Suspect in murder of British lawmaker named as Ali Harbi Ali

While European Commissionner for Neighbourjhood Policy Oliver Várhelyi, told a conference in Brussels on Tuesday that EU taxpayers’ money should not be used to fund antisemitic activities and incitement to hatred, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on the same day that that EU funds for Palestine would be unlocked after “difficulties” were overcome.

“As Team Europe, we are the largest donor in Palestine, with around EUR 600 million per year,” von der Leyen said at a press conference following a meeting with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ramallah.

“I am very glad to announce that the EU funds for 2021 can be disbursed rapidly. All the difficulties are gone, we have made clear that the disbursement will take place,” she said.

The EU gave the green light to funding for the Palestinian Authority on Monday, as von der Leyen arrived for a two-day visit to the Middle East.

‘’It is important to have this EU funding to support the people, especially the most vulnerable. It also helps create the right conditions for economic opportunities,’’ she added.

Twenty-six out of 27 EU member states backed a proposal to remove conditionality on funding for the Palestinian Authority. Only Hungary opposed.

Hungarian Commissioner Oliver Várhelyi blocked the funding last year, arguing it should be contingent on changes to the content of Palestinian textbooks which have antisemitic content and incite to hatred.

In  May, the European Parliament condemned the Palestinian Authority  for the third consecutive year for its abuse of EU funding used to draft and teach new violent and hateful textbooks ‘’worse than previous editions.’’

At the conference organised Tuesday by the European Jewish Association in the European Parliament, Várhelyi stressed that ‘’it is our credibility to fight any form of antisemitism therefore, incitement to hatred, violence and terror.’’

‘’What starts with incitement to hatred and violence becomes terror. And prevents coexistence,’’ he added, withiout specifically mentioning the Palestinian textbooks.

‘’Incitement not only poisons the minds of children, but also cements the view in many that there is no prospect for peace and a solution of the conflict,’’ the Commissioner said.

‘’The EU cannot be a credible actor neither in Europe nor in the Middle East and beyond if we do not deliver on these fundamental commitments,’’ he said.

He added, ‘’Regretfully, antisemitism is on the rise in Europe and across the world.
What is even more troubling is that even fundamental commitments in the EU for this fight seem to be weakening, if not disappearing. One might never have anticipated that the fight against antisemitism will be negotiable in Europe. Or even worse, be taken over by other considerations when certain decisions are made. Standing up against antisemitism should never become a question of majorities.’’

‘’For me, there can be no compromise and no discount on these fundamental principles. It must be non-negotiable.’’

‘’You can count on my personal dedication and firm commitment to deliver on these principles. We are working hard to translate this commitment into real actions on the ground, to make an impact and deliver real results,’’ Várhelyi concluded.

Israel’s Minister for Immigration and Absorption, Pnina Tamano Shata, who spoke at te conference, also addressed the challenge of rising antisemitism and terror. ‘’The European Union has the responsibility to take all necessary steps to counter all forms of antisemitism, whether from the far right or from the far left, where it is often disguised as anti-Zionism. A native of Ethiopia, the minister underlined the role played by Israel in helping refugees from Ukraine feel at home.

“The State of Israel, from its very founding, has always been a nation of immigrants and refugees.the State of Israel was established as the State of the Jewish People, many of whom arrived as refugees in the last century after war world tow ,many of them survived the Holocaust. In fact, it was these immigrants and refugees who built the state,’’ she said.

Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Chairman of the European Jewish Association, noted that ”Israel has not only become a homeland and refuge to the Jewish People but it has also become a place of safety and refuge for people from all over the world.”

He called on Europe’s leadership not to perpetuate refugees status not in Europe, not in the Middle East a,d nowhere else in the world. Refugees need to receive assistance but also and especially tools and encouragement to take responsibility for themselves, continue their lives and contribute of themselves for the benefit others who need them,” Margolin said.

The event was hosted by MEP Antonio López-Istúriz White, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with Israel, who noted that after the Abraham Accords, which led to the normalisation of relations between Israel and several Arab countries, ”the EU and Israel could be entering into the best relationship yet.” ”We are united by our values and in our common fight against terrorism,” he said.

