Global anti-Semitism is “alive and kicking,” according to Information and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, who headlined a conference focusing on the issue Wednesday. Edelstein said that not one day goes by without an expression of hatred against Jews. Ministers, lawmakers, legal experts, academics, and heads of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations from more than 50 countries are gathering to discuss ways to grapple with the problem. More than 500 participants will attend the “2009 Global Forum for Combating Anti-Semitism,” set for Wednesday and Thursday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Jerusalem. "The goal of the global forum is to formulate coalitions and coordinate activity in the struggle against anti-Semitism in all its forms and against the de-legitimization of Israel, including the war on racism and xenophobia," Edelstein said. "At present, when Jews around the world are in danger of their lives and when the State of Israel is under repeated assaults that border on anti-Semitism of the worst kind, this conference is especially important. Anti-Semitism is alive and kicking. Hardly a day passes without displays of hatred against Jews in the world. If we do not see fit to act, a major anti-Semitic attack is only a question of time," he added. The opening session begins Wednesday with addresses by Minister Edelstein, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Professor Yehuda Bauer and Anti-Defamation League Director Abraham Foxman. Also participating will be the Foreign Minister of Lithuania; Canada’s Ministers of Citizenship, Culture and Immigration; and the Czech Republic’s Minister of Human Rights. Forum participants will discuss current incidents of anti-Semitism around the world, with an emphasis on the relationship between those events and the efforts to de-legitimize of the State of Israel. Included in the discussions will be issues relating to internet anti-Semitism and nationalistic trends in Central and Eastern Europe. Among the conference events taking place Wednesday will be a ceremony in the Knesset which will include the lighting of the sixth Chanukah candle by the Speaker of the Knesset. Five members of the Inter-Parliamentary Committee of the Coalition to Fight Anti-Semitism (ICCA) will be presented with special awards at the ceremony, as well as Lord Gerald Jenar, who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award.
