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Powell: Demonizing Israel is Anti-Semitism

(State Department) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell told the Conference on Anti-Semitism of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Thursday: Today, we confront the ugly reality that anti-Semitism is not just a fact of history, but a current event. We are appalled that in recent years the incidence of anti-Semitic hate crimes has been on the increase within our community of democratic nations. All of us recognize that we must take decisive measures to reverse this disturbing trend. Our states must work together to combat anti-Semitism by word and deed. We need to create a culture of social tolerance and civic courage, in which anti-Semitism and other forms of racial and religious hatred are met with the active resistance of our citizens, authorities, and political leaders. We must send the clear message far and wide that anti-Semitism is always wrong and it is always dangerous. We must send the clear message that anti-Semitic hate crimes are exactly that: crimes, and that these crimes will be aggressively prosecuted. 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. It is not anti-Semitic to criticize the policies of the State of Israel. But the line is crossed when Israel or its leaders are demonized or vilified, for example by the use of Nazi symbols and racist caricatures.
2004-04-29 00:00:00
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