After the recent terrorist murders of Jews in France, Belgium and Denmark, other Western European governments are beginning to understand that it is their legal and moral duty to protect the institutions of their Jewish minority.
Yet on this issue, Switzerland lags far behind other countries. This is particularly worrying in light of the deadly shooting in 2001 in a Zurich street, where an Israeli rabbi (recognizable as a Jew by his clothing) was murdered. The case has never been solved.
Switzerland has a population of 8.4 million; less than 18,000 are Jews.
The largest Jewish organization is the nominally orthodox Federation of Jewish communities (SIG). It has, at most, 12,000 members. Assessments by Swiss intelligence agencies and police over the past two years have shown that there are substantial threats against Jewish institutions there.
Because Switzerland is a federal state, it is sometimes unclear when security is the responsibility of the national government, the canton (province), or the municipality in which an institution is located. Overall, Jewish community security costs are estimated to be from $5 -7 million dollars a year, a large amount for such a small group.
The discussion on who is responsible for security (and paying for it) has been going on for several years. Only in October 2017 did the Swiss government admit for the first time that it has a duty to protect the Jewish minority –without saying how it would provide or pay for this security.
At the end of 2016, for example, it was scandalously suggested that Jews should create a fund with their own money in order to take care of their security. Some funds have been made available for one Jewish community in Zurich by the cantonthough these are not destined for security. For the other communities and synagogues in the town, no funds are provided.
The situation is particularly problematic in the third largest — and 212 year old — Jewish community of Basel, which faces a huge deficit and ultimately perhaps bankruptcy. It currently has the choice between reducing activities or having less security. First the government of the canton — and then the parliament (Grosser Rat) — voted down subsidizing security measures. The parliament has also refused to increase financing of the police force, despite the general terror threat in Europe and Switzerland.
But after the lethal Christmas market attack by a Muslim terrorist in Berlin in December 2016, measures were taken in Switzerland last year to protect Christmas markets. A heavily armed police presence was introduced, and several Christmas markets were fortified. Funding for these security measures was provided by the state.
One might recall some other elements of the unfriendly past attitudes of Switzerland to its Jews.
Switzerland only reluctantly granted its Jews full emancipation under US and French economic pressure. Switzerland was also the first European country to outlaw Jewish ritual slaughter in 1894; this was part of a desire to stop Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe.
During the Second World War, some of the Jews who fled from the Nazis were allowed in, but many others were returned to Nazi-occupied countries, where they faced lethal risks. After the war, a concentrated effort was made to force almost all of the 22,500 refugee Jews in the country to leave.
In the 1990s, it became known that Swiss banks had been systematically stalling efforts of Holocaust survivors to obtain money that their murdered relatives had placed there. In 1997, a case where a leading Swiss bank was caught destroying documents on dormant Jewish accounts shook the country to the core.
Ultimately the World Jewish Congress brought two American political adversaries together — US President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, and New York Republican Senator Al D’Amato. They took an interest in the dormant bank accounts issue, which led to pressure on Switzerland.
A commission led by the former Chairman of the US Federal Reserve, Paul Volcker, investigated the dormant bank accounts issue. One scandal it discovered was that the deposits in many such accounts had been eaten away by annual bank fees and service charges — or had simply been transferred to the banks’ profits.
The then-president of Switzerland, Jean-Pascal Delamuraz, claimed that Jewish organizations were trying to “blackmail Switzerland into paying them large sums of money to destabilize Switzerland and destroy its banking industry.” This made the scandal even bigger. His apology was considered insufficient.
In recent months, several American Jewish organizations and even US politicians have started to take an interest in Switzerland’s discriminatory attitude toward the security of Jewish institutions. If the Swiss authorities do not act in the near future in a substantial way on this issue, they may risk yet another scandal abroad.
But it would be far worse if a terrorist attack on a Jewish institution would happen before then.
The article was published in The Algemeiner

We’re delighted to conclude the second portion of our annual conference in Amsterdam.

Throughout this phase, our discussions revolved around key themes, each featuring distinguished panels and notable speakers.
Firstly, our focus was on self-defence strategies, with insights shared by Prof. Gerald Steinberg, President and Founder of NGO Monitor; Alana Ebin, Director of Mosaic Teens at the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, Israel; Oliver Rak from the C TEEN Jewish Youth Movement in Hungary; Jonathan Feldmar, Campus and Education Manager at Stand With Us; Samuel Lejoyeux, President of the France Union of Jewish Students; Achira Beck, President of the Dutch Union of Jewish Students; and Prof. Bart Wallet, Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of Amsterdam.

Following this, attention turned to combating antisemitism in educational settings, with contributions from Michael Sweetney, Former NBA player (NY Knicks) and Jewish Advocate; and Dean Furman, Professional football player and Jewish advocate.

Lastly, the discussion shifted to the role of media in confronting antisemitism, featuring perspectives from Chrystian Orzeszko, Editor of The Jewish Word in Poland; Jonatan Megyeri, Editor-in-Chief of Neokohn in Hungary; Elias Levy Bennaroch, Editor-in-Chief of Enfoque-Judio in Spain; Miriam Assor, Journalist at Portuguese Jewish News in Portugal; Laetitia Enriquez, Journalist at Actualité Juive in France; Adam Levick, Co-Editor of CAMERA UK; Luca Spizzichino, Journalist at Hatikva and President of UGEI in Italy; and Blaise Vanderlinden, Journalist at Radio Judaica in Belgium.

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The European Jewish Association is a prominent and influential organisation dedicated to representing, advocating for, and fostering the interests of the Jewish community across Europe. Founded on unity, tolerance, and inclusivity principles, the EJA bridges diverse Jewish communities and European societies.

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Despite the hectic EU Summit schedule, the EJA was honoured that the Prime Minister of Croatia, His Excelency Mr Andrey Plenkovic, took the time to meet today with a delegation from the European Jewish Associa
The wide-ranging meeting covered a lot of ground, including the eventual adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism by Croatia, security concerns for the community in Zagreb, a briefing on the Zagreb opening of the Chesed centre for the loaning of medical equipment to all in need, an initiative to provide holocaust education via gentle and innovative means to younger schoolchildren as well as a fruitful discussion regarding involvement to the EJA’s Delegation to Auschwitz in November.
The EJA thanks Prime Minister Plenkovic for the care and attention he and his government shows to Jews in Croatia and across Europe, and notes that Jews feel safe and secure living and visiting the Country.