Gathering storm against the Jews

Not since the Nazi menace rose to annihilate European Jewry in 1938 have the Jewish people faced the threat that confronts them today. This is according to former Canadian Justice Minister Irwin Cotler, in a sobering message at a conference in Jerusalem Tuesday. But while he warned that "there is a gathering storm" against the Jews, Cotler believed the end result need not spell disaster for them. "We have some powerful historical assets at our disposal," he said. Just what those assets are that can act to stay mushrooming antisemitism and anti-Israelism is unclear. Cotler did point to Israel's diplomatic relations with two "emerging superpowers," India and China, as a reason to be encouraged. Again, his reasoning was not clear. Meanwhile, former US State Department envoy to the Middle East Dennis Ross told the conference – which was organized by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute (JPPPI) – that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran "believes in the destruction of Israel and they’re developing the means to actually do it."