Jewish Congress reveals banned report

PARIS, Dec 2 (AFP) – The European Jewish Congress (EJC) announced Tuesday it has released a previously suppressed European Union report that blames Islamic radicals for whipping up anti-Semitism in Europe.

The document is available in English on the congress’ web site, www.crif.org.

The report was commissioned by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia in Vienna, an EU body. But the centre has acknowledged holding up its publication because it was “of poor quality and lacking in empirical evidence”, a decision that had been widely cricitized.

Since most EU countries have large Muslim minorities, the report is considered to be potentially inflammatory.

The head of the Paris-based EJC, Serge Cwajenbaum, said the report, which was written by the Berlin Centre for Research on anti-Semitism, was “honest and reflects what we ourselves believe on the ground”.

The report says: “In the extreme left-wing scene, anti-Semitic remarks were to be found mainly in the context of pro-Palestinian and anti-globalization rallies and in newspaper articles using anti-Semitic stereotypes in their criticism of Israel.

“Often this generated a combination of anti-Zionist and anti-American views that formed an important element in the emergence of an anti-Semitic mood in Europe.”

It noted that the anti-Semitic and fictitious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” and Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” appeared on Arab, pro-Palestinian web sites.It also said European Jews had been made “hostages” of Israeli politics.

© AFP

                                                                Subject: French news