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Annual Report: Anti-Semitic Incidents Down Worldwide But Still High

Anti-Semitic incidents worldwide dropped sharply in 2010 from their peak in 2009, according to an annual report issued by an Israeli university on the eve of the nation's Holocaust Memorial Day.

However, the levels are significantly higher than they were a decade ago, when the upward trend began, according to the report from Tel Aviv University's Steven Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism and the Kantor Center for the Study of European Jewry.

"The important question that must be asked today is: Have we learned the lessons of the Holocaust in the world? And to our great regret, the answer is no," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting. "A renewed anti-Semitism is spreading. Various forces are joining together and flooding the world with anti-Semitism. The hatred of Jews and the denial of their existence have turned into hatred of the Jewish state and denial of its existence."

According to the report, major incidents of physical violence, direct threats and major acts of vandalism fell by 46 percent, from 1,129 in 2009 to 614 in 2010. Although it represents a decrease, researchers pointed out the figure of 614 is the third-highest reported since worldwide statistics began to be monitored in the late 1980s.

The 2009 peak was attributed to the Israeli incursion into Gaza in early 2009, which the authors said sparked violence against Jews. "Since Jews and Israelis are often conflated into a single collective, events in the Middle East often provoke anti-Jewish groups and individuals into perpetrating hostile activities against local Jews."

In 2010, the largest number of violent incidents took place in the United Kingdom, France and Canada. The three nations saw 60% of all worldwide incidents, the report said.

The report also expressed concern over "countless anti-Semitic diatribes, speeches, press articles and especially the electronic posts in almost every possible form on the internet ... the central themes were the Jewish - Zionist world power and conspiracy, the demonization and the delegitimization of Israel mainly by comparing it to Nazi Germany and labeling it an apartheid state."

Holocaust Memorial Day begins at sundown on Sunday. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw, Poland, ghetto uprising, which began April 19, 1943, when German troops and police attempted to deport its surviving inhabitants. Jews held out against the Germans for 27 days. About 300 Germans and 7,000 Jews were killed in the violence.

The memorial day is also observed in the United States. Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation's annual commemoration of the Holocaust, according to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The 2011 remembrance week is May 1-8. –CNN World 

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Poles Already Think Of John Paul II As A Saint

For many Poles, John Paul II's beatification simply confirms what they already knew. They thought him a saint already, the very fact of his papacy a blessing for Poland.

At the Sanctuary for Divine Mercy in Lagiewniki, Krakow, around 50,000 people braved the rain to watch the beatification ceremony live from the Vatican. The organizers had expected higher turnout in Krakow.

Many brought camping equipment, deck chairs and packed lunches.

It's Karol Wojtyla's role in the fall of communism that is his true miracle for many people in Poland.

"During his first visit in Poland, he said this famous sentence, 'Let the Holy Spirit come and renew this land,' " Renata Kaszuba said. "So he was encouraging the fall of communism, not through blood and war, but through the message that God is the most important one."

There were many here who were too young to remember communism. But they feel their lives were touched, even transformed, by their Polish pope.

One Krakow student said: "It's a great source of pride for us to have another Pole blessed. I didn't have the chance to attend a Mass celebrated by the pope, but I watched his visits on television."

"I don't even know how to describe it," said another. "He's like a second father for me."

In Krakow's main market square, there's a huge photo exhibition devoted to John Paul II.

Portraits as he overlooks his beloved Tatra Mountains or aerial shots of Mass attended by hundreds of thousands in Krakow's Blonia meadow.

Children pose beside giant photos of a pope they'll never know. But his spirit lives on in the collective memory of the Polish nation.

There are some people who criticize the rush to beatification or who find fault in the policies of John Paul II's papacy, but you won't find them here. –CNN World

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Same-Sex Unions Recognized By Brazil's High Court

Brazil's Supreme Court ruled unanimously Thursday that the nation should recognize same-sex unions.

The court voted 10-0 in favor of recognizing the unions. One justice abstained because he had spoken publicly in favor of same-sex unions when he was attorney general.

The court ruled that the same rights and rules that apply to "stable unions" of heterosexual couples will apply to same-sex couples, including the right to joint declaration of income tax, pension, inheritance and property sharing. People in same-sex unions will also be able to extend health benefits to their partners, following the same rules applied to heterosexual couples.

To qualify as a "stable union," same-sex couples can register with an official office or prove it the same way some heterosexual couples do -- by having a bank account together or living at the same address.

The ruling does not allow same-sex marriage, but gay rights activists hailed it as an important advance for same-sex couples. Previously, decisions related to same-sex unions were left for judges to evaluate on a case-by-case basis.

Judges will continue to decide on the rights of same-sex couples to adopt.

Cleber Vicente, project coordinator for the Rainbow Group in Rio de Janeiro, called the decision "a historic achievement," the state-run Agencia Brasil reported.

"There is something to celebrate this result," he said. "It is a struggle that stretches for over 15 years."

Some gay rights groups have encountered strong resistance in parts of Latin America, where the influential Roman Catholic Church often opposes measures allowing same sex-unions or adoption by same-sex couples.

Argentina became the first Latin American country to approve same-sex marriage in 2010. Mexico City approved same-sex marriage in 2009. And several other countries in the region have legalized civil unions.

Brazil's high court ruling came in response to two lawsuits -- one filed by the Rio de Janeiro state government in 2008 and another in 2009 by the Public Ministry, a group of prosecutors that is part of the federal government but independent from its executive, legislative and judicial branches.

Gilmar Mendes, a Supreme Court justice, told Agencia Brasil that the court has an obligation to respond to protect gay couples who are still victims of prejudice and violence.

"This legal limbo that (same-sex couples encounter) contributes to discrimination, even to the violent practices that have seen in the news. It is the duty of the state to protect and duty of the court to give that protection if, somehow, it was not intended by the legislature," he said.

According to preliminary results of the country's 2010 census, at least 60,000 homosexual couples live in Brazil. –CNN World