EU Asked To Combat Racism

Five European governments appealed Thursday for joint European Union action to combat racism after a spate of attacks on Jewish targets from Marseille to Kiev.

The appeal came in a joint statement from France, Britain, Germany, Spain and Belgium, after a rash of violence which has sparked fears that tension in the Middle East is spilling over into the streets of Europe.

"Racist and xenophobic violence constitute a total violation of the principles of liberty, democracy and human rights, the founding principles of the European Union," they said in a joint statement issued by their interior ministries.

Citing "serious international tension in the Middle East in particular," they asked justice and interior ministers of the 15 EU states to address the issue at scheduled talks on April 25.

There has been a sharp rise in anti-Semitic attacks in Europe -- ranging from anti-Jewish graffiti to assaults on Jews and their schools, synagogues and shops -- since Israel launched an offensive in the Palestinian territories on March 29.

"We are seeing a transfer of the conflict to Europe and as Jews, we are paying the price, which is intolerable," said Diane Sheinberg of the European Union of Jewish Students.

"Jews are being stigmatized as Israelis, whereas these are two very different things," she said.

Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior said the wave of attacks was the worst since World War Two, while French Jewish leaders raised fears of another "Kristallnacht," a reference to a pogrom in Nazi Germany in 1938.

In the western German town of Herford, vandals daubed anti-Semitic graffiti on a synagogue this week, including the words "Six million were not enough," a reference to the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

Even in the traditionally tolerant Netherlands, Orthodox Jews, identified by the way they dress, have suffered sporadic verbal abuse, mainly from foreigners.

"It's a very new and surprising thing for Jews in the Netherlands," said Ruben Vis, spokesman for the country's Organization of Jewish Communities.

The brunt of the assaults has been in France, home to western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations.

French police are now investigating about a dozen anti-Semitic attacks daily, even in traditional ethnic melting pots like the Mediterranean port city of Marseille.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which monitors global neo-Nazi activity, last week issued an advisory to its members urging "extreme caution" when traveling to France and Belgium.

Prime Minister Lionel Jospin Thursday announced a bolstering of government measures against anti-Semitic attacks. "Any act of violence against Jews is an assault on our national community as a whole," he said.

Despite the official condemnations, some Jewish leaders say authorities turned a blind eye for too long to anecdotal evidence that anti-Semitic attacks and sentiment were on the increase even before the Middle East conflict deepened.

"Unfortunately, traditional anti-Semitism has not disappeared," said Serge Cwajgenbaum, secretary-general of the Paris-based European Jewish Congress.

The threat of EU trade sanctions against Israel and a resolution by the U.N. human rights body condemning Israel for "mass killings" were seen as evidence of the hardening of the anti-Israel mood in Europe.

However Cwajgenbaum expressed confidence that the tide would soon turn. "We are feeling small signs of a reversal in public opinion toward greater moderation," he said.

The European Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia, based in Vienna, said there was no proof as yet of a direct correlation between the Middle East conflict and the attacks.

"Of course, you can elaborate on the situation and say what is going in some European member states is a reflection of what is going on in the Middle East, but who is guilty or not guilty, you cannot say," said spokesman Bent Sorensen.

That position is echoed by Muslim organizations, who caution against automatically blaming their community for the attacks.

When skinheads beat up Jewish worshipers and smashed windows at the main synagogue in Kiev, Ukrainian police denied the attack was anti-Jewish, blaming football supporters.

Ukraine's Chief Rabbi Moshe Azman linked the assault to the Middle East conflict, but added that he was satisfied with the official investigation, which has led to eight arrests so far.

Nonetheless, local leaders stepped up security in synagogues across the country amid fears that violence will peak with the anniversary of Adolf Hitler's birthday on April 20.

Meanwhile, Denmark's far-right Danish People's Party (DPP) filed a motion in parliament Thursday to ban a Muslim group called Hizb-ut-Tahrir after it handed out leaflets in Copenhagen calling for the murder of Jews.