More than 250 youth organization delegates from France, and other European countries as well, took part in a weekend conference in Strasbourg, France. They plan to fan throughout the Paris school system and distribute information kits, including a lexicon of terms explaining terms such as Judaism, racism and terror.
The students also plan to seek help from non-Jewish students to “reveal the lies and mistakes concerning Jews.”
Jewish Agency official Amos Hermon said, "We will also continue information programs on campuses, and we will campaign to fight against pro-Palestinian propaganda and anti-Semitism." The Jewish Agency co-sponsored the conference, along with the World Zionist Organization and the Israeli Ministry for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.
“Almost every Jewish student in Europe, no matter what country, has experienced some form of anti-Semitism this past year,” he said. “In the first half of 2004, there was a 60% rise in anti-Semitic incidents.” Hermon said that verbal and physical attacks against Jews occur at schools and supermarkets, in the street and on soccer fields.
“The situation is simply getting worse,” he added. “There have been incidents in which a Jewish student has returned home from his neighborhood school after his teacher made a racist comment against his Jewishness.”
Israeli Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky addressed the conference at its closing session on Sunday. The closing ceremony was held in a nearby Jewish cemetery, where vandals desecrated close to 100 graves with anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas last month. The poignant evidence of the anti-Jewish hatred is still there, due to the ongoing police investigation.
The students also plan to seek help from non-Jewish students to “reveal the lies and mistakes concerning Jews.”
Jewish Agency official Amos Hermon said, "We will also continue information programs on campuses, and we will campaign to fight against pro-Palestinian propaganda and anti-Semitism." The Jewish Agency co-sponsored the conference, along with the World Zionist Organization and the Israeli Ministry for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.
“Almost every Jewish student in Europe, no matter what country, has experienced some form of anti-Semitism this past year,” he said. “In the first half of 2004, there was a 60% rise in anti-Semitic incidents.” Hermon said that verbal and physical attacks against Jews occur at schools and supermarkets, in the street and on soccer fields.
“The situation is simply getting worse,” he added. “There have been incidents in which a Jewish student has returned home from his neighborhood school after his teacher made a racist comment against his Jewishness.”
Israeli Cabinet Minister Natan Sharansky addressed the conference at its closing session on Sunday. The closing ceremony was held in a nearby Jewish cemetery, where vandals desecrated close to 100 graves with anti-Semitic graffiti and swastikas last month. The poignant evidence of the anti-Jewish hatred is still there, due to the ongoing police investigation.