BRUSSELS, Monday Dec 3, 2024 – Under the auspices of the European Jewish Association (EJA), a solemn moment of silence and the lighting of a memorial candle took place today at the European Parliament in memory of Chabad Rabbi Zvi Kogan, who was brutally murdered in the United Arab Emirates last week.
The tragic incident has sent shockwaves across Jewish and Israeli communities worldwide.
UAE Ambassador Mohammed Am Sahlawi joined the commemoration, offering his heartfelt condolences: “What happened is extremely shocking and very sad. This act of extremism is precisely why we must double down on our shared values of coexistence and tolerance.”
Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Executive Director of the EJA, strongly condemned the attack, stating: “This horrific act of terror is a stark reminder that antisemitism and hatred have no borders. It is incumbent upon all of us to fight these dark forces and to strengthen the bonds of understanding and mutual respect among nations.”
Michael Freilich, the only Jewish lawmaker in Belgium and a special diplomatic envoy for the EJA, also addressed the gathering: “Let’s turn this tragedy into a rallying call for unity and cooperation. The Abraham Accords have shown us what is possible when Jews and Arabs come together as partners in peace. The most powerful message we can send to those who wish to divide us is that they will fail. Our resolve for coexistence and collaboration is unshakable.”
The commemoration serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of continued dialogue and partnership between Jewish and Arab communities. It also underscores the enduring need to combat extremism in all its forms and to build bridges of understanding across the globe.
Our esteemed colleague, Ruth Wasserman Lande, a Research Fellow and Expert on Middle Eastern Affairs, former Deputy Ambassador, and Knesset Member, delivered a crucial briefing in our office today. The topic? “Israel and the Arab Nations post October 7th”. This is a matter of urgent importance, with significant implications for regional stability and international relations.
This morning the EJA had the pleasure to welcome a delegation led by the Mr. Sam Grundwerg, World Chairman of Keren Hayesod -UIA
We discussed in length about the different ideas and options for growth and divelopment of Jewish lives in Europe, about the chalenges Jews are facing and the rise of antisemitism.
We concluded with our shared hope of working together on all of these challenges in the upcoming year.
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
It was another week of sorting through my stuffed inbox. A nice surprising was the initiative of an unknown person who only has a Jewish father. He wants to set up a website entitled: “ask the rabbi”.
I thought it was nice that someone who is therefore according to Halachah non-Jewish approached me to do this. So, I immediately made contact and agreed to participate.
The intention is that people ask their question online and that the administrator, him in this case, then forwards the questions to one of the participating rabbis. It seems sensible to me that some sort of pre-selection takes place, but although he thought the questions would be limited to questions about knowledge, I expect many more requests for help.
A request for help is very difficult to answer in writing. And so my proposal is that the rabbi call the questioner from an unnamed number. Experience has taught me that most of the questions that come to me are dressed up in a simple factual question, but that behind that simple question lies a much deeper question or problem. I cannot perceive this problem if the question is asked in writing.
And so the webmaster gets to work and looks at how we can separate the wheat from the chaff, but at the same time not throw the baby away with the bath water. I’m curious! So although I got up too late, because I went to bed much too late, my working day became too short. Especially because I had to come to Veldhoven to take part in an Israeli broadcast debating anti-Semitism and the question of how politics deals with Israel. And that was, despite first glance, fun.
I had brought to my friend Louk de Liever a bottle of Israeli wine specially from Judea and Samaria, which has been bombarded by the anti-Jewish lobby into a so-called ‘occupied area’ and these products must be provided with a label on which the origin can be recognised. So, product of Israel is of course out of the question, but also coming from Judea and Samaria is not accepted. It should read product from “occupied territory”. And while I had just returned from the city centre of Amersfoort, where Louk lives, after my walk, I see a message that in Dubai products from the so-called “occupied territories” may be sold without a label because they support the Palestinian economy. I am curious if the United Nations will now pass a resolution against the United Arab Emirates and I am even more curious how our Ministry of Foreign Affairs will respond.
Are they now sending a number of employees to fine the Chamber of Commerce in Dubai, as they did a few months ago to Nijkerk? Making sure that animal suffering in the slaughterhouses was limited, there was not enough staff available for that, but those few bottles of delicious Israeli wine from the “occupied territories” apparently had enough time and staff and that was really much more important than unnecessary animal suffering…But even if that reporting isn’t correct yet, it doesn’t matter. Because in politics, today’s truth can be tomorrow’s lie, or vice versa!
At 6:00 PM left for Veldhoven, near Eindhoven, for the Israel evening. It started at 8:00 PM and lasted until 9:15 PM. What a great program, what energy the SGP has put into this.
What pro-Israel warmth. And how grateful I am that I was able to participate in this. The background was a large photo of Jerusalem with the burning menorah in front of it. Perfect music, live interview with someone from Israel and someone else from Iraq. It was amazing.
But of course I had to think about what to say. It takes energy, but thank G-d I have that. At 11:15 PM I was home, floored. Wrote the diary and had another conversation with a political person to try to get a visa for a father who lives in Israel, is divorced and wants to visit his two small children, who live with his ex in the Netherlands. Problem: Visa is not granted due to corona. The political insider will see what he can do. And now, my faithful diary readers , if you don’t know what to do with your time for an hour and fifteen minutes, click on this link: https://youtu.be/NYJQaIjQIt8. Enjoy our friends of Israel, because we really have them!
