Faiths are urged to unite against anti-Semetism

WASHINGTON - A Congressional committee has been warned of a rising global tide of anti-Semitism that all faiths should oppose.
  
Katrina Lantos Swett, who chairs the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that legal restrictions on kosher slaughter and circumcision bode ill for Jews in parts of Europe.
  
Swett, whose father was a Holocaust survivor, said today's Iranian rulers reflect the anti-Semitism of their Persian forbears, whose thwarted attempt to slaughter the Jewish people is recorded in the Bible's book of Esther.
  
Commission member Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a Muslim, said the U.S. should denounce Islamic regimes that foster anti-Semitism.
  
Christian author and speaker Eric Metaxas said, "Anyone who claims to be a Christian and does not do whatever he can to help the persecuted Jews has no right to claim to be a Christian. That person is only a hypocrite and a betrayer of the Christian faith."
  
New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith said, "We're all in this together."