Samantha Power condemns anti-Semitism at Berlin conference

BERLIN, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- The recent rise of anti-Semitic acts in Europe is a threat to European values, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said at a Berlin conference.

"Make no mistake, we have a problem," Ambassador Power told the two-day conference Thursday, adding increasing threats and attacks provoked by anti-Jewish sentiment are "not only a threat to the Jewish community, they are a threat to the larger project of European liberalism and pluralism."

The conference, arranged by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, was attended by only about two-thirds of the 57 member nations. Power questioned the lack of attendance, noting a better-attended conference a decade ago when an act condemning anti-Semitism was passed. Only 12 of the 57 countries adopted the measure, known as the Berlin Resolution, into law.

Power noted German Chancellor Angela Merkel as a political leader who has strongly endorsed the fight against anti-Semitism, adding, "rising anti-Semitism is rarely the lone or the last expression of intolerance in a society." Often, she said, it is "the canary in the coal mine."

Ira Forman, U.S. State Department special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, also spoke at the conference, noting increasing threats to European Jews, most evident during and after the summer war between Israel and Gaza, could compel many Jews to emigrate.

"It's hard to empty half a million Jews out of France in any short period of time, but I do think the viability of communities is a concern," he told the U.S. publication Jewish Daily Forward. "If current trends continue or get worse, I can see some of the smaller communities essentially disappearing."