mogu nedostajati bilo kakvi izgovori ravnoteže ili čak činjenice i mogu se
usredsrediti na demonizaciju Izraela. Sjedinjene Države su često cilj takvih
napada koji ne tako retko tvrde da se američka spoljna politika kreira u
Izraelu i da Jevreji kontrolišu medije i finansijska tržišta, u Americi i
ostatku sveta. Za vreme predsedničke kampanje 2004. godine u Americi, arapska
štampa je objavila brojne karikature pažljivo identifikujući obe glavne američke
političke stranke sa Izraelom i sa izraelskim premijerom Šaronom.
“Protokoli sionskih mudraca”, tekst koji je raskrinkan pre mnogo godina
kao falsifikat koji je napravila caristička tajna policija, nastavio je da
se pojavljuje u medijima Srednjeg Istoka, i to ne kao obmana već kao zasnovana
činjenica. Televizija koju finansira vlada u Siriji je emitovala dugi serijal
zasnovan na Protokolima. Prezentacije su naglašavale antisemitski mit o ritualnom
ubijanju i navodnu kontrolu koju jevrejska zajednica ima nad međunarodnim
finansijama. Veoma jasna namera programa je bila da izazovu mržnju prema
Jevrejima i Izraelu. Kopije Protokola i sličnih antisemitskih falsifikata
su bile lako dostupne u zemljama Srednjeg Istoka, bivšoj Sovjetskoj Republici
i u mnogim drugim zemljama. Slično ovome, naširoko su bile rasprostranjene
optužbe da Jevreji stoje iza napada koji su se dogodili 11. septembra.
U novembru 2004. godine, Al-Manar, televizijska mreza iz Libana koju kontroliše
Hizbalah koji prikazuje neprikladan antisemitski materijal, dobila je ograničenu
jednogodišnju dozvolu za emitovanje u Francuskoj. Ista je odmah povučena
zbog stalnog emitovanja antisemitskih materijala. Al-Manar se više ne emituje
u Francuskoj. Druge televizijske mreže sa Srednjeg Istoka čiji su programi
takođe sumnjivi, kao što su Al-džazira i Al-arabija su zadržale svoje dozvole
za emitovanje.
IV: Akcije koje preduzimaju vlade
U Evropi i drugim geografskim regionima, mnoge vlade su postale značajno
svesne pretnje koju predstavlja antisemitizam i jasno se izjašnjavaju protiv
istog. Neke od njih su preduzele efikasne mere u borbi protiv antisemitizma
i među njima su Francuska, Belgija i Nemačka koje sada obezbeđuju povećanu
zaštitu članovima jevrejskih zajednica i njihovoj imovini.
Reagovanje policije na antisemitske incidente je uglavnom bilo neujednačeno.
Najveći broj službenika koji primenjuju zakon nije posebno obučen da se bori
sa kriminalnim radnjama podstaknutim mržnjom, a posebno anitsemitskim. Policija
ponekad okarakteriše takva kriminalna dela kao huliganstvo ili manja kriminalna
dela, a ne kao napade na Jevreje zbog njihove etničke pripadnosti ili vere,
ili zbog toga što su napadači identifikovali žrtve sa postupcima države Izrael.
U zemljama gde je antisemitizam ozbiljan problem, specijalizovana obuka
namenjena policiji i članovima sudstva i dalje je preka potreba. Mnoge nacije
još uvek nemaju zakone koji regulišu kriminalna dela izazvana mržnjom, a
odnose se na antisemitizam i druga kriminalna dela vezana za toleranciju.
U nekim slučajevima gde taj zakon i postoji potrebna je mnogo efikasnija
primena.
V. Multilateralne akcije
Antisemitizam je globalni problem koji zahteva koordinisani multinacionalni
pristup. Stoga, najefikasniji pokretač za međunarodnu saradnju je OEBS, sastavljen
od 55 zemalja članica iz Evrope, Evroazije i Severne Amerike uključujući
i partnere iz Mediterana i Azije. OEBS je organizovao dve inicijatorske konferencije
o antisemitizmu – u Beču, juna 2003. godine i u Berlinu aprila 2004. godine.
Ovo su bile prve međunarodne konferencije koje su usmerile pažnju političara
najvišeg ranga isključivo na problem antisemitizma. Konferencija u Beču je
identifikovala antisemitizam kao pitanje ljudskih prava.
