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Combat New Wave of Anti-Semitism
(Newsday) Rep. Tom Lantos - Sixty years ago, the staggering magnitude of the Holocaust began to come to light when Allied forces liberated the Nazi death camps. In remembrance of that moment, world leaders will gather at the end of this month at the site of Auschwitz in Poland, and the UN will hold a special session of its General Assembly Monday. But the commemorations will be deprived of their full meaning if we fail to take a good look around at the world of today, now facing the most virulent upsurge in anti-Semitism since the gates of Auschwitz were flung wide. In a first-ever Report on Global Anti-Semitism, which was mandated by Congress and issued earlier this month, the U.S. State Department took note of hundreds of incidents around the world. Governments should implement hate-crime monitoring, create school curriculum materials to combat bigotry, and ensure that police and members of the judiciary are well-trained to recognize and deal with anti-Semitic incidents, rather than dismissing them as mere hooliganism. And they need to set an example from the top ranks of government by condemning all manifestations of anti-Semitism. There should not be room on this Earth for acts of racial or religious hatred. They should be accounted for and stopped cold.