The president of the coordinating body of the Jewish municipalities in Croatia, Ognjen Kraus, said he could not believe that it would be necessary to organise a meeting about anti-Semitism in Zagreb in the year that the Jewish community in the Croatian capital was marking its 200th anniversary.
"The event was organised because of letters containing anti-Semitism messages sent to the Jewish Municipality in Zagreb and a recent physical attack on rabi Zvi Eliezer Alonie," he said.
By fighting anti-Semitism we are helping Croatia to defend itself from self-destruction by anti-Semitism," Kraus said.
Parliamentary deputy Milorad Pupovac said anti-Semitism created a negative atmosphere towards minorities, "As long as the Constitution and laws are less important than the Croatian ideology, anti-Semitism will exist," he said.
The head of the parliamentary Committee on Human Rights and National Minorities, Furio Radin, said reactions to the recent incidents motivated by anti-Semitism came to late.
The head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Mission in Croatia, Jorge Fuentes, called for a fight against xenophobia, discrimination and racism. The secretary of the Croatian Bishops' Conference's Council for Ecumenism and Dialogue, Juraj Zecevic, expressed regret about attacks on the rabi and the Jewish Community.
The director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre in u Jerusalem, Ephraim Zuroff, said xenophobia and anti-Semitism were on an ascending line in post-Communism countries.
Greg Delawie from the US Embassy in Zagreb, said anti-Semitism was a global problem. He praised Croatia's cooperation with the US and Israeli embassies in training teachers and educating them about the Holocaust.
Today's round-table debate was also attended by the Israeli Ambassador to Croatia, Shmuel Meriom, German Ambassador Juergen Stacks, parliamentary deputy Nikola Mak and the head of the National Minorities' Council , Aleksandar Tolnauer.