Annan sees 'alarming resurgence' of anti-Semitism

Secretary-General Kofi Annan declared yesterday there was an "alarming resurgence" of anti-Semitism in the world and called for UN bodies to adopt resolutions and investigate the ancient scourge.

Greeted by a standing ovation, Mr Annan opened the first UN-organised conference devoted entirely to anti-Semitism amid charges from Jewish leaders that the world body was concentrating on the Palestinian cause at the the expense of Israelis.

"When we seek justice for the Palestinians - as we must - let us firmly disavow anyone who tries to use that cause to incite hatred against Jews, in Israel or elsewhere," Mr Annan told the gathering, which included a wide spectrum of American Jewish leaders and representatives of other religions.

Mr Annan said it was hard to believe that 60 years after the Holocaust that anti-Semitism was rearing its head.

"But it is clear that we are witnessing an alarming resurgence of this phenomenon in new forms and manifestations," he said. "This time the world must not, cannot be silent."

Mr Annan called on UN member states to adopt a resolution to combat anti-Semitism, similar to one approved in April by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. This said that "political issues including those in Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East never justify anti-Semitism."

He also said the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights, should examine anti-Semitism with the same diligence it looked into racism against Muslims in various parts of the world.

"Are not Jews entitled to the same degree of concern and protection?" Mr Annan asked.

Author Elie Wiesel, the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, said he thought anti-Semitism had perished in the Auschwitz death camp, but "only the Jews perished there."

Mr Wiesel said that discriminating against Jews often translated into hatred against all minorities and "those who are different."

"When we urge you to fight anti-Semitism. It is because we want to save other people as well," he said.

Jewish leaders point to dissent in the Arab world they say is descending into expressions of extreme anti-Semitism and a flurry of incidents in Europe they feel have not been characterised as human rights violations or excused as a reaction to Israeli Prime Minister Aerial Sharon's policies.

But there was little discussion of anti-Semitism in the United States where there are about five million Jews, slightly more than in Israel.

Melvyn Weiss, a panelist from the Israel Policy Forum, said watchdog groups needed to analyse the media. For example, the German government's stand against anti-Semitism had shown positive results whereas anti-Semitic cartoons had appeared in Swiss papers.

At the United Nations, the Human Rights Commission this year mentioned anti-Semitism in three resolutions on racism. But member states were silent on calls for a special report on the subject. The General Assembly committee also rejected a resolution on anti-Semitism.

But while most speakers complimented Mr Annan, Anne Bayefsky, a professor and fellow at the Hudson Institute think tank, did not.

To cheers from the audience, Ms Bayefsky said that the United Nations was selective. Israel was demonised but nothing was said against human rights violations in countries such as Saudi Arabia. She castigated the United Nations for an "inability to confront the corruption of its agenda."

But Felice Gaer, a human rights expert from the American Jewish Committee, who has sat on numerous UN commissions, said Mr Annan's address was "forthright and unique in UN history. "It's as good as it gets," she told Reuters.