US Jewish leader wants world conference to fight anti-Semitism

Malcolm Hoenlein, CEO of the the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, called on Tuesday for an international conference on anti-Semitism, saying the “intensifying challenge” of rising anti-Jewish incidents around the world required global mobilization.

Noting similar gatherings in the 1970s that launched campaigns to end the persecution of Jews in the former Soviet Union, Hoenlein said reports of hate crimes were on the rise in both the US and Europe.

“There have been many reports of physical assaults, intimidation, harassment, and verbal and physical violence,” he said.

Hoenlein sought to enlist the leaders of the US, UK, Germany “and other prominent world leaders from every sector including government, education, religion, culture, entertainment, law enforcement and legislators—all who influence public opinion.”

Though Jews were the target of these hate crimes, Hoenlein said, “it is the responsibility of all to engage in the struggle and to mobilize the resources to counter this intensifying challenge and, in particular, the use of social media to spread messages of hate and incite to violence. There must be a universal policy of zero tolerance of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry. Violators must know they will be held to account.”

A report by Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry last month found a marked increase in anti-Semitic incidents throughout the world during 2016, in particular in Western countries with emerging far-right movements.

Germany, the UK, US and Poland all saw a significant uptick in anti-Jewish sentiments, according to the document.

And in a statement on January’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres spoke of thriving anti-Semitism amid “a deeply troubling rise in extremism, xenophobia, racism and anti-Muslim hatred.”

US President Donald Trump denounced anti-Semitism Tuesday, a day after bomb threats were made to 11 Jewish community centers across the country in the fourth such wave in just over a month and a Jewish cemetery was vandalized in the St. Louis area.

Under pressure to condemn anti-Semitism in the wake of what has been called an uptick in incidents since he was elected, Trump told MSNBC on Tuesday morning, “Anti-Semitism is horrible and it’s going to stop, and it has to stop.”

The president made the remarks at the National Museum of African-American History and Culture in Washington, DC, after taking a tour. His daughter Ivanka, who is Jewish, was with him on the tour; a day earlier she had called for the protection of religious institutions in a tweet using the hashtag #JCC.

Asked by reporter Craig Melvin if his statement meant he was denouncing anti-Semitism “once and for all,” Trump replied: “Of course, and I do it whenever I get the chance to do it.”

Last week, Trump was asked during a news conference about the previous JCC bomb threats and what the government’s response would be to “an uptick in anti-Semitism.” Although the reporter did not suggest Trump was anti-Semitic, the president answered by denying he is an anti-Semite and called the question “insulting.” He ordered the reporter to sit down, and did not answer the question.

Jewish groups and political leaders have called on Trump to speak out against anti-Semitism, especially in light of the JCC bomb threats.

Meanwhile, the Simon Wiesenthal Center called on US Attorney General Jeff Sessions to set up a task force to catch the callers behind the threats.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Jewish human rights NGO said it also called on Trump to outline his administration’s plan to combat what the center called “surging anti-Semitism.”

The statement said the center appreciated “the efforts made by law enforcement to protect people of all faiths,” but added that “given the current circumstances,” it was urging Sessions to create the task force “with the assignment of identifying and capturing the culprit or culprits who seek to terrorize American Jewry through their threats.

“The multi-pronged threats of anti-Semitism today demand concerted action,” Rabbis Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, dean and associate dean of the center, respectively, said in the statement. “We look to President Trump to take a leadership role in addressing the problem of anti-Semitism and hate in America head-on in a speech at a time and place of his choosing.”