European Race report team 'told to change findings on Muslims'

Race report team 'told to change findings on Muslims'

By Hannah Cleaver in Berlin
(Filed: 27/11/2003) 

        Researchers who found that young Muslims were to blame
for many attacks on Jews were told several times by the
European Union to change their conclusions, they said yesterday.

        The charge helped fuel a furious row between the two
sides as they traded accusations of bias, incompetence,
and lying.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/27/wrace27.xml

        The Anti-Semitism Research Institute of Berlin's
Technical University was asked last year by the EU's
anti-racism body to examine the increase in attacks
against Jews across Europe.

        But the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia has now refused to publish it, claiming that
it was too badly written and based on poor information.

        The report's authors responded yesterday by saying
their findings had been shelved because criticism of
Muslims did not fit in with the centre's agenda. 

        They had found that young Muslims, particularly
immigrants from the Middle East and North Africa, were
responsible for much of the rise in anti-Semitism. The
far-Right and some Left-wing anti-globalisation
activists were also partly to blame, they said.

        As well as physical assaults, they had considered
verbal abuse, newsletters, survey findings, newspaper
articles and other information, mostly from the
centre's databases.

        Prof Werner Bergmann said the centre repeatedly asked
for the draft report to be changed to soften its
conclusions about young Muslims. Alterations were also
sought when it linked anti-Semitism to both
anti-Zionism and criticism of Israeli politics.

        His co-researcher, Dr Juliane Wetzel, said: "The EUMC
didn't want to publish the report because it's not
politically correct. The results give the EUMC problems
because it wants to protect exactly these groups."

        But Bob Purkiss, the centre's chairman, insisted that
the work was of poor quality - so much so that the
centre might try to recover the Θ4,900 paid for it.

        "We are studying the contractual arrangements that we
had with the Berlin institute to see whether they have
fulfilled their contractual obligations and, if not,
will be taking the appropriate action with regard to
the contract," he said.

        Mr Purkiss added that the work was never intended for
publication, but was supposed to be the basis for a
larger study that the centre will conduct next year,
with a view to publishing a report then.

        "The EUMC remains 100 per cent committed to its
ongoing research on anti-Semitism and all forms of
racism and intolerance."

        His comments provoked fury in Berlin. Prof Bergmann
said: "We were asked to write a report.

        "It was totally clear that it was for publication. We
would not write it for someone else to rewrite and
include in something else."

        He and his staff had had to gather data themselves
because of gaps in the centre's information, but both
sides had agreed there was enough on which to base the report.

        A letter from the centre to the research institute in
January, headed "Chair's comments on the Anti-Semitism
Report", reads: "The EUMC must be seen as bringing
groups of people together, not as acting divisively."

        Under the heading, "Divisive statements" it remarks:
"The authors assert a direct connection between
anti-Semitism and 'Arab/North African Muslims', 'the
Muslim population', 'the Arab-Muslim population',
'young Muslims' in Europe.

        "The authors assert a direct connections [sic] between
anti-Semitism and 'immigrants'."

        It then says: "All these generalising statements are
made despite acknowledgement on the last page that 'the
fight against racism, xenophobia and discrimination
remains a common struggle'.

        "That Muslims are also targets of racism and religious
discrimination is acknowledged only as an aside.

        "Mention of Muslim people should only be made if it
were directly relevant to specific manifestations of
anti-Semitism. Any generalisation should be strictly avoided."

        Prof Bergmann said: "I am also in favour of crimes
being dealt with independently of a person's religion,
but this was important to our analysis.

        "Of course these incidents involved for example French
citizens, but the fact that they were also immigrants
and Muslim was relevant to our study."

 
European study on anti-Semitism is scrapped
By Irene Zoech in Vienna
(Filed: 23/11/2003) 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/11/23/wxen23.xml

A study backed by the European Union on the rise of
anti-Semitism has been shelved after officials decided
that its findings were "too controversial".

The 112-page survey, commissioned by the European
Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia based in
Austria, found that many anti-Semitic incidents were
carried out by Muslim and pro-Palestinian groups.

The research was ordered in response to fears that
anti-Semitism was on the rise across Europe - and
apparently confirmed the truth of the claims. However,
the centre - which is the EU's official racism watchdog
- was unnerved by its results.

A spokesman for the watchdog refused to comment
yesterday, but according to authoritative reports
officials admitted a "political decision" was taken not
to publish it partly because of fears that it would
increase hostility towards Muslims.