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Developments On Anti-Semitism In Europe

By Howard M. Friedman

This week brought two developments regarding anti-Semitism in Europe. According to JTA, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the first world leader to sign the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism. The document was adopted last week by representatives of 40 countries at the first London Conference on Antisemitism. The Feb. 19 Jewish Chronicle reports on the Conference. Anti-Semitic incidents in Britain were at an all-time high in January in the wake of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Meanwhile, in France 80-year old cartoonist Maurice Sinet (known as Siné) was acquitted Tuesday by a French court in Lyon on charges of inciting racial hatred against Jews. The charges In a controversial move last year, Siné was fired from the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo over an article in which he wrote that Jean Sarkozy, son of French president Nicolas Sarkozy, "would go far in life" as a result of marrying a Jewish heiress and converting to Judaism. The International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism then pressed criminal charges. JTA reports that the Lyon court based its acquittal on the right to "freedom of expression on religious sentiments," saying that an opinion that is shocking does not necessarily incite racial hatred. (See prior related posting.)

Full post as published by Religion Clause on February 26, 2009 (boomark / email).