WILL HISTORY REPEAT ITSELF? IS IT 1938 ALL OVER AGAIN?
-- International Conference April 22-23 at Queens College Will Address Rise in Anti-Semitism and Possible Threat of Another Holocaust --
FLUSHING, NY, March 30, 2007 – In the past year, there has been an alarming rise in violent anti-Semitic attacks around the world, according to reports released by groups such as the Jewish Agency and the Center for Monitoring Anti-Semitism and Racism in Europe. In Germany, Austria, and Russia, acts of violence against Jews are up 60%, and in France and England, where these incidents have increased by 20%, more and more Jews have been leaving for Israel. Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been quoted as saying the Nazi Holocaust never existed and has sworn to "wipe Israel off the map.”
In the United States, a recent national poll found that the number of Americans with anti-Semitic attitudes has been on the upswing. Former President Jimmy Carter’s new book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid, which criticizes “Israel’s lobby” for unduly influencing American policy, has sent shockwaves throughout the global Jewish community. Locally, the New York Police Department reports a 28% increase in crimes against Jews during 2006.
Despite the reality of these threats, very little has been done to address these issues in any major way until now. On April 22-23, “Is It 1938 Again?”, an international conference on the state of world Jewry, will be held at Queens College. This conference will bring together notable scholars, writers, intellectuals and activists including Alan Dershowitz, Norman Podhoretz, Michael Walzer, Leonard Fein, Malcolm Hoenlein, and Hillel Halkin. These speakers, who represent a range of viewpoints, will discuss the controversial issues in today’s unstable political climate that threaten the West and the Jewish people, as well as the moderate Arab states and their leaders. They will also offer possible strategies to ensure Jewish survival.
The conference takes place in LeFrak Concert Hall at Queens College, 65-30 Kissena Blvd., Flushing, from 8:30 am – 5:00 pm each day. Tickets: $35 for the full two-day conference; $20 for either Sunday or Monday. Admission includes a kosher box lunch daily. For detailed information, including the schedule for each day, please visit: http://www.qc.cuny.edu/Jewish_Studies/specialevents.html. You may register online or by phone: 718-997-4532.