Anti-Semitism
conference opens in Spain

Delegates from 55 European and North American governments opened a conference Wednesday on anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance, gathering in Cordoba, Spain, a richly symbolic venue where Jews, Muslims, and Christians once lived in harmony. In a report released to coincide with the conference, New York-based Human Rights First said racist, anti-Semitic, and other bias-based violence is up dramatically in much of Europe. In Britain, for instance, anti-Semitic personal assaults doubled in 2004 over the previous year, and violent hate crimes against gay men in France more than doubled from 2002 to 2003, said the organization, formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. But the most pervasive racist violence in Europe and North America consists of low-level incidents such as property damage, insults, and threats. The organization said this is the form of racism that is "arguably the most threatening to the largest number of people, whether in the United Kingdom, Moscow, the Paris suburbs, or in mini-marts or motels in Arkansas or Southern California." Rabbi Andrew Baker, head of international Jewish affairs for the American Jewish Committee, said Jews in Europe are not experiencing the surge in anti-Semitic violence that they did two years ago but that their level of anxiety nonetheless remains high. "People have a sense that the sort of safety and security, psychologically as well, that was present until a few years ago has disappeared. And I don't know when that will return," Baker said in an interview Tuesday. He said some European governments, in particular France, tended to ignore or minimize attacks against Jews and not acknowledge that Muslim minorities in their countries were the source of many attacks. (AP)