The U.S. State Department is maintaining a vigilant watch on incidents of anti-Semitism in Russia, its top religious affairs official said. In Moscow alone there were more violent anti-Semitic attacks in the first half of 2005 than in all of 2004, John Hanford, the ambassador-at-large for religious freedom, testified in Congress on Tuesday. “We’re raising a number of issues of religious concern with the Russian government, but certainly anti-Semitism is prominent on the list,” he said. “I would say that all the conditions for Jews have improved over recent history, mostly because at the central government level there’s no longer state-supported anti-Semitism, and in fact there are strong statements discouraging it.” Rep Donald Payne (D-N.J.), ranking member of the House of Representatives’ human rights subcommittee, said he would raise the matter in his contacts with members of the Russian Parliament.
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