A/CONF.189/PC.1/7 page 27 − In the United States of America, Jews identified with a community on religious, cultural and ethnic grounds generally enjoy a privileged position, due in particular to favourable legislation (the clauses on non-establishment and the free exercise of religion; see E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1, paras. 41-42). However, that should not hide the fact that they suffer from “hate crimes”. In January 1998, for example, of the 8,734 crimes classed as “hate crimes”, 1,400 were “religion-motivated”, and of these more than 1,100 (nearly 80 per cent) were directed against Jews; these crimes mostly take the form of attacks on property and the desecration of cemeteries (ibid., para. 43). In most cases, but particularly those involving discrimination against Arabs, it is important to note, as the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance has done, that “manifestations of racism and xenophobia against Arabs are increasingly accompanied by a form of ‘Islamophobia’. It is therefore difficult to separate acts of racial discrimination from acts of religious intolerance, as each may reinforce or encourage the other” (E/CN.4/1998/79, para. 36). 105. Similarly, the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance notes that the situation of Muslims in the United States is “problematic”; Muslim representatives have said that they feel that there is both latently and openly a form of Islamophobia and racial and religious intolerance in American society (E/CN.4/1999/58/Add.1, para. 36). This is an extremely important observation and deserves some comment: (a) A large number of ethnic and religious communities or groups or, a fortiori, minorities also seem to us to be concerned by this overlap between race and religion, independently of their status in the territory of the State (nationals or foreigners) or their numerical relationship with the rest of the population (minority/majority, minority/minorities) or of the definition of a minority; (b) The fact that it is difficult to establish clear distinctions when dealing with double or even triple (racial/religious/sexist) discrimination is merely proof that those guilty of discrimination are not targeting exclusively the racial or religious identity of the victim. They target both identities because in their minds they completely reject the other, either in a confused way or otherwise, on the grounds of the other’s beliefs, religious practices, rites and myths, as much as his racial, ethnic or even cultural origin.115 In fact, it is not simply the superimposition of two single forms of discrimination. The conceptual difficulty pointed out by the Special Rapporteur hides a form of aggravated discrimination that cannot be described in terms of a single identity and thus cannot be governed by an ordinary regime. (c) Discrimination involving a majority and religious minorities claiming membership of an ethnic group 106. Some religious minorities initially make no claims for membership that might distinguish them from the rest of the population sharing with them the same racial or ethnic membership and sometimes even many characteristics, including cultural characteristics. A sort of mutation takes place when factors such as State policy, extremism, the spreading of racist ideas and incitement to ethnic and racial hatred add an ethnic dimension to the minority religion. As pointed out by the Special Rapporteur on racism, this takes the form of physical aggression, murders, attacks on