This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 000651 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR EUR, EUR/ERA, EUR/AGS, IO 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/01/2016 
TAGS: PREL FR GM DA AU
SUBJECT: CODEL WEXLER DISCUSSIONS ON ANTI-SEMITISM, DANISH 
CARTOONS WITH OSCE, AUSTRIANS 
 
 
Classified By: DCM Scott Kilner for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (U) Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Florida) visited Vienna 
February 22-23 to meet with Austrian and OSCE officials on a 
variety of topics, including religious tolerance and the 
controversy over cartoons depicting Mohammed in Danish 
newspapers with Austrian and OSCE officials.  Septels report 
Cong. Wexler's discussions on Hamas and on Iran. 
 
Meetings at OSCE 
------------------------------------------ 
¶2. (U) Congressman Wexler met with Gert Weisskirchen, a 
German parliamentarian and the OSCE Personal Representative 
on Combating Anti-Semitism, and Kathrin Meyer, Adviser on 
Anti-Semitism Issues for the OSCE's Office for Democratic 
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), at OSCE offices on 
February 23. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Topics included recent anti-Semitic incidents in 
France, ODIHR's education and civil society development 
activities, and the controversy over caricatures of the 
prophet Mohammed.  Weisskirchen noted his and the ODIHR's 
excellent working relationship with French government 
officials, who have shown their willingness to speak out 
aggressively against anti-Semitism and other forms of 
intolerance in the wake of riots in Paris in Fall 2005. 
Meyer said France actively supports ODIHR projects on 
Holocaust education, and pointed out that since these 
projects were introduced in schools and through French NGOs 
one year ago, anti-Semitic incidents there have decreased by 
50 percent.  She added that awareness raising is necessary to 
ensure that legitimate criticism of Israeli policy does not 
cross the line into anti-Semitism, which can lead to hate 
crimes and violence. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Participants in the discussion agreed that the 
Danish cartoon controversy presents a good opportunity to 
raise concerns over the routine publication of anti-Zionist 
and anti-Semitic cartoons in the Middle East and to involve 
OSCE's Mediterranean Partners in a dialogue on the importance 
of both tolerance and media freedom.  At the end of the 
meeting, Weisskirchen said the German Foreign Ministry is 
considering holding an experts meeting on anti-Semitism in 
Berlin in mid-September 2006. 
 
Meeting with Chancellery Adviser 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶5. (C) The cartoons controversy was also a topic of 
discussion in Congressman Wexler's meeting with Chancellor 
Schuessel's foreign policy adviser Hans Peter Manz.  In 
response to a question from the Congressman on the effects of 
the cartoon controversy on European public opinion, Manz said 
that he did not think that the matter would increase sympathy 
for US policy in the Middle East, but he did think that it 
would make it more difficult for Arabs to play off 
differences between Europe and the U.S.  Manz also stated 
that the organizing forces behind the controversy ) he 
specifically mentioned Syria and Iran ) have harmed their 
own interests as the controversy has escalated. 
 
Congressman Wexler did not have an opportunity to clear this 
message before departure. 
 
 
McCaw