Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism January 2004

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Meeting of the Global Forum against Anti-Semitism held at the Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem, on 28–29 January 2004

Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism January 2004

Type Conference
Start date 28 January 2004
End date 29 January 2004
Location Inbal Hotel, Jerusalem
Participants About 100 participants from 12 countries, according to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress; The Forward reported a meeting of 90 Jewish communal officials
Organisers Natan Sharansky, Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs
Outcome A final statement described an attack in Jerusalem during the meeting as "another Palestinian terrorist outrage stemming from the anti-Semitism, hatred and violence taught and inculcated in the Palestinian Authority", according to The Forward

The Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism January 2004 was a meeting of the Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism, then called the Global Forum against Anti-Semitism, held at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem on 28–29 January 2004. It was chaired by Natan Sharansky, Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs.[1] The Forward described the meeting as "largely focused on defining antisemitism" and reported a row after a suicide bombing in Jerusalem during it.[2]

Date

The conference opened on 28 January 2004 and ended on 29 January 2004, at the Inbal Hotel in Jerusalem, according to the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress.[1]

Organisers

The meeting was convened and chaired by Natan Sharansky, then Minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora Affairs, who the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress described as the founder of the Forum.[1][2] David M. Weinberg, who writes that he was the Forum's coordinator, later referred to this and the October 2004 gathering as the "second and third Global Forum meetings".[3][4]

Attendees

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress reported "approximately 100 of representatives and members of international Jewish and Israeli organizations, universities and research centers from 12 countries". Its delegation included Mikhail Chlenov, the congress's secretary general; Joseph Zisels, chairman of its general council; and Jeremy Jones, a member of its presidium and president of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry.[1] The Forward described "a meeting of 90 Jewish communal officials from around the world".[2]

Details

The Forward wrote that the meeting was "largely focused on defining antisemitism". It also reported disputes over whether the final statement should include a direct reference to Islam in a call for dialogue with "Christianity and other faiths", and over claims that "antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiments were fueled worldwide by critical coverage of Jerusalem's policies in the left-leaning Israeli daily Ha'aretz and negative comments made by left-wing Israeli politicians".[2]

Attack in Jerusalem and the final statement

Sources disagree on the date of the suicide bombing discussed at the meeting. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, in a report dated 29 January 2004, wrote that the morning session that day "was devoted to the attack of terrorists, which had happened in Jerusalem before – about 9 o'clock in the morning by local time", and that "10 men died and more than 40 were injured". It said that at 11 o'clock the participants visited "the site in the center of Jerusalem where passenger bus exploded".[1] The Forward, in an article dated 6 February 2004, referred to "the January 19 suicide bombing in Jerusalem" and wrote that it "left 11 dead". It said Sharansky suggested that the final statement "include language describing the bombing as an antisemitic act" after participants had visited the bombing site.[2]

According to The Forward, Uri Regev, executive director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, "warned against rushing to classify" the bombing as an anti-Jewish attack, arguing that the conference's credibility "would be undermined if participants acted without having concrete information on the perpetrator". The paper reported that Regev was criticised by Abraham Cooper, associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, and by Frank Dimant, whom it named as Frank Diamant, executive vice president of B'nai Brith Canada. Dimant told the paper: "we don't have to do a clinical analysis of each suicide bomber in Israel — the motivation is to kill as many Jews as possible."[2]

The Forward quoted the conference's final statement: "The Global Forum is cognizant of the tragic irony that as it was meeting, an abhorrent attack was perpetrated against Jews just a few blocks away — another Palestinian terrorist outrage stemming from the anti-Semitism, hatred and violence taught and inculcated in the Palestinian Authority."[2]

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress also reported that, on the afternoon of 29 January, Sharansky told participants of a Kyiv court decision against the newspaper Sil'ski Visti, and that Chlenov "addressed the session a report on problems of Jewish-Moslem relations".[1]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Euro-Asian Jewish Congress, Sessions of the Global Forum against Anti Semitism Euroasian Jewish News, 29 January 2004, accessed 10 November 2026.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Ami Eden, Tempers Flare at Parley on Antisemitism The Forward, 6 February 2004, accessed 2 November 2026.
  3. ↑ David M. Weinberg, The Global Forum: A profligate potpourri of anti-Semitic challenges davidmweinberg.com, 23 March 2018 (also published in the Jerusalem Post, 22 March 2018), accessed 2 November 2026.
  4. ↑ David M. Weinberg, Israel's role in the struggle against anti-Semitism davidmweinberg.com, 1 November 2018, accessed 2 November 2026.
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