Ministri spoljnih poslova članica OEBS-u su izrazili dalju političku potvrdu
ozbiljnosti antisemitizma na svom sastanku u Mastrihtu u decembru 2003. godine.
Tamo su zauzeli zvanični stav i objavili potrebu da se bore protiv antisemitizma
dajući zadatak OEBS-ovoj Kancelariji za demokratske institucije i ljudska
prava (ODIHR) da bude sabirno mesto gde će se prikupljati sve informacije
o kriminalnim radnjama podstaknutim mržnjom. Ta kancelarija sada sarađuje
sa zemljama članicama OEBS-a na prikupljanju informacija o zakonodavstvu
koje se odnosi na kriminalna dela podstaknuta mržnjom i na promovisanju »najboljih
primera u praksi« u oblastima primene zakona, borbe protiv kriminalnih dela
podstaknutih mržnjom, i obrazovanja. ODIHR je ustanovila Program o toleranciji
i nediskriminaciji i sada ima jednog savetnika koji radi isključivo na ovom
problemu.
Ministri spoljnih poslova članica OEBS-u su na sastanku u Sofiji decembra
2004. godine pozdravili odluku predsedavajućeg da imenuju tri specijalna
predstavnika za pitanja tolerancije, uključujući i specijalnog predstavnika
za antisemitizam, da rade sa zemljama članicama na sprovođenju posebnih akcija
u borbi protiv antisemitizma. Pored toga, ministri su prihvatili ponudu španske
vlade da bude domaćin treće konferencije o antisemitizmu koja će se održati
u Kordobi juna 2005. godine.
Ujedinjene nacije su takođe preduzele veoma važne mere u borbi protiv antisemitizma.
Jedna od tih mera je bio seminar o antisemitizmu juna 2004. godine čiji je
domaćin bio generalni sekretar Kofi Anan. Druga mera je bila rezolucija Trećeg
odbora Ujedinjenih nacija novembra 2004. godine koja je pozvala na eliminaciju
svih formi verske netolerancije, posebno uključujući antisemitizam.
Obrazovanje ostaje potencijalno moćan protivotrov za antisemitizam i druge
forme netolerancije. Nakon Prve štokholmske konferencije novembra 1998. godine
sazvane zbog brige o opadajućem nivou znanja o holokaustu posebno kod mlađe
generacije, Švedska, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo i SAD su odlučile da ovaj problem
oslove zajednički. Iz ovog inicijalnog napora je nastala Operativna grupa
za međunarodnu saradnju o obrazovanju, podsećanju i istaživanju holokausta
(IFT).
Danas se IFT, jedna neslužbena međunarodna organizacija koja funkcioniše
po principu konsenzusa, i bez postojanja birokratije, sastoji od 20 zemalja.
Zemlje članice IFT-a su se dogovorile da se posvete Deklaraciji Štokholmskog
međunarondog foruma o holokaustu i njenoj primeni. Sadašnje zemlje članice
IFT-a su: Argentina, Austrija, Češka Republika, Danska, Francuska, Nemačka,
Mađarska, Izrael, Italija, Latvija, Litvanija, Luksemburg, Holandija, Norveška,
Poljska, Rumunija, Švedska, Švajcarska, Ujedinjeno Kraljevstvo, i SAD. Pored
pvoh, četiri druge zemlje (Hrvatska, Estonija, Grčka, Slovačka) održavaju
kontakt sa ITF-om.
VI. Akcije koje vlada SAD sprovodi da bi pratila i borila se protiv antisemitizma
Vlada SAD je posvećena praćenju i borbi protiv antisemitizma širom sveta
kao veoma važnom pitanju ljudskih prava i slobode veroispovesti. Kako je
predsednik Buš rekao prilikom potpisivanja Dekreta o Globalnom izveštaju
o antisemitizmu 16. oktobra 2004. »Odbrana slobode takođe znači i zaustavljanje
antisemitizma.«
Američki Stejt department jednom godišnje objavljuje Međunarodni izveštaj
o slobodi veroispovesti i Izveštaj o ljudskim pravima po zemljama. Instrukcije
koje je američki Stejt department dao američkim ambasadama za Izveštaj o
ljudskim pravima po zemljama za 2004. godinu eksplicitno zahteva od ambasada
da opišu nasilne činove protiv Jevreja i jevrejske imovine, kao i kakve akcije
preduzimaju vlade da bi se sprečila ova forma netrpeljivosti i predrasude.
