Jewish Groups: European Commission ‘Anti-Semitic’

Two of the world’s most important Jewish organizations have accused the European Commission of anti-Semitism. In a guest commentary for the Financial Times, the president of the World Jewish Congress, Edgar Bronfman, and the president of the European Jewish Congress, Cobi Benatoff, wrote: "Anti-Semitism can be expressed in two ways: by action and inaction. Remarkably, the European Commission is guilty of both." The writers took the Brussels executive to task both for releasing a poll in November in which Israel was named the greatest threat to world peace and for censoring a study that reported on the involvement of Muslim minorities in incidents of mounting European anti-Semitism. "Both of these actions were politically motivated, demonstrating a failure of will and decency" wrote Bronfman and Benatoff. "Outside Israel, the majority of the world's violent anti-Semitic attacks took place in Western Europe. For the EU to hide these facts reeks of intellectual dishonesty and moral treachery," the men wrote. (EUobserver.com)