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  • For the first time, the European Parliament states that Hezbollah is responsible for Lebanon’s devastating political and economic crisis

For the first time, the European Parliament states that Hezbollah is responsible for Lebanon’s devastating political and economic crisis

September 20, 2021
Belgium

A resolution owverwhelmingly adopted by the European Parliament states: “Whereas Hezbollah still controls key ministries in the Lebanese Government; whereas Hezbollah has been listed as a terror organisation by several EU Member States; whereas Hezbollah has repeatedly shown its strong ideological allegiance with Iran, which is destabilising the Lebanese Government and undermining its much-needed cohesion.”

In a resolution on Lebanon adopted earlier this week, the European Parliament clearly stated that Hezbollah is responsible for the country’s devastating political and economic crisis and the repression of the 2019 popular movement.
The resolution, which was adopted with a overwhelming and cross-party support, stresses the need for full Lebanese sovereignty and laments detrimental outside interference.
The text reads: “Whereas Hezbollah still controls key ministries in the Lebanese Government; whereas Hezbollah has been listed as a terror organisation by several EU Member States; whereas Hezbollah has repeatedly shown its strong ideological allegiance with Iran, which is destabilising the Lebanese Government and undermining its much-needed cohesion.”
The resolution further threatens “the introduction of targeted sanctions for obstructing or undermining the democratic political process.”
The text was adopted with 575 yes votes, 71 no votes and 39 abstentions.
The resolution said that the European Union should still consider imposing sanctions on Lebanese politicians who block the progress of the new government.
Taking note of Lebanon’s formation of a government two weeks ago after more than a year of political deadlock, the European Parliament, meeting in Strasbourg, said EU governments cannot yet release pressure on the country.
Despite the fact that EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told the European Parliament that the time for sanctions had passed because of the formation of a government. The EU has welcomed the announcement of the new government led by Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
The European parliament “deeply urges Lebanese leaders to keep their promises and be a functional government”, the resolution said.
The EU agreed in June to prepare travel bans and asset freezes for Lebanese politicians accused of corruption and obstructing efforts to form a government, financial mismanagement and human rights abuses.
EU must take stand against Hezbollah, say ECR MEPs
The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), a center-right political group in the EU parliament, strongly welcomed the adoption of the resolution. ‘’The ECR Group endorses the European Parliament’s view that Hezbollah is responsible for Lebanon’s devastating political and economic crisis and the repression of the 2019 popular movement.”
” For the first time, MEPs have recognised the organisation’s strong ideological allegiance with Iran which acts to destabilise Lebanon,’’ it noted.
For the group, Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers said the resolution ‘’greatly challenges the left-liberal groups to come to terms with Hezbollah’s true terrorist nature and to do away with the made-up distinction between the so-called military and political wings of the organisation.’’
‘’It is a distinction that is strongly denied by Hezbollah’s deputy leader, Naim Qassem, himself who stresses that Hezbollah has one single leadership and that no distinction between wings exists,’’ Weimers added.
“This must be the European Parliament’s strongest condemnation yet of Iran and their terror proxy Hezbollah for undermining the stability of Lebanon,” said Daniel Schwammenthal, Director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute.
“European lawmakers have thus sent a clear warning to the regime in Tehran and their Shiite terror group that it is no longer business as usual. The Lebanese people deserve freedom, democracy and prosperity–neither of which will be attainable as long as Hezbollah and Iran can continue to drag the country into corruption, crime and war,” he added.

Additional Articles

jpost
Portugal

Jewish leaders in Europe call orgs to reject 'intersectionality' due to Zionist exclusion

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.

https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-743116

  • May 17, 2023
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Belgium

Words by Rabbi Benyomin Jacobs on Dutch TV

I stopped worrying about current anti-Semitism. Just fiveminutes I forgot about the anti-Israel propaganda which I see and hear daily around me. I was standing in a serene silence for those five minutes in front of the Children’s Monument, het Kindermonument, in former Dutch concentration camp Vught.
“One thousand two hundred and sixty-nine children were put on deportation trains with the Kindertransport on June 6 and 7 in 1943.  A few days later they arrived in extermination camp Sobibor. Upon arrival they were brutely removed from the cattle wagons, driven to the gas chambers via the Himmelstrasse, the Street to the Heaven, as the Nazi scum jokingly called this street. Were they aware of the atrocities which the Nazi’s had planned for them? When did they realize that from the showers heads no water would come out but a deadly killing gas would emerge? How long did they suffer before they souls were forced to leave their young bodies? Didthe SS men, who watched through a few skylights, enjoy the sadistic spectacle?
The names of all those children are engraved on the Children’s Monument in National Monument Kamp Vught. Only a very few photographs of a few children still exist. Most children are reduced by the industrial killing machine to a just name,without a face.
Why are we commemorating yearly the Children-Deportation, the Kindertransport? In order to prevent? Is this monument akind of educational project?
Yes, the Kindertransport is commemorated every year, but not to teach, not to warn, not even to prevent!
When I unveiled the monument in 1999, people came forward from the audience after the ceremony. They searched through the names, found and, full of tenderness, love and with tears in their eyes, I saw them putting their hands on the name of their sister, their brother, their child or their grandchild. But the names of most of the children stayed untouched, because thebrothers, sisters, nephews and nieces, fathers and mothers of those children had also been murdered.
One thousand, two hundred and sixty-nine names. Lonely names, letters without faces, without family, as if they never existed. Through the chimneys of the Sobibor crematoria they disappeared into an invisible darkness. Anonymous, completely unknown, no one to think of them anymore. Just letters, a very few damaged photographs, as if they never existed.
Let us close our eyes and think in absolute silence of thechildren of the Kindertransport, who stayed on this earth for such a short while, were so cruelly snatched, and of whom nothing, absolutely nothing, has remained.
No grave, no ashes, just a name. Names without meaning, because no one today is able to remember whose life and suffering is behind their names.”
Credit: Jan van de Ven
Credit: Jan van de Ven