U multilateralnim forumima, Stejt department je zahtevao prepoznavanje porasta
antisemitizma i razvoja posebnih mera koji bi se na njega odnosile. Department
je imao vodeću ulogu u postizanju dogovora u OEBS-u da održi dve konferencije
na temu borbe protiv antisemitizma koje su spomenute u odeljku V. Bivši gradonačelnik
Njujorka Rudolf Đulijani je predvodio delegaciju SAD na konferenciji u Beču,
a Edvard Koš u Berlinu. Svojim bogatim iskustvom i znanjem obojica su doprineli
podsticanju poštovanja za manjine u multikulturalnim zajednicama. Glavne
nevladine organizacije su produktivno sarađivale sa Departmentom na pripremanju
ovih konferencija. U svom obraćanju na konferenciji u Berlinu, sekretar Pauel
je rekao:«Ne smemo dozvoliti da se oslobodimo antisemitskih zločina kao pratećih
efekata međuetiničkih konflikata koji se nisu mogli izbeći. Političko neslaganje
ne opravdava fizičke uvrede izrečene na račun Jevreja, uništavanje jevrejskih
škola, ili skrnavljenje sinagoga i grobalja. Ne postoji opravdanje za postojanje
antisemitizma.« Sjedinjene Države su u Ujedinjenim nacijama podržale obe
rezolucije koje osuđuju antisemitizam koje su donele Generalna skupština
i Komisija za ljudska prava.
Veoma važna lekcija holokausta je da netrpeljivost i netolerancija mogu
voditi ka budućim zločinima i genocidu ukoliko joj vlade i drugi sektori
društva energično ne obrate pažnju. SAD su posvećene bilateralnom radu na
promovisanju zajedničkih akcija sa drugim vladama u cilju obuzdavanja i smanjenja
porasta antisemitizma. Predsednik Buš je potvrdio tu posvećenost za vreme
posete Aušvicu i Birkenu 2003. godine, kada je rekao:«Ovo mesto je otrežnjujući
podsetnik da se, kada otkrijemo antisemitizam u Evropi, Americi ili bilo
gde drugo, moramo udružiti i boriti protiv tih mračnih pobuda.«
Američke ambasade sprovode ovaj zadatak govoreći protiv dela antisemitizma
i mržnje. Ambasador i ostali zaposleni u ambasadama rade sa lokalanim jevrejskim
zajednicama da bi ohrabrili pripravne akcije policije protiv kriminalnih
dela mržnje. U Turskoj je američka ambasada usko sarađivala sa jevrejskom
zajednicom nakon bombaškog napada na sinagogu Neve Šalom novembra 2003. godine.
Na Srednjem Istoku su naše ambasade protestovale kod tamošnjih vlada protiv
prakse koja dozvoljava njihovim institucijama da promovišu antisemitizam,
kao što su bile veoma gledane TV serije »Jahač bez konja« i »Dijaspora« koje
su pojedinačno promovisale novinarsku patku ritualnog ubijanja i »Protokole
sionskih mudraca«. Američki bilateralni demarši su bili efikasni u određenim
istancama, ali je dosta toga ostalo da se uradi po pitanju ohrabrivanja nacionalnih
lidera da jasno i glasno govore protiv antisemitizma i da podrže tolerantna
društva koja zaslužuju poštovanje.
Gradeći na uspehu koji je do sada postignut, Stejt department ubrzava svoje
globalne napore zajedno sa svojim partnerima da bi pobošljao kako praćenje
tako i borbu protiv antisemitizma u tri bitne oblasti: obrazovanju, zakonodavstvu
i policiji. Department će nastaviti da promoviše razvoj nastavnog plana o
holokaustu i programa za obučavanje nastavnika. Uspešan program u ovoj oblasti
je letnja škola za obuku nastavnika koja se delimično finansira preko američkih
ambasada, a u saradnji sa Udruženjem američkih organizacija holokausta (AHO)
i Američkog muzeja o holokaustu (USHMM). Oktobra 2004. godine, na OEBS-ovom
sastanku »Ljudska dimenzija«, SAD i Francuska su bile domaćini seminara o
metodologijama učenja o holokaustu u multikulturalnim društvima. Amerika
takođe podržava rad nevladinih organizacija u promovisanju obrazovnih programa
u inostranstvu, delimično zasnovanim na uspešnim seminarima u SAD koji uče
poštovanju prema drugima i manjinskim grupama. Pored toga, američki Stejt
department podržava sve napore usmerene ka promociji tolerancije u obrazovnom
sistemu Saudi Arabije finansirajući putovanja verskih edukatora u SAD, kako
bi izučavali međuversko obrazovanje.
