As a part of our #LightingEurope canpaign we are happy and honored to have head of the board of the Jewish Community of Barcelona “Comunidad Israelita de Barcelona”, Madam Elisabeth Buch for the second candle and Binyomin Jacobs, Dutch Chief Rabbi for the third candle with some special words for Chanikah:
Every Day during the Corona crisis our Advisory Board Member Chief Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs (NL) writes a diary, on request of the Jewish Cultural Quarter in Amsterdam, which is published on the website of the NIW, the only Jewish Dutch Magazine. Rabbi Jacobs is the head of Inter Governmental Relationships at the Rabbinical Centre of Europe. We will be regularly publishing a selection of his informative, sometimes light hearted, but always wise pieces.
For our Dutch readers you can follow the diary every day at NIW home page: https://niw.nl
Column NIW 38 GB
Sara wants to tell her husband something positive and something negative. What do you want to hear first, she asks him? Start with the good news, her husband replied. Well, Sara enthuses, your Lexus’airbags worked very well. After two weeks holiday of writing my diary, I also have something positive and something negative to say. I'll start with the negative. I had to go to England for a few days. The reason why is irrelevant, but I want to share the corona bombardment surrounding this trip. The ferry ticket was easily booked, but then the test circus started. I checked online which test is required to cross the sea. €130 PCR. Afterwards, the test of €39 turned out to be sufficient. I had to be at the test site at 11:05 am, preferable not earlier. I was there at 11:04, but had to queue until 12:15! Two days later, after lengthy paper statements about testing, whereabouts and quarantine, I was in London. Four times a day I got a call from the local authority asking how I was feeling and where I was. They also send inspectors to check us at the door every other day. And then back home again. I expected the return journey to be easy as I am Dutch and fully vaccinated. Mais non! I was bombed by text, WhatsApp and email by the Ferry company. I had to have an urgent reason, which officially falls under the exceptions, to be allowed to return home. My full vaccination was not recognized as I am entering Holland from England and I had to have a negative PCR test less than 24 hours old. The latter was a difficult one, because my ferry left at 11 p.m. So, I could only go to a test location the next morning, on the day of departure, but I would receive the results after 24 hours, not earlier. I was quite upset about it. It seemed like mission impossible. After a few days in England and five tests with negative results, I was back in Holland. At the border I was kindly welcomed by our Royal Military Police. I just had to show my ID. No test results and not even my app showing that I’m vaccinated. That friendly “welcome back to the Netherlands and have a nice” made me forget all threatening emails, text messages and WhatsApp’s in no time and therefore my quarantine after returning passed without any emotional problems. Which shows the importance of a few kind and
friendly words!
An anti-Zionist group in the Netherlands is using a freedom of information request pressure Dutch universities into revealing whether any of their staff members have ties to Israel.
The freedom of information request was filed by “The Rights Forum” group, and also seeks to identify what ties and staff relations exist with Jewish communities and organizations such as the Simon Wiesenthal Centre.
The Chief Rabbi of the Netherlands, Binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi (NL), who also heads up the European Jewish Association’s Committee for Combatting Antisemitism, condemned the The Rights Forum, saying the information request “reeks of antisemitism”.
“The Rights Forum is well known to me. Let us be clear, they want to know any Israeli, any Israeli link and any Jewish people in universities in Holland. The clear inference is that some shadowy Zionist or Jewish cabal is operating in the Dutch university system. This reeks of antisemitism, but it comes as no surprise to me given this group’s reputation.”
“No. What really concerns me is the number of universities that were so compliant with such a transparently antisemitic request. It reminds us that most mayors cooperated during the occupation to pass on the names of their Jewish citizens to the Germans.”
“The difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism is now wafer thin. In all my many years in Holland I can seldom remember such a toxic environment for Jews. This is an appalling submission to the base instincts of an openly hostile group towards Israel, the world’s only Jewish State.”
Jewish leaders from across Europe called on Monday on Jewish organizations to reject “intersectionality” due to Zionist exclusion which creates a lack of solidarity with Jews. They also called on Israeli politicians to rise above differences, and urged legislation that bars from office EU politicians with avowed antisemitic positions.
These claims were voiced at the European Jewish Association (EJA) Annual Conference in Porto, Portugal yesterday.
Titled “Shaping the Future of European Jewry Together,” the conference was held in partnership with the Jewish Community of Porto and the EMIH Jewish community of Hungary headed by Rabbi Shlomo Koves. Over 100 presidents and board members of Jewish communities across Europe attended, along with government and regional special envoys for Combating Antisemitism.
The two-day conference included panel discussions on national plans for combating antisemitism, online hate, a new youth leaders program for campus activity and youth experiences of hate, ending Nazi memorabilia trade, bringing forward a women’s leadership forum and more. EJA is a Jewish-European NGO, and is one of several umbrella Jewish organizations. It was founded in 1989 and is headquartered in Brussels.
The conference culminated in a resolution passed by vote in a show of hands that will be forwarded to governments across Europe and to the Leadership of the European Union institutions, stating that antisemitism is unique and must be separated in national plans from other forms of hate.
The resolution also calls on Jewish organizations to reject “intersectionality” due to Zionist exclusion and a lack of solidarity with Jews, as well as on Israeli politicians to rise above their differences in the current tense political climate. It also urged governments to push for legislation barring from office EU politicians with avowed antisemitic positions.
Notable figures addressing the conference included European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas, The General Secretary of the French Inter-ministerial delegation for the fight against racism and antisemitism Mrs. Elise Fajgeles, the Personal Representative of Chairman in Office on Combating antisemitism OSCE Rabbi Andrew Baker, Chair of the Woman’s Impact Forum at the World Jewish Congress Ruth Wasserman Lande, World Zionist Organisation Head of Department for combating antisemitism Raheli Baratz-Rix and the CEO of NGO Monitor Prof. Gerald Steinberg.
It’s a challenging time for Jewish communities in Europe. Anti-Semitism is on the rise as populism and the politics of the lowest common denominator are gaining traction. Our communities often need round the clock protection and our practices and customs such as keeping Kosher are under pressure from increasing political interference.