  • June 6, 2021
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Netherlands

Israel’s President Herzog to attend Sunday’s inauguration of National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam

Herzog’s visit to the Netherlands is part of Israel’s ongoing efforts to free the hostages held by terrorist group Hamas. In this context, he will have a series of diplomatic meetings focusing on efforts to return the hostages brutally held by Hamas in Gaza, as well as on raising awareness of the need to combat the worrying rise in antisemitism in Europe and around the world following the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, Herzog’s office said.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog will attend on Sunday the inauguration of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam.

The official ceremony will be held in the city’s famous Portuguese Synagogue, in the presence of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, together with the President of Austria, Alexander van der Bellen, Dutch Prime Minister  Mark Rutte, the President of the Bundesrat or German Federal Council, Manuela Schwesig, the Mayor of Amsterdam, and Jewish leaders from around the world.

Herzog’s visit if part of Israel’s ongoing efforts to free the hostages held by terrorist group Hamas. In this context, he will have a series of diplomatic meetings focusing on efforts to return the hostages brutally held by Hamas in Gaza, as well as on raising awareness of the need to combat the worrying rise in antisemitism in Europe and around the world following the Hamas terrorist attack of October 7, Herzog’s office said.

The President will be joined by the family of the late Major (Res.) Yitzhar Hoffman, who fell in battle against terrorists in January. The Hoffman family was saved in the Holocaust by Dutch citizens who were later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations.

On the same day, he will visit The Hague,  where he will meet with Prime Minister Rutte President van der Bellen of Austria, and other senior officials. The President is also expected to meet with families of Israeli hostages visiting the country.

In each of his meetings, Israeli President Isaac Herzog (pictured) ”will raise the ongoing and vital struggle to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas.”

He will also meet with leaders of Jewish communities in the Netherlands, and will visit the Jewish school in Amsterdam.

‘’In each of his meetings, President Herzog will raise the ongoing and vital struggle to secure the release of all the hostages held by Hamas. He will also emphasize the important need to combat global antisemitism, and stress the centrality of Israel in the Jewish world,’’ his office said.

According to the Dutch media, pro-Palestinian activists are expected to protest the presence of President Herzog. “We value freedom of speech,” said a spokesman for the National Holocaust Museum. “We just say: keep it dignified. Keep in mind that Holocaust survivors will also be present.”

The National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam which will be inaugurated on Sunday and will open to the  public the next day, tells the story of the Nazi persecution and murder of the Jews of the Netherlands. It is the first and only museum to tell this story.

The Museum is mocated on Amsterdam’s Plantage Middellaan where hundreds of Jewish children were saved here during the war.

Visitors will learn about how it was possible for the Holocaust to happen, who the victims were, and the perpetrators – and how we can make sure that this never happens again.

Authentic elements emphasize the role played by the building during the war, like the fence where children were passed over from the adjacent kindergarten to members of the resistance.

The National Holocaust Museum is located in the old Jewish neighbourhood in the heart of Amsterdam. It is also home to the Jewish Museum and Jewish Museum junior, the Portuguese Synagogue and Hollandsche Schouwburg.

Prior to the Holocaust, 140,000 Jews were living in the Netherlands. During the 1930s, the community was active in helping Jews leave Germany, so that by the outbreak of the war, some 30,000 had found sanctuary in the Netherlands.

During the Holocaust, many of the Dutch collaborated with the Germans, while many others strove to rescue their Jewish neighbours. By the end of the war, over 100,000 Dutch Jews had been murdered. Some 10,000, including 3,500 children, had been hidden.

  • March 15, 2024
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Belgium

The Intolerance of Demanding that Meat Slaughtered According to Jewish Ritual Be Specially Labelled

By Rabbi Menachem Margolin (05/02/2014)
Recent months have seen revived attempts by politicians, both in the European Parliament and as domestic level in various