Koreni antisemitizma zadiru duboko i Sjedinjene Države ne podcenjuju teškoće
u uklanjanju nedavnog oživljavanja ovog starog zla. Zakonodavne i izvršne
grane zajedno sa nevladinim oranizacijama konstituišu jedan značajan partnerski
odnos u nastavljanju sa vitalnim naporima da pronađu kreativne načine da
prate, lokalizuju i konačno zaustave antisemitizam.
Antisemitizam u Evropi i Evroaziji
Antisemitizam je bio široko raspostranjen problem u regionu mada su ozbiljnost
i obim zlostavljanja značajno varirali među pojedinim zemljama. Za period
koji ovaj izveštaj pokriva, najozbiljniji incidenti antisemitizma –prebijanje
i ostalo fizičko zlostavljanje – su se desili u 12 zemalja. Dvadesetosam
zemalja je izvestilo o verbalnom uznemiravanju dok se skrnavljenje grobalja
i sinagoga dogodilo u trideset zemalja. Skorašnji porast antijevrejskog osećanja
u Zapadnoj Evropi je često bio prouzrokovan događajima na Srednjem Istoku
ili je bio proizvod raznih antiizraelskih stavova.
U šesnaest zemalja Evrope i Evroazije bilo je jedva nekoliko ili uopšte
nije bilo antisemitskih incidenata u skorijoj prošlosti. Ovaj izveštaj ne
daje sažet opis svih incidenata već se usredsređuje na ilustrativne ili posebno
značajne slučajeve. U Evropi broj prijavljenih incidenata u nekim zemljama
odražava ne samo dubinu problema već takođe i podrobno izveštavanje o antisemitizmu
od strane civilnih društava, predstavnika vera, i samih vlada. Kao rezultat
ovoga, ponekad postoji neuravnoteženost u obimu izveštaja po zemljana koji
je u daljem tekstu.
Reagovanje vlada je takođe variralo. Mnoge evropske vlade su efikasno sudski
gonile počinioce ili one koji podstiču antisemitske incidente ili uznemiravanje,
dok su druge imale među svojim članovima one koji su davali antisemitske
izjave ili diskriminisali Jevreje. Mnogi evropski lideri su osuđivali antisemitizam
i pozivali na toleranciju, a nekoliko zemalja se priključilo Savetu Evrope
i proglasilo Dan sećanja na holokaust. Na konferenciji o antisemitizmu koja
je održana juna meseca 2003. godine, OEBS je pozvao zemlje članice da ojačaju
svoju opredeljenost da osude rasističku i etničku mržnju, uključujući i antisemitizam,
da preduzmu efikasne planove i akcije i demonstriraju svoju opredeljenost
u praksi. Kao rezultat ovoga, neke zemlje su već sprovele svoje akcione planove.
Srbija i Crna Gora
Prema novinskoj agenciji Forum 18, od jula 2003. godine počinjeno je više
od 50 činova vandalizma nad imovinom verskih institucija. Mnogi od ovih napada
su bili ispisivanje grafita sprejom, gađanje kamenicama ili pisanje po nadgrobnim
spomenicima, ali jedan broj slučajeva je uključivao značajniju štetu. Postojao
je izvestan broj incidenata u kojima su nadgrobni spomenici oskrnavljeni,
uključujući i jevrejska groblja.
Jevrejski lideri u Srbiji su izvestili o stalnom porastu antisemitizma na
internetu i česte pojave anitsemitskog govora mržnje u knjigama malih tiraža.
Pojavljivanje novih knjiga (ili prevoda antisemitske strane literature) često
je vodilo povećanju mržnje i drugih izraza antisemitizma. Ovi izvori su povezali
antisemitizam sa antizapadnim i antiglobalnim osećanjima, kao i etničkim
nacionalizmom.
Srpski sudovi su otpočeli 2002. godine sa zakonskim postupcima u slučaju
Savić, u kome se autoru antisemitske literature sudi za širenje rasističke
ili nacionalne mržnje kroz pisane medije. Prema izvorima iz jevrejske zajednice,
sud je doneo izvestan broj odlaganja u ovom procesu. Poslednje odlaganje
koje je dato da bi se uradio psihijatrijski pregled optuženog traje već više
od godinu dana.
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