JURIST - Paper Chase: Bush to sign anti-Semitism monitoring act over State Department objections

President Bush is expected to sign the Global Anti-Semitism Awareness Act [PDF] today over objections from the State Department. Introduced by Holocaust survivor Representative Tom Lantos (D-CA), the legislation seeks to combat a worldwide rise in anti-Semitism through annual reports and the establishment of an anti-Semitism monitoring office inside the Department of State. Its passage was applauded by the Anti-Defamation League, but State Department officials have in recent days called it a "bureaucratic nuisance", suggesting that the establishment of a separate anti-Semitism office is unnecessary and that, according to one source, "separate reports on different religions or ethnicities were not warranted, given that we already prepare human rights reports and religious freedom reports on 190 countries." The Washington Times has more.

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