LONDON (EJP)---Several government ministers and around 100 MPs from 40 countries gathered Monday in London to develop coordinated and long-term action to tackle the escalating global threat of anti-Semitism.
Hosted by the British foreign ministry, the first-time summit conference on this topic is organized by the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism (ICCA). It takes place ahead of the controversial UN Conference on Racism (‘Durban II’) in Geneva in April.
The politicians will work with experts to devise ways to fight anti-Semitism.
They will share knowledge, experiences and best practice, and meet international experts from academia, law enforcement, information technology and security.
They hope to create an action plan to tackle what they have identified as the escalating global threat of anti-Semitism.
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 The British Government remains committed to combating anti-Semitism wherever it occurs. Anti-Semitism disgraces whichever communities are prepared to tolerate it. Ending the scourge of anti-Semitism wherever it is found will always be important for this government. 
Jim Murphy, British Minister for Europe |
The two-day summit comes after the number of attacks on UK Jews rose sharply following the Israeli offensive in Gaza in December.
Last week the Community Security Trust (CST), a body which works to protect Jews in the UK, said it had recorded more than 250 anti-Semitic incidents in four weeks following Israel's military operation in Gaza. They included property vandalism, verbal threats and some physical attacks, most of which in northern London.
The conference is being held in the Houses of Parliament and at Lancaster House.
Several British ministers, including Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch Brown, Lord Malloch-Brown, in charge of Africa, Asia and the UN, attend the gathering.
"Anti-Semitism has been with us for millennia, but has mutated in form and expression through the ages. Today it has adapted to new technologies and has no defined borders,” British Foreign Minister David Miliband said.
"The internet age, with its manifold benefits, has the downside that hate is able to travel faster and further than ever before. Modern and innovative solutions are essential if we are to combat this. So is international co-operation."
Best practice from across the globe, including Canada, Germany and the UK, will inform the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism, to be announced at a press conference Tuesday afternoon in Lancaster House.
Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, a former EU Commissioner for justice, freedom and security, was the guest of honour at Monday’s conference dinner. In his speech, he called for multilateral and EU action on the issue.
The ICCA is an umbrella framework which assembles parliamentarians from around the world who take an active interest and involvement in confronting anti-Semitism.
It was co-founded by Labour MP John Mann, who chairs the UK's parliamentary committee against anti-Semitism.