License to kill, courtesy of the United Nations
The State Department's report on Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism is dedicated to the memory of Tom Lantos and is in fact a useful document. The report observes, for example:
New forms of anti-Semitism have evolved. They often incorporate elements of traditional anti-Semitism. However, the distinguishing feature of the new anti-Semitism is criticism of Zionism or Israeli policy that—whether intentionally or unintentionally—has the effect of promoting prejudice against all Jews by demonizing Israel and Israelis and attributing Israel’s perceived faults to its Jewish character.Stories such as this AP account flag the new UN report by special rapporteur John Dugard. Dugard's provides an appalling example of the role playled by the United Nations in disseminating the most virulent forms of contemporary anti-Semitism. The report essentially licenses terrorism against Israel. Dugard explains that there are two kinds of terrorism -- one "mindless" and the other killing Israelis in the name of "national liberation." The latter is "inevitable," according to Dugard.This new anti-Semitism is common throughout the Middle East and in Muslim communities in Europe, but it is not confined to these populations. For example, various United Nations bodies are asked each year on multiple occasions to commission investigations of what often are sensationalized reports of alleged atrocities and other violations of human rights by Israel. Various bodies have been set up within the UN system with the sole purpose of reporting on what is assumed to be ongoing, abusive Israeli behavior. The motive for such actions may be to defuse an immediate crisis, to show others in the Middle East that there are credible means of addressing their concerns other than resorting to violence, or to pursue other legitimate ends. But the collective effect of unremitting criticism of Israel, coupled with a failure to pay attention to regimes that are demonstrably guilty of grave violations, has the effect of reinforcing the notion that the Jewish state is one of the sources, if not the greatest source, of abuse of the rights of others, and thus intentionally or not encourages anti-Semitism.
Dugard's report arrived too late to be recognized properly in the State Department's report on global anti-Semitism, but Eye on the UN has posted a petition protesting Dugard's report.
