Anti-Semitism: 'New, virulent and lethal.'

Ruth Gledhill's blog
February 15, 2009

'Silence is not an option. The time has come not only to sound the alarm, but to act. For as history taught us only too well, while it may begin with Jews, it does not end with Jews.' These are the words of Irwin Cotler, a former Attorney General for Canada and counsel to Nelson Mandela, Natan Sharansky and many others. These words are not to be taken lightly. I've been granted an exclusive preview of the paper he is presenting at a conference in London this week that begins this evening.

We all know anti-Semitism's bad. Conferences have taken place time and time again to counter it, and it just continues. So what makes this event different? As the Jewish Chronicle reports, this is the first one ever that brings together senior Parliamentarian's from around the world, nearly 100 from 40 countries, people who will listen, and who have the power to go back to their own countries and make a difference. It's hosted by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and an international parliamentary committee set up to fight this oldest of hatreds. How pernicious an evil it is can be understood in the context of just a few recent events. the rest