House subcommittee sets hearing on ‘worsening’ anti-Semitism
The chairman of the House subcommittee on human rights
convened a hearing on anti-Semitism, saying it was worsening, especially in
Europe.
The hearing, called by U.S. Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.),
will take place Wednesday.
"It is getting demonstrably worse all over the
world, but especially Europe," Smith, who also co-chairs the U.S. Helsinki
Commission, the congressional body monitoring human rights, told JTA. "The
Middle East is a cauldron of anti-Semitic hate, but much of that hatred is
spilling out through the Muslim Diaspora and through satellite
television."
Smith cited recent spikes in reported incidents of
anti-Semitism in Britain and France, and noted that it emerges from the far
left and right as well as from Islamists.
"This is one of the times when far right and far
left meet at the end of the circle," he said.
The first panel to be heard by the committee will garner
testimony from Mormon and Muslim experts on anti-Semitism in order to emphasize
that the phenomenon is not a Jewish problem exclusively, Smith said.
Another panel will focus on Europe and include testimony
from Rabbi Andrew Baker, the top official dealing with anti-Semitism at the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as well as experts from
Hungary and Sweden.
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