Meeting with Mart Laidmets, Secretary General at the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia

November 13, 2019

Last week, on 7 November 2019, the European Jewish Association and our partners from the Action and Protection Foundation/ Hungary/ have gathered in Brussels to further advance ongoing work on the European Curriculum and Textbook Project against Antisemitism. Incidentally, the meeting took place just a day after a similar one in Riga, Latvia.
At the meeting, where the EJA has been represented by Alex Benjamin (Director of Public Affairs) and the APF by Szalai Kálmán(Secretary), we have met Mart Laidmets, Secretary General at the Ministry of Education and Research of the Republic of Estonia. The meeting took place at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Estonia to the European Union, with which the EJA has had the pleasure and honour to cooperate on at least several occasions over the past years.

Following a description of the earlier seven-year programme implemented in Hungary, its characteristics and outcomes, the Estonian system of education has been discussed – its gradual development over the past decades, international cooperation with foreign partners, realization of various EU programmes as well as transition to a web-based learning system at schools, which nowadays is one of the most advanced in Europe.
Mr. Secretary General has expressed, on behalf of the Ministry, interest in potential cooperation with us and promised to convey the information and proposal received to H.E. Madam Minister. In particular, prospects for collaboration on web-based learning materials shall be evaluated.
We are most thankful to Mr. Laidmets and the Ministry for this opportunity to meet and discuss the initiative, and eagerly look forward to further contacts on the present subject and others.

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נשיאת הפרלמנט האירופי: "מזעזע שבתי כנסת באירופה מאובטחים כמו מבצר"

נשיאת הפרלמנט האירופי, רוברטה מצולה קיבלה הערב (יום חמישי) אות כבוד מטעם איגוד הארגונים של יהודי אירופה (EJA) בשל פעילות “יוצאת דופן” למען הקהילות היהודיות ביבשת. מצולה, שדיברה במהלך הטקס, הודתה כי “אנחנו לא עושים מספיק כדי להילחם באנטישמיות”. היא קראה לשמר את אורחות החיים של היהודים באירופה – כמו למשל שחיטה כשרה – והוסיפה כי היא “מזועזעת לראות כיצד בתי כנסת באירופה מאובטחים כמו מבצר”.

בשבוע שבו מציינים 84 שנים לליל הבדולח, ביקרה מצולה גם במחנה ההשמדה באושוויץ. “זו חובתי ואחריותי להגן על יהודי אירופה מפני אנטישמיות”, אמרה שם. “עלינו להילחם בתעמולה האנטישמית שמשתוללת במדינות אירופה. על מנת לנצח במשימה, אנו זקוקים ליותר מרק אסטרטגיה – אלא לנקיטת יוזמה ופעולה. לא נשכח ולא ניתן לזה לקרות שוב”.

מלבד מצולה הגיעו לכנס המנהיגים השנתי למאבק באנטישמיות של ה-EJA גם נציב האיחוד האירופי אוליבר ורהלי, מזכירת הפרלמנט הצרפתי קרולין ז’נביר, נשיאת הפרלמנט הצ’כי מרקטה פקרובה, ראש ממשלת מונטנגרו דריטן אברזוביץ’, נשיא הקונגרס היהודי האירו- אסייתי אלכסנדר משקביץ, שגריר ישראל למוסדות האיחוד האירופי חיים רגב, שרים ממדינות אירופה ועשרות פרלמנטרים בכירים מרחבי היבשת.

נציב האיחוד האירופי אוליבר ורהלי, שאחראי על היחסים עם המדינות הגובלות באיחוד, הדגיש כי זו חובתו לבוא לאושוויץ. “אני באמת חושש שמה שקרה כאן יכול לקרות שוב”, אמר. “הדרך הטובה ביותר להילחם באנטישמיות היא לקדם חיים יהודיים ברחבי אירופה. לא מספיק להגיד לעולם לא שוב, אנחנו חייבים לעשות משהו. המסר שלי לאירופים: יש רק ניצחון אחד על המוות והוא החיים”.

