“Jews need to prepare to leave Belgium after prosecution of Mohels”

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.

The Hellenic Council of State banned kosher and halal slaughter on Tuesday. Kosher and halal preparations of animals are central to Jewish and Muslim religious practices.
Both practices require animals to be killed without being anesthetized. The Panhellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation requested that the court annul an exemption in a law that allowed religious slaughtering practices to take place without anesthetic.
The courts ruled that the religious preparation of animal products did not outweigh those animals’ welfare, and decided that the exemption was a violation of the law’s requirement to slaughter animals with anesthesia. The court has left it up to the government to regulate the relationship between animal rights and religious freedom, and they will preside over the country’s slaughterhouse practices.
Many Jewish people are speaking out against the court’s decision, calling it an infringement on their religious freedom. European Jewish Association (EJA) chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin said that “Jewish freedom of religion is under direct attack across Europe from the very institutions that have vowed to protect our communities.”

Jewish groups outraged over Greek court’s decision

The EJA believes that the court’s decision is following a precedent set last December by the Court of Justice of the European Union, which gave EU nations the ability to ban kosher slaughter in support of animal welfare while also allowing for religious freedom for affected religious groups.
The decision allows members of the EU to make their own decisions about how to follow animal welfare guidelines while allowing people to practice their religions. But the EJA believes that “it is now clear” that member states are leaning heavily in favor of animal welfare and neglecting religious groups.

“As early as last December we warned about the dangerous consequences of the European Court of Justice ruling, and now we are seeing the result,” Margolin said. “It started in Belgium, moved to Poland and Cyprus and it is now Greece’s turn. These direct attacks come from many of those governments and institutions that have vowed to defend their Jewish communities.”

“What we are witnessing is first-rate hypocrisy,” he said. “When it comes to antisemitism, governments and institutions rightly stand behind us. But when our beliefs and customs are attacked right and left by laws, they are nowhere to be seen.”

Margolin said that the EJA plans to air their grievances at the highest level of the Greek government, hoping to get engagement and dialogue about how they can practice their religion comfortably in Greece. The EJA leader considers the issue of high importance, as food preparation and slaughter practices are central parts of both Jewish and Muslim religions.
“How can Jews live in Europe if you continue to legislate against us?” said Margolin.

Greek Court Bans Kosher and Halal Slaughter

Press release: Joseph Goebbels villa & hate speech -EJA responds to Berlin government plan to sell or demolish Goebbels villa.

European Jewish Association (EJA) makes urgent appeal to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister): “Turn Goebbels Villa into a World Center for Combatting Hate Propaganda!”

For immediate release

The European Jewish Association (EJA) makes urgent appeal to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister) who recently announced that the Berlin government could no longer afford the costs of maintaining an abandoned villa once belonging to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

In an official letter to Berlin’s Finance Senator (minister), Stefan Evers, EJA chairman Rabbi Menachem Margolin responded to the city of Berlin’s intention to sell or demolish a villa once belonging Joseph Goebbels, by expressing EJA’s willingness to explore solutions regarding the preservation of the estate.

Addressing Berlin’s finance minister, Rabbi Margolin noted:

“Turning the villa that once belonged to one of the worst engineers of genocidal propaganda in human history into a center for political psychology, communication, and combating hate speech would be an important moral victory.

“EJA is ready to examine the possibility of promoting the idea of such a center and realizing it.

“91 years since the Nazis came to power, the free world is once again facing waves of lethal propaganda deliberately engineered to create a virtual reality that nurtures hate and destructive violence.

“It is precisely these days that Dr. Goebbels’ villa should not be demolished. Rather, it should stand as both an eternal reminder of the perilous dangers posed by hate speech as well as an important center for identifying hate trends that are on the rise at an alarming exponential rate in the entire western world, including Germany.”

“The European Jewish Association is interested in exploring the possibility of turning the estate of one of the worst engineers of genocidal propaganda in human history into a center for the study of political psychology, communication and the fight against hate speech.

“We are interested in implementing the matter together with the Berlin government”.

In his letter to Senator Stefan Evers, Rabbi Margolin concludes:

“Although this week marks exactly 79 years since Goebbels poisoned his six children and committed suicide in the infamous Hitler bunker, a reminder of an equally fascist and murderous leadership currently lurking underground in Gaza, we are again living in chilling times where people are seeking to destroy Jews – but now no longer only through words.

“Let us transform the villa, from where hate speech and genocidal thought was once spread, to place for spreading good. Doing so would be an important moral victory.”

For more details / request to interview Rabbi Margolin,
please contact your EIPA/EJA media advisor – Yossi Lempkowicz, Tovi Borins, Oliver Bradley, David Khalfa, or Juan Caldes

or Tal Rabina of the Israel team:
+972 50-5331027

«Such items have no place in civil society, especially in a country that suffered so much under the nazi jackboot » – Rabbi Menachem Margolin.
As a storm erupted in Czech Republic diplomatic circles over the publication and sale of a calendar depicting « personalities of the Third Reich, the head of the Brussels based European Jewish Association said that in a time of rising antisemitism, condemnation was not enough and Czech authorities must ban all and any items that glorify the horrendous actions of the Nazis.
In a statement Rabbi Margolin, the Chairman of the European Jewish Association said :
«I find it incredible that a country that suffered massacres under the hard jackboot of the Nazis, and whose soldiers and airmen heroically fought the third reich from exile, would even countenance having such an item to buy in their country.
« The publisher states that there is demand for such items. We heard similar words from an auction house in Munich that was selling Nazi memorabilia in 2019. This is not an excuse.
« Words of condemnation whilst welcome are meaningless. The sale of such items is not only disgusting and an affront to the millions that perished under nazi ideology, but is very, very  dangerous in times of rising antisemitism. It glorifies murder, empowers those who hate the « other », and trivialises each and every abhorrent act undertaken by Hitler and his henchmen.
« I urge the czech government, for the sake of decency, for the honour of their fallen heroes and to send a messgae to Jews in the Czech Republic and across the world, to outlaw and ban the sale of any and all nazi memorabilia. »
you can read more about the story HERE