SUNRISE, Florida, Oct 17 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) – Flying aboard his Air Force One to the battleground state of Florida, home to the third-largest Jewish population in the world, US President George W. Bush on Saturday, October 17, signed into law a controversial bill on combating the so-called global anti-Semitism.

"Today, I signed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004. This law commits the government to keep a record of anti-Semitic acts throughout the world, and also a record of responses to those acts," Bush told thousands of cheering supporters packed into a sports arena.

With polls showing the race deadlocked in Florida, Bush’s aides said they hoped his staunch support for Israel and aggressive outreach would lead Jewish voters who usually vote for Democrats to cast ballots for him, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Florida, which boasts the third-largest Jewish population after Israel and New York, is the richest haul among the battleground states expected to decide the November 2 presidential election, with 27 electoral college votes out of the 270 needed to win.

The law, which seems to be part of that effort, commits the US State Department to documenting acts of physical violence against Jews, their property, cemeteries and places of worship abroad, as well as local governments' responses to them and take note of instances of anti-Jewish propaganda and governments' readiness to promote unbiased school curricula.

"This nation will keep watch; we will make sure that the ancient impulse of anti-Semitism never finds a home in the modern world," Bush said.

"Extending freedom also means disrupting the evil of anti-Semitism."

The bill was introduced by California Democratic Representative Tom Lantos, in response to alleged acts of anti-Semitism in Europe and the Middle East.

But the US State Department opposed the measure, saying the department already compiles such information in its annual report on human rights and religious freedom.

This position irked Jewish groups -- which wield significant political power especially during a presidential election year -- and in September, more than 100 prominent Americans signed a letter to US Secretary of State Colin Powell saying that stance was "wrong."

"The fight against anti-Semitism deserves specific, focused attention," said the letter which was signed by former Republican vice presidential nominee Jack Kemp and ex-UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick among others.

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, anti-Semitism is hostility toward or discrimination against Jews as a religious or racial group.

It was coined in 1879 by German agitator Wilhelm Marr to designate the anti-Jewish campaigns underway in central Europe at that time.

"Anti-Semitic charges are sometimes employed to stifle objections to anything the Israelis want to do or have done".

Analysts tend to agree that Israel has gained much from the intensively-used anti-Semitic cliché.