Our people are quite naughty and very likely nasty anti-semites. Here's a fantasy: it's the future, let's say, oh, the year 2137. Someone criticizes Israel for something on the view-o-matic. No one screams anti-semitism. Imagine that. DRM]
Israel gets apology for peace-threat poll
By Ed O'Loughlin November 5, 2003
The European Commission has apologised to Israel for an opinion poll which found that Israel is the country most ordinary Europeans regard as the biggest threat to world peace.
Israeli leaders and international Jewish groups have angrily denounced the poll, saying European criticism of Israel is motivated by anti-Semitism.
In apparent agreement, the President of the European Commission, Romano Prodi, said the results "point to the continued existence of a bias that must be condemned out of hand".
"To the extent that this may indicate a deeper, more general prejudice against the Jewish world, our repugnance is even more radical," he said.
The present holder of the rotating European presidency, the Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, said he felt "surprise and indignation" and that the question had been "misleading".
Mr Berlusconi recently weathered a similar controversy after publicly denying that the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini played any role in the Holocaust. He was subsequently awarded a prize by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League for his support for Israel and the US.
Carried out as part of continuing surveys by the European Union, the telephone poll sampled 7500 respondents in all 15 EU member states.
<snip>
full at
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/11/04/1067708213036.html
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Protect your identity with Yahoo! Mail AddressGuard http://antispam.yahoo.com/whatsnewfree