Shorts: World

Poll says French see anti-Semitism all around them

paris (jta) | Seventy percent of French citizens think anti-Semitism is a widespread phenomenon in France, according to a recent poll.

But 91 percent of the 1,000 people surveyed by the French Association of Friends of the University of Tel Aviv said an acquaintance's Jewishness would have "no effect whatsoever" on them, as opposed to 83 percent who said this in 1987.

Ninety-five percent said they wouldn't care if they had a Jewish doctor; 92 percent would think nothing of having a Jewish boss. Nine percent said they would be opposed to having a Jewish son- or daughter-in-law, and 17 percent would be opposed to the election of a Jewish president.

Some members of the Jewish community have criticized the poll for ignoring areas of France, such as heavily Muslim suburbs of Paris, where anti-Semitic attitudes are believed to be more prevalent.




Anti-Semitism forum opens in Spain

madrid (jta) | The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Conference on Anti-Semitism and Other Forms of Intolerance opened in Spain.

New York Gov. George Pataki, leading the U.S. delegation, warned representatives from 55 European and North American governments that "we must not allow the disease of anti-Semitism to infect another generation."

For the first time, the OSCE's annual meeting on anti-Semitism has been merged with discussions on prejudice against other groups. The two-day conference was held in Cordoba, a city where Jews, Christians and Muslims coexisted during the Middle Ages.




Filipino envoy sorry for 'Gestapo' remark

manila (jta) | The Filipino ambassador to Israel apologized for comparing Israeli immigration police to the Gestapo.

After meeting with Israeli officials this week, Antonio Modena apologized for the remarks, made in reference to Israeli sweeps of illegal foreign workers, many of them Filipino, that have lead to deportations.




Argentina cancels Holocaust-era order

buenos aires (jta) | Argentina's Foreign Ministry announced this week that it would repeal a 1938 memorandum ordering Argentine diplomats not to issue visas and safe-conduct passes for Jews.

It was the latest in a number of moves by President Nestor Kirchner's government to differentiate itself from other Argentine governments that supported or abetted the Nazis and closed doors to Jewish immigration before, during and after World War II.

Two weeks ago, the Foreign Ministry removed a plaque honoring 12 diplomats for their efforts on behalf of Jews during the war, after evidence emerged that at least one of the honored diplomats had done nothing to save 100 Argentine Jews living in Greece, Poland and Holland from being shipped to concentration camps, even after the Nazis had offered to send them back to Argentina.




Israelis flee turmoil in Bolivia

la paz (jta) | Two dozen Israeli trekkers were airlifted out of the strife-torn South American country of Bolivia this week to Peru, en route to Tel Aviv.

Within hours, the Israeli Foreign Ministry arranged for the evacuation of another 150 Israelis marooned at a hotel in La Paz.

Uri Nir, Israel's ambassador to Bolivia, told Israel Radio that Bolivian police escorted the departing Israelis to the airport to ensure their safe departure. "It is not a huge distance, but there are many problems en route," Nir said.




Kiev forum calls for Jews to be deported

kiev (jta) | Participants at an anti-Zionist conference in Kiev called for the deportation of Jews from Ukraine.

The call came from one of the participants in the June 3 meeting in the Ukrainian capital. David Duke, a U.S. white supremacist, presided over the one-day conference, titled "Zionism as the Biggest Threat to Modern Civilization."

A number of Ukrainian politicians and public figures took part in the conference, including Levko Lukyanenko, a member of Parliament from the bloc headed by Prime Minister Yulia Timoshenko.

The conference, which billed itself as an academic event, was held at the Interregional Academy of Personnel Management, or MAUP, Ukraine's largest private university, whose leaders have a history of anti-Semitism.




Religious leaders remember victims of Stalin's regime

moscow (jta) | Participants in an interfaith forum in Moscow paid respect to clerics of different faiths killed by Stalin. Religious leaders representing Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish communities from some 30 countries who gathered in Moscow for a two-day interfaith forum were present at the impromptu ceremony organized this week by a Russian rabbi and a cantor.

Rabbi Zinovy Kogan, who organized the ceremony, said the location of the forum prompted him to invite a cantor from his Moscow synagogue on stage to recite a Jewish prayer.