Jewish Agency Chairman, Sallai Meridor, welcomed the decision by the UN Human Rights Commission to condemn anti-Semitism, calling it "A significant step in the right direction". He praised both the Jewish communities in the diaspora and Israel's foreign ministry for intensive efforts which led to the decision.

At the same time, Meridor called for further action on two fronts: "I call upon the UN to also formally condemn anti-Zionist incitement , which is rooted in the hatred of, and discrimination against the Jews as a people and their national state. This incitement is the most prominent expression of modern anti-Semitism."

Likewise, the Jewish Agency Chairman called upon the leaders of those nations which voted to condemn anti-Semitism to pass laws in their own national parliaments, which prohibit anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist occurrences, provide for mandatory minimum sentences and are properly enforced .

"Exactly 60 years after the Holocaust, we find anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism again rearing their heads: in the Arab world, on American college campuses, in the citadels of European democracy, in major cities of Australia and Canada, and throughout the Arab and Moslem worlds. The nations of the world must excise these "cancerous" developments from their body politic, while greatly increasing their efforts in the realms of education, legislation, enforcement, and sentencing," said Meridor.

Last Updated November 28, 2004