This past week the EJA had the great privilege of meeting with Ms. Imma Tor Faus, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Andorra, alongside our partners from the Jewish community of Andorra. It was a fruitful meeting discussing best practices to combat antisemitism. We thank the Andorran Government for their support and commitment in the fight against antisemitism.
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.
It was a boiling hot sauna!
This week we are in the days of Selichot, days of preparation for the Jamiem Noraim, the Days of awe, preceding the festival of the Jewish New Year.
Awe is of great importance, because if there is a lack of ‘awe’, a society just goes in the wrong direction. This thought came to my mind when I was present in Westerbork, former Dutch deportationcamp to welcome the cyclists who had participated in “Back to Westerbork”. Tears welled up in my eyes. All young people who had made the journey from Auschwitz to Westerbork, én route had visited the various concentration camps, other places of horror and were now back in Westerbork. Awe! Lack of awe can lead to anarchy. But submitting to a wrong authority can lead to what happened in WWII. Eighty percent of my family ended up in the gas chambers of Auschwitz and Sobibor via Westerbork! And now some 70 young people were cycling there, giving a stern warning about the dangers of submission to a wrong authority. Young people from Germany, the Netherlands and Poland. To my right a German Minister, to my left the ambassador of Poland and the King’s Commissioner in the province of Drenthe was also emphatically present, Mrs Jetta Klijnsma. What a powerful woman! I was delighted and grateful that my speech and the sounds of the shofar were clearly heard and penetrated. As I sit here typing, I feel a lump in my throat. I would like to embrace all those cyclists with gratitude for their great performance and especially for the hard demonstration. Yes, every morning in these days before the Awe-inspiring days of Jewish New Year I get up earlier to say extra prayers, but this gathering was all encouragement and awe-inspiring. A hot shower! I also felt that warm shower this morning in Ede where a meeting was organized by a group of faithful Christians.
In October 2020, representatives of various denominations at the Israeli embassy in The Hague had pleaded guilty for the churches’ negligence towards Jews before, during and after World War II. Now that antisemitism is unfortunately on the rise again, the right question has arisen as to what attitude the churches will adopt at the beginning of the 21st century. Therefore, representatives of churches organized an appeal meeting to speak on this subject. Speakers included Israel’s ambassador, Z.E.N. Gilon and my person. It was clear that those present are pro-Israel. But it also became clear, and I myself have expressed this very emphatically, that the love for Israel is diminishing among the church youth. This concerns me, a concern shared by those in attendance. And yet the symposium was a hot shower, so hot shower number two. I experienced the third shower on Urk, a former island, which is know for its love and support for Israel. In the Town Hall, the ambassador of Israel, two representatives of Christians for Israel and the undersigned, were received by the mayor and his aldermen. Why were we at the Town Hall? From 14:00 to 22:00 there was a magnificent afternoon and evening for ‘The entrepreneurship platform of Christians for Israel’ on Urk. Of course the ambassador was present again, whom I met there for the third time that day. In the afternoon, the 180 attendees were split in two. Group one was given a tour of the fishing company DaySeaDay and group two was shown around the alleys of Urk. More than €140,000 was raised that evening for the construction of a youth center in Jerusalem. What warmth, what friendship, what enthusiasm and what a honor and how unique that I, as Chief Rabbi, could be a part of such a gathering. Music, a Zoom connection with Israel, a dinner (for Blouma and for me kosher of course) and inspiring speeches. But if you expect me to call this evening the third hot shower, you are wrong! It was not a hot shower, but a boiling hot sauna!
During the corona time, Chief Rabbi Jacobs keeps a diary for the Jewish Cultural
Quarter. NIW publishes these special documents on https://niw.nl/category/dagboek/
SPANISH GOVERNMENT HAS LOST ITS WAY, LOST ITS BEARINGS, LOST THEIR SIGHT, AND ARE DEAF TO JEWS RIGHT TO DEFEND AGAINST TERROR, SAYS EUROPEAN JEWISH ASSOCIATION AFTER SPAIN JOINS ICJ ‘GENOCIDE’ CASE
Spain has said it will join the case filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on the Gaza Strip.
The announcement was made by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Thursday.
In a statement today, the European Jewish Association, representing hundreds of Jewish Communities across Europe, said:
“The Spanish Government has lost its way. They have lost their sight. They have lost their bearings, and they are deaf to what happened on October 7th.
“There is no genocide in Gaza. There is a war – a horrible war – but a war nonetheless.
“A war, we remind the Spanish government, that could be over tomorrow if Hamas released what remains of the hostages they dragged to Gaza after murdering, raping and beheading many innocent Israelis, including Babies, women and the elderly.
“A clear message has been sent to Jews everywhere in Spain and across Europe by the Spanish government “we do not recognize the right of Jews to defend yourselves against terror”. That it comes from a country that expelled Jews, burned them at the stake, and whose Vice-President herself called for Jewish Genocide ‘from the river to the sea’, only confirms the sad depths to which the Spanish government has now sunk.
Yesterday (23.10.25), EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Vice Chairman Alexander Benjamin and EU Director of Relations Ruth Daskalopoulou-Isaac met with Commissioner Brunner at the European Commission in Brussels. The meeting focused on the growing concern over rising antisemitism across Europe and the urgent need to ensure the safety and security of Jewish communities and institutions.
Throughout Europe, Jewish life continues to thrive despite an atmosphere of increased hostility and fear. Centuries after the darkest chapters of our history, it is our shared responsibility to protect what has been rebuilt. Both sides agreed to strengthen cooperation between the European Jewish Association and the European Commission to ensure a safer and stronger future for the Jewish people in Europe.
We thank Commissioner Brunner and his dedicated team for their continued commitment to this fight. But as the situation grows more alarming, words and concern must now turn into concrete actions to protect Europe’s Jewish citizens and defend the values on which this continent was built.
