Our esteemed colleague, Ruth Wasserman Lande, a Research Fellow and Expert on Middle Eastern Affairs, former Deputy Ambassador, and Knesset Member, delivered a crucial briefing in our office today. The topic? “Israel and the Arab Nations post October 7th”. This is a matter of urgent importance, with significant implications for regional stability and international relations.
Your Excellency President von der Leyen,
On behalf of the European Jewish Association and all our member organisations and
communities from across Europe, we have the pleasure of offering our heartfelt
congratulations on your re-election as President of the European Commission!
We thank you for your strong leadership in the fight against antisemitism and fostering
Jewish life in Europe. As you very eloquently said in your speech today, Europe’s destiny
hinges on what we do next. Your vision of a strong Europe that protects people and defends
democracy is one that we all share.
As Jewish communities in Europe face unprecedented spike of antisemitic acts, we trust that
this will continue to be a priority for the European Commission and very much look forward
to continuing a fruitful relationship with your office.
EJA represents hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe and we count many Heads of
States, Ministers, Commissioners, Ambassadors and Members of Parliament as valuable
partners in our work against antisemitism and fostering Jewish life in Europe.
Your Excellency, we would greatly appreciate a meeting with you and a delegation of
Jewish Leaders from across Europe to discuss pressing concerns of Jewish communities
today and remain available whenever it is possible for your schedule.
We thank you for your kind consideration and congratulate you again on your re-election as
President of the European Commission.
Yesterday, on 17 September 2019, a delegation made up from the European Jewish Association (Alex Benjamin, Director of Public Affairs), the Action and Protection Foundation /Hungary/ (Ferenc Olti, Board Member of the Hungarian Jewish Cultural Association and Kálmán Szalai, Secretary) and a member of our Advisory Board (Emil Kalo, Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress, President of the Bulgarian Foundation ORT) has met with Denitsa Sacheva, Deputy Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria, and members of her office.
The main topic of discussion has been the European Curriculum and Textbook Project against Antisemitism, a meeting on which just last week has already taken place in Valletta, Malta. This time, organized in the ancient city of Sofia, we have had an excellent opportunity to touch upon this subject and its various aspects with Mrs. Sacheva and her colleagues.
Not only has interest in possible cooperation been reciprocated – which in itself is already an excellent result – a preliminary agreement has been reached with Madam Deputy Minister on prospectively designing and implementing a pilot project in Bulgaria, based on the ECTPA.
We are deeply grateful to Deputy Minister Sacheva and the Ministry of Education and Science for the chance to talk about this important initiative and eagerly look forward to further cooperation.
Responding to the decision (for the full article please go HERE) , The head of the Brussels-based European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin said in a statement:
“With a worrying rise in anti-Semitism across the European Continent, we can only applaud the German government’s decision to appoint an anti-Semitism monitor. Germany is fully aware of what can happen when anti-Semitism is allowed to ferment and grow. Their decision is therefore timely as well as courageous. It is not an easy thing to acknowledge that the oldest hatred, that many believed to be a defunct ideology never dies but just remains dormant, waiting for populism and nationalism to feed it and breathe new life into it.
‘The EJA has been at forefront of raising awareness of this rising threat across Europe, and we are delighted that the principal drivers of Europe, the German government have taken this initiative. It now falls on other European states to follow this inspiring lead and set up a European wide network of monitors to eradicate the poison that is anti-Semitism directly at its source.”
Legislation claims the practice violates children’s human rights, places them at risk of infection and causes ‘severe pain’
Lawmakers from four political parties in Iceland introduced a bill in parliament that would ban the nonmedical circumcision of boys younger than 18 and impose imprisonment of up to six years on offenders.
Members of the ruling Left Green Movement, the Progressive Party, People’s Party and the Pirate Party submitted the bill to the Albingi on Tuesday, the RUV news site reported. Together, the parties account for 46 percent of the parliament’s 63 seats.
The measure cites the prohibition of female genital mutilation in 2005, arguing a similar prohibition is necessary for males. The report did not say when the bill would come to a vote.
Advocates of male circumcision, which many physicians believe reduces the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases and genital infections, have long objected to the comparison of the practice with female genital mutilation, a custom with no medical benefits that is universally viewed as detrimental to the ability to derive pleasure from intercourse.
The bill calls the circumcision of boys younger than 18 a violation of their human rights, according to the news site, and says it places them at an elevated risk of infection and causes “severe pain.”
Throughout Scandinavia, the nonmedical circumcision of boys under 18 is the subject of a debate on children’s rights and religious freedoms. The children’s ombudsmen of all Nordic countries — Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden and Norway — released a joint declaration in 2013 proposing a ban, though none of these countries has enacted one.
In the debate, circumcision is under attack from right-wing politicians who view it as a foreign import whose proliferation is often associated mostly with Muslim immigration. And it is also opposed by left-wing liberals and atheists who denounce it as a primitive form of child abuse.
In 2012, a German court in Cologne ruled that ritual circumcision of minors amounted to a criminal act. The ruling was overturned but triggered temporary bans in Austria and Switzerland.
A similar debate is taking place across Western Europe about the ritual slaughter of animals, which is illegal in several European Union member states.
Iceland, which is not a member of that bloc, has a population of approximately 300,000, including several dozen Jews and a few hundred Muslims.
The article was published on The Times of Israel
