Prodi blames immigrants

NEW immigrants frustrated with the conflict in the Middle East were blamed for creating a fresh form of anti-Semitism in Europe by European Commission President Romano Prodi.

But he denied a suggestion made by the US Ambassador to the EU last week that the problem was now almost as bad as it was in pre-Hitler Europe.

Mr Prodi was addressing a major anti-Semitism conference organised by the commission and the European Jewish Congress in Brussels yesterday.