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Released by the Bureau of Democracy,
Human Rights, and Labor
January 5, 2005
http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/40258.htm
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:
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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.
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Strong anti-Israel sentiment that crosses the line
between objective criticism of Israeli policies and anti-Semitism.
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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.
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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.
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