Huff Post: Secretary of State John Kerry performed an important public service on May 20 by personally announcing the release of the U.S. State Department’s 2012 Report on Religious Freedom, which contains the disturbing findings that anti-Semitism and Islamophobia are on the rise in countries around the world. Bad news is never welcome, yet Secretary Kerry deserves praise for highlighting the dangerous growth of anti-Jewish and anti-Muslim bigotry and for making a compelling case that both Islamophobia and anti-Semitism are closely related pathologies that should be opposed by people of conscience everywhere.
The State Department’s linking of anti-Semitism and Islamophobia is not a new development. From early in the Obama Administration, Hannah Rosenthal, former Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, and Farah Pandith, the Special Representative to Muslim Communities, made frequent joint public appearances to show that Jews care about Islamophobia and Muslims about anti-Semitism.
Categories: Americas