- In another test of America's frayed relations with France,
Russia and other allies, the US Congress has ordered the State Department
to start rating governments throughout the world on their treatment of
Jewish citizens.
-
- The resulting report cards on anti-Semitism would be
published in annual US surveys of human rights abuses around the world.
-
- The proposed law was passed by the House of Representatives
on Monday, in response to what its sponsors called an alarming surge in
anti-Semitism, especially in Europe. It has already been passed by the
Senate.
-
- Congress overruled strong opposition from diplomats at
the State Department who complained in an internal memo that a special
focus on Judaism, "opens us to charges of favouritism and challenges
the credibility of our reporting".
-
- There is little doubt that the new law will create diplomatic
waves.
-
- France, Russia, Malaysia, Egypt, Canada and Australia
were singled out by congressional sponsors of the law as countries that
had witnessed disturbing outbreaks of discrimination against Jews in the
past year.
-
- The law, the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act, also ordered
the establishment of an office at the State Department dedicated to monitoring
anti-Semitism, again over the department's protests.
-
- The resulting internal row must now be resolved by President
George W Bush as the legislation heads to his desk from Congress. With
the act overwhelmingly backed by both parties, officials in Congress said
they expected he would sign it into law.
-
- A three-page State Department memorandum, leaked to The
Telegraph yesterday, complained that congressional plans would throw US
human rights reporting "out of balance", and "erode our
credibility by being interpreted as favouritism in human rights reporting".
-
- In a sign of the diplomatic anxieties, the State Department
argued for anti-Semitism monitoring to remain a task conducted behind closed
doors, by the department's existing "special envoy for holocaust issues".
-
- At the moment, US diplomats discreetly gather data on
anti-Semitism from other governments, in multilateral conferences held
in Europe and an annual international religious freedom round table sponsored
by Washington.
-
- "There is no need for the special envoy to hold
public hearings, take testimony or receive evidence to effectively monitor
and combat anti-Semitism," said the memo, which was sent to congressional
sponsors of the new law.
-
- Tom Lantos, a California Democrat and Holocaust survivor
who was one of the sponsors, denounced State Department talk of "favouritism"
as an alarming nod to "the worst stereotypes of Jews perpetrated in
anti-Semitic tracts throughout modern history".
-
- Mr Lantos said the objections from diplomats overlooked
existing offices at the State Department dedicated to promoting religious
freedom, women's rights, and Tibetan rights.
-
- He did not touch directly on the risk of offending French
or other allied sensibilities.
-
- Lynne Weil, his communications director, said: "It's
unclear why anyone would be offended by this.
-
- "If a government takes offence at this, that government
should be offended by the acts of its own citizens, if they are hateful."
-
- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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