U.N. Launches Anti-Semitism Investigation

By Edith M. Lederer
March 2, 2006
The Washington Post
Original Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/02/AR2006030200290.html

UNITED NATIONS -- The United Nations has launched an investigation of anti-Semitic incidents in its security service, according to a letter Wednesday to all security staff.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press, follows the reprimand of a security guard for drawing swastikas on a log sheet knowing a guard from Israel would almost certainly see them. The guard also made Nazi-like salutes to his Israeli colleague.
In a separate incident, a female Israeli security employee alleged that she was assaulted while working in Vienna. It was not clear whether that incident was sexually related or motivated by anti-Semitism, a U.N. official said.
The letter from Diana Russler, the deputy to U.N. security chief David Veness, said the Department of Safety and Security and the Office of Human Resources Management have jointly established a panel to investigate recent allegations of anti-Semitic incidents in the Security and Safety Service ... and establish the facts.
When The Associated Press first reported the swastika incident last month, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the guard who drew them was issued a letter of reprimand and was asked to attend sensitivity training for the September incident.
The guard was not identified, but a U.N. official said he was from Jamaica. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information
Asked whether the issue of the swastikas and Nazi salutes was closed, Dujarric replied: The person responsible was disciplined, and as a result, a number of staff have to undergo sensitivity training. I am not aware of any further action.
The letter did not give any indication of why an investigation was being launched now.
The United Nations in recent years has tried to live down an infamous 1975 resolution that equated Zionism with racism, which was repealed in the 1990s. Some critics still accuse the world body of being anti-Semitic because a bloc of Middle Eastern, African and Asian states have in the past used the General Assembly to broadcast their opposition to Israel.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan has been especially sensitive to that image and the General Assembly sees fewer such attacks. Last year, the United Nations hosted a seminar to address anti-Semitism, the first time such an event has been held here. And the General Assembly held a special session to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps.
Israel's Deputy U.N. Ambassador Daniel Carmon said last month, when asked about the swastikas and Nazi salutes, that those signs of hatred and terror are things of the past and they cannot happen in 2006.
But he said the act of one security guard could not be compared to the larger issue of anti-Semitism at the United Nations.