bush's stance on anti-semitism

According to a news report, President George Bush has signed into law a bill requiring the US State Department to monitor global anti-Semitism and rate countries annually on their treatment of Jews (Oct 17).

This move comes at a time when anti-Bush and anti-American sentiments are sweeping the globe, including some countries considered to be the closest US allies.

A poll conducted by 10 of the world's top newspapers in as many leading countries (Oct 17) shows, among other things, that:

1. Voters in eight out of the 10 countries want to see John Kerry defeat Bush.

2. The majority of voters in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Japan, Spain and South Korea share a rejection of the Iraq invasion, contempt for the Bush administration and a growing hostility to the US.

3. In Britain 60 per cent of the voters say they don't like Bush, while 77 per cent of those under 25 feel the same way.

4. The rejection of Mr Bush is strongest in France at 72 per cent and in S. Korea at 68 per cent.

5. A startling 51 per cent of British voters say that American culture is threatening their own. This fear is shared by Canadians, Mexicans and South Koreans.

6. More than 60 per cent of people in France, Japan, Canada, South Korea and Spain say their view of the United States has deteriorated since 9/11, while 45 per cent of Britishers think similarly.

One must also consider another report (Oct 18) which reveals that most Asians want Mr Bush out of office and 80 per cent of Japanese oppose the Iraq war. Also, nearly a couple of hundred former American and British diplomats and senior military officials have in recent months publicly voiced their concern about the policies of George Bush which have made the Americans unpopular and unsafe almost everywhere. Mr Kofi Annan has called the Iraq invasion illegal, saying that it has made the world more insecure.

Instead of focusing on matters that directly affect his compatriots and country, the American president has imprudently chosen to please his Jewish constituency and Israel merely to gain their support in the elections.