The intifada has sparked the worst wave of worldwide anti-Semitism since World War II, Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee yesterday. But this wave is fueled by religious motives, rather than the nationalist motives that characterized anti-Semitism in the 1980s, he said. He also noted the growing cooperation between neo-Nazi groups and Islamic extremists. Melchior said the intifada, and particularly Israeli incursions into Beit Jala and Bethlehem, has also worsened Israel's relations with the Christian world - as has the decision to permit a mosque to be built on a disputed site in Nazareth.