Is anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe?

Daniel Flynn:

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Europe, particularly in Russia and Britain, while many governments are failing to keep pledges to fight the trend, delegates to an international conference said on Wednesday.

Almost half the 55 members of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) missed commitments to provide data to track hate crimes made at a major conference in Berlin last year, OSCE Chairman Dimitrij Rupel told a follow-up meeting in the southern Spanish city of Cordoba.

Just three countries -- the United States, Britain and Canada -- gave reliable and thorough data, the Vienna-based OSCE added in a report.

"It is not a question of whether they are not following up properly -- they haven't even done the basic reporting," complained George Pataki, governor of New York state and head of the U.S. delegation to the conference.

The OSCE's Berlin conference in April 2004 ended with a ringing pledge to fight resurgent anti-Semitism in Europe by bolstering law enforcement, boosting Holocaust education and stepping up monitoring of attacks on Jews and their property.

But the OSCE's special representative on combatting anti-Semitism, Gert Weisskirchen, said there was still a lot to be done to implement the Berlin agreement while available data suggested anti-Semitism had worsened in 2004.

"If you had a full picture, it would show there is growing tide of anti-Semitism all over the OSCE," he told Reuters, adding the Russian federation showed a worrying intensity of anti-Jewish violence. "We have seen an increase in incidents: especially in Russia, Great Britain and some other places."

Spain and anti-Semitism

Europe told to do more to combat anti-Semitism

Imam Says Discrimination Against Muslims has Risen

CORDOBA: WHAT IS A GREATER PROBLEM – ANTI-SEMITISM OR ISLAMOPHOBIA