“You All Say ‘Never Again’, Make It So”, Urges Rabbi Menachem Margolin

AHEAD OF MUNICH AUCTION TOMORROW, EUROPEAN JEWISH CHIEF CALLS ON GERMAN POLITICAL LEADERS TO BAN SALE OF NAZI MEMORABILIA
AND PUT BUYERS ON WATCH LIST
“You all say ‘Never Again’, make it so”, urges Rabbi Menachem Margolin .
At 10am today morning (CET) a major Munich based auction house Hermann Historica is conducting an online sale of personal items such as cutlery sets, jewellery and signed letters and photographs belonging to the leadership of the Nazi Party – Himmler, Goring and Hitler himself among them.
European Jewish Association (EJA) Chairman Rabbi Menachem has written to the leadership of all of Germany’s mainstream political parties to put in place legislation that will ban the public sale of such items and – in the meantime – compel sellers to divulge the names of buyers so that they can be kept on government watch lists in the interests of public safety.
In his letter to all the political leaders, the EJA Chief suggested that the authorities would want to know who was buying the personal items of Osama Bin Laden, Anders Breivik or Stephan Ernst for public safety reasons, and those glorifying, sentimentalising or adulating the Nazis are every bit as dangerous.
Rabbi Margolin wrote,
“Almost every week we at the European Jewish Association are having to respond to attacks on community buildings and more worryingly still, physical or verbal attacks on Jews themselves. Alarmingly, it is Germany that leads Europe in the sheer volume of reported anti-Semitic incidents.
“Selling such items should be no different to selling the personal items belonging to Osama Bin Laden, or Anders Breivik. The argument of historical interest is pure semantics. As political representatives concerned with the wellbeing and safety of your citizens, we cannot help wonder if you would not want to know who was buying Bin Laden’s fruit bowl or Stephan Ernst’s photographs and why they would even want them.
“In waiting for a ban to be put in place, we urge the German authorities to compel auction houses to divulge the names of those who are buying such material, in order to know whose hands they have fallen into. The names should then be put on a government ‘watch’ list, for public safety.
“Six Million Jewish lives were lost during the Nazi regime. Today an increasing number of Jewish lives are being lost and more are threatened because of the “oldest hatred”.
“Politicians are wont to say ‘never again’. We urge you to make it so.”

Bootcamp- Madrid day 2&3

Day two of our bootcamp started with two special guests: Berlin’s combatting anti-semitism representative Mr Sigmount Konigsborg, and ACOM’s Mr Angel Mas who took our participants on an intensive session into modern manifestations of anti-semitism, the challenges of social media and how to fight back on campus and in public discourse. Both are heroes of ours and it was great to have them share their experience and tips.
We had a brief tour of Madrid before getting straight back into it with Attorney at the Paris Bar and leading French Jewish and Israel advocate Pascal Markowicz who gave us his take and counter arguments to the ICC’s announcement to investigate Israel, then we dove straight into an EJA team seminar on two threats to Jewish life in Europe: Shechitah and Brit Milah. Day 2 concluded with a great dinner where special guests from the Israeli embassy and Spanish MP and friend of the EJA José Ignacio Echániz. Then, well, we let our hair down a bit…
Day 3 coincided with Yom Hazikaron, and it was fitting on a day that Israel mourns its dead in defence of the country that we spoke about the positive impact that Israel has played in embedding normalisation in the hearts and minds of the Emiratis. Two masterminds of the the social media strategy Strategic Mr Yonatan Gonen who heads up the Arab language social media section at the MFA and Mr Ido Daniel who directs public diplomacy and social media at the Ministry of Strategic Affairs shared their remarkable and inspiring works as well providing tips and insights on how to manage social media relations.
We then went straight into a panel of leading Spanish Journalists for an exchange of views on Israel and how the media covers the region, before concluding with former ACOM President and former President of the Madrid community Mr David Hatchwell, who shared his incredible and inspiring story of how he got engaged in advocacy and the challenges and opportunities in advocacy work going forward. Finally, as we drew our bootcamp to a close, we talked about our Jewish Diplomatic Corps, which is the next step for many of our bootcampers….intense, fun, enlightening and constructive. The EJA, our partners the
ECJS (European Center for Jewish Students) and Concert – Together for Israel are building the next generation of Jewish leaders. Leaders with the right skills and tenacity to lead from the front. We are proud of them.

Germany establishes an anti-Semitism commissioner

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.”

BERLIN, GERMANY – JANUARY 18: Bundestag President Wolfgang Schaeuble speaks at a memorial ceremony for late former Bundestag President Philipp Jenninger in the Bundestag plenary hall on January 18, 2018 in Berlin, Germany. Jenninger served as Bundestag president from 1984 to 1988. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

 

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