EJA Vows Legal Action After Humo’s Late Removal of Antisemitic Article: “Too Little, Too Late”

COUNCIL OF EUROPEAN JEWISH LEADERS MEET IN ROME AMID ANTISEMITISM CRISIS 

EUROPEAN GOVERNMENTS ARE NOT STANDING BEHIND THEIR COMMITMENTS TO JEWISH COMMUNITIES SAY COUNCIL HEADS  

“The test is now” says EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin “and European governments are failing it so far.” 

(Rome, 27 February 2024) The European Jewish Association’s Council of Jewish Leaders is meeting in Rome to discuss the challenges faced by European Jewish Communities. 

Despite commitments to safeguard jewish communities and promises to root out antisemtism, too many governments across Europe have done neither, concluded the 40 Jewish heads from across Europe present at the EJA’s Council of Jewish Leaders meeting.   

There is a political and policing failure to act upon anti-hate and anti-BDS legislation already in place, and despite many countries signing up to the IHRA definition, barely any are adhering to its principles.  

“The laws and definition are not worth the paper they are printed on right now”, said one Dutch Jewish Community Leader, citing the number of protests advocating genocide and ethnic cleaning of Jews in Israel, and often worldwide by using Nazi tropes and iconography.  

Based in Brussels and representing hundreds of Jewish communities across Europe, the European Jewish Association’s Council meeting is a key decision making body of the EJA, bringing Jewish Leaders together, to exchange insights and develop the strategic and advocacy backbone of EJA activities and policy for the betterment of Jewish life in Europe in 2024.  

The Jewish leaders agreed upon an 18 point plan of action for 2024, including increasing Community safety, securing a ban on the sale of Nazi memorabilia and engaging major sports clubs and institutions in fighting antisemitism.  

The Council was adressed by Israel’s Special Envoy for Combatting antisemitism, Israel’s Ambassador to Italy, Alon Bar, Italy’s special envoy for combatting antisemitism Pasquale Angelosanto, and the President of the Italian Senate, Ignazio La Russa. 

Joel Mergui, the President of the EJA’s Council of European Jewish Leaders and the Paris Consistoire, said at the close of the Conference.  

“The Jewish leaders are clear, we refuse to live in fear, we are strong and we will overcome this current tide of hate. It is unnacceptable that calls for genocide and ethnic cleansing as typified by “From the river to the Sea”, and calls for “infidada” are now commonplace, along with nazi symbols and outright antisemitic imagery in regular use.  

This is a major cause of antisemitism, and authorities across the continent must do more to stick to their commitments that they have repeatedly given to protect Jews and fight antisemitism.” 

The Chairman of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, said. 

“As Jewish leaders, it is our duty to protect our communities. The message from community leaders on the Council is clear: the EU and governments must translate their nice words on ensuring the safety of Jewish communities into meaningful actions.  

“The test of any government commitments in standing up for European jewry is right now. Our council is clear, based on the evidence so far, european governments are failing this test. ” 

Ends.

Gallery: https://ejassociation.eu/eja/the-council-of-jewish-leaders-in-rome/

“I call on the Foundazione to remove all of the elements of this installation. Linking the themes of money and power to Jews and Israel is pure antisemitism, however artful it professes to be,” EJA Chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin. 

(Brussels 13 September) A number of Jewish and Israeli visitors to the Fondazione Prada in Venice have been left offended at an exhibition with clear antisemitic undertones that is on display.

The Fondazione is exhibiting an installation by Christoph Büchel, entitled “Monte di Pietà” which, according to the Fondazione “is a deep dive into the notion of debt as the root of human society and the primary vehicle by which political and cultural power is exercised.”

The installation includes documents, historical and contemporary artworks related to property history, credit and finance. Amongst these are previously classified documents from the British Government relating to ‘war bonds’ loaned to the then state of Palestine, there are also two bags of cement with Hebrew writing on them amid mangled concrete, and a monitor displaying images of the Gaza and Lebanese borders, as well as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, behind this monitor is a postcard in Hebrew with Lord Balfour’s head, and the November date in which the Balfour declaration was signed.

The Brussels-based European Jewish Association, that represents hundreds of Jewish Communities across the continent, and which is actively engaged in combatting antisemitism, was made aware of the content by numerous sources – all Jewish – who felt that the exhibition had all the hallmarks of antisemitism, and rehashed tropes of powerful Jews, and that the concrete suggested that Israel was profiting from destruction. Those who saw the exhibition also felt that that the war bonds documents and the Balfour postcard suggested the exhibition sought to link the creation of the State of Israel as a sordid, secret and financial matter.

The Chairman of the European Jewish Association, Rabbi Menachem Margolin said today in a statement,

“The parts of this installation that bring Israel into focus are clearly suggesting that Jews and Israelis have the money and the power, and that any wars whether Gaza, Lebanon or in the creation of the state of Israel have all been to the Jewish financial interest.

“This installation, however subtle it may try to be, is simply rehashing some of the oldest antisemitic tropes. What makes this particular installation even more sinister is that it attempts to wrap these tropes under the mantle of “art”, for people to stop and consider and ponder. It seeks to convey an idea that is antisemitic at its very root, in the same one that one stops and absorbs a famous painting.

“This is extremely dangerous and irresponsible given the record rises of antisemitism as a result of the October 7^th Massacre and the ongoing war in Gaza.  

“I cannot understand how the Fondazione Prada failed to see the clear antisemitic tropes on display in this installation. Whether they did or did not is neither here nor there, every Jew and Israeli who saw the installation knew exactly what it was conveying because we have seen it throughout our history.

“I call on the Foundazione to remove all of the elements of this installation. Linking the themes of money and power to Jews and Israel is pure antisemitism, however artful it professes to be.”

Ends

Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel and UN Secretary-General António Guterres met in New York on Friday and agreed to join forces to combat hate speech, incitement and antisemitism online.
Hendel, who arrived in New York after a three-day visit to Washington DC, shared with Guterres news of the committee that he has decided to establish to review the status of social media networks in Israel and whether they can be defined as media organizations, thereby giving the courts the ability to hold them accountable for content that they publish.
“We are in a war for the truth and in stopping incitement and hate speech,” Hendel said. “Israel will be a pioneer in this battle.”
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We recently updated you on the Chairman of European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin congratulating PM Victor Orban on his reelection as the PM of Hungary.
Rabbi Margolin had received a letter from PM Orban with a kind message reiterating continuous support to the Hungarian Jewish community along with the promise of further productive cooperation with the EJA.