Political heavyweights address conference on anti-Semitism

“Anti-Semitism and other prejudices have no place in our society,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel

If you can judge the weight politicians give an issue by their participation in conferences, then western parliamentarians consider manifestations of anti-Semitism of grave concern.

From March 13 to 15 in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel delivered an address to the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism (ICCA). She was joined at the conference by the country’s justice minister, as well as representatives of all the country’s political parties.

The fact the gathering – the third after similar conferences in the United Kingdom (2009) and Canada (2010) – was held in Germany was “important symbolically and substantially,” said Irwin Cotler, the former Canadian justice minister who was instrumental in creating the ICCA.

“It was a very representative and compelling expression of German leadership,” he added.
Speaking March 14 to more than 100 legislators from some 40 countries, Merkel said “Anti-Semitism and other prejudices have no place in our society.”

READ: MAKE NO MISTAKE ABOUT IT, EUROPEAN ANTI-SEMITISM IS BACK

“If gravestones are defaced, then our country itself is defaced. If synagogues are vandalized, this shakes the foundations of our free society,” Merkel said.

Cotler noted that the event was held 80 years after the German parliament enacted the Nuremberg race laws, which targeted Jews, adding to its significance.

He said a “common theme” that ran through the conference was that “anti-Semitism is the oldest and most enduring of hatreds, and most lethal, and it is rearing its ugly head again today.”

What’s more, parliamentarians recognize that Israel has emerged as a target of anti-Semites as a “Jew among the nations.”

Cotler, who recently founded the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, said Merkel’s address was particularly powerful. She condemned anti-Semitism and pledged that Germany will combat it by all means necessary.

According to news reports, Merkel said demonstrators who call for the destruction of Israel are simply “giving vent to hatred of Jews.” In so doing, they “abuse the fundamental rights in our country to freedom of association and expression.”

As part of the conference, Cotler chaired a panel on the legal response to anti-Semitism. The justice ministers of Israel, Germany, Britain and Australia participated, while Ana Birchall, chair of the committee on European affairs of the chamber of deputies of Romania, was the panel respondent.

Israeli Apartheid Week and the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement were specifically addressed by the panel, and Michael Gove, Britain’s secretary of state for justice, noted that the United Kingdom will not provide public funds to bodies calling for BDS targeting Israel, Cotler said.

Jewish News Online reported from Britain that Gove pointed out that, “Jews still live in fear” of modern manifestations of anti-Semitism.

“In the Middle Ages, anti-Semitism was focused on the religious identity of Jewish people… Today, it targets the collective identity of the Jewish People,” he said.

READ: JEWS NEED ALLIES TO FIGHT ANTI-SEMITISM, SAYS RABBI SACKS

Cotler said parliamentarians left the conference recognizing the need to adopt a common definition of anti-Semitism. Current “developed indices” refer to claims of Jewish power and control over the media, but new indices are needed for more contemporary manifestations of anti-Semitism, he said.

Cotler suggested “genocidal anti-Semitism,” such as the Iranian call to eliminate Israel and the demonization of Israel through accusations of apartheid and racism, should be accepted as part of the definition.

Adopting a common definition could lead to more effective information gathering, monitoring and law enforcement while providing a tool when approaching Internet service providers (ISPs) over concerns Internet users are violating an ISP’s code of conduct, he said.


With files from JTA

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