Growing anti-Semitism raises concern

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WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- A U.S. State Department official says growing Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic textbooks are a troubling international trend.

Hannah Rosenthal, the State Department's special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, said reports of anti-Semitic incidents are up in 75 of the 193 countries her office monitors.

Rosenthal said she is paying particular attention to growing Holocaust denial and anti-Semitic textbooks, particularly in Saudi Arabia, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

Wednesday marked the 73rd anniversary of Kristallnacht, or Night of Broken Glass, a series of attacks on Jews in Germany and Austria that is considered to be the start of the Holocaust.

Rosenthal, whose grandfather -- a young rabbi -- was arrested on Kristallnacht and sent to a concentration camp, said she recently met with officials who assured her they have taken anti-Semitic references out of textbooks.

She said she is also working with two State Department envoys to Muslim communities.

"I will define success," she told the newspaper, "when non-Jews are condemning anti-Semitism and Jews are condemning hatred of Muslims and hatred of other vulnerable populations."