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Thread ID: 20210 | Posts: 1 | Started: 2005-09-14
2005-09-14 19:20 | User Profile
Merkel pledges anti-Semitism fight
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Germany's Angela Merkel has promised a legal and educational campaign against anti-Semitism if she succeeds in her bid to oust Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, according to an interview published Wednesday in Israel's Haaretz daily.
Merkel, front-runner in opinion polls ahead of Sunday's election, said she intends to step up Israel-German student exchange programs as one measure to increase awareness of anti-Semitism in Germany.
A June 2005 survey of anti-Semitic sentiment in Germany by New York-based Jewish watchdog the Anti-Defamation League shows intolerance of Jews slightly down from last year but still prevalent.
The ADL reported three cases of desecration of Jewish cemeteries in Germany between January and April this year, while in March a giant Nazi swastika symbol was carved onto a frozen lake on the flight path to Berlin's Tegel airport.
"We will fight with determination against this and use all legal means at our disposal," Merkel told Haaretz. "It is important to heighten the society's awareness of the meaning of anti-Semitism, which means the hatred of mankind."
The issue is one of special sensitivity in German-Israel relations, which are intertwined with the memory of the six million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust.
Merkel also praised Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon's pullout from the Gaza Strip -- a policy the Israeli government has dubbed "disengagement" -- as a move which could revitalize prospects for Middle East peace.
"With the disengagement, Prime Minister Sharon took a very bold step that allows me to look optimistically toward the future," she said. "This step can create a new approach in Israel toward the peace process."
How bad can "anti-semitism" be in Germany when the front-runner is anti-anti-semite fanatic. The ADL reports a little cemetery vandalism and so fighting anti-Semitism must be made the German national priority?
Can someone jog my memory, what is "anti-semitism"? Hatred of mankind? What about the Jews'/Isrealis'/Talmud's anti-gentilism?
[URL=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/09/14/germany.merkel.ap/index.html]link[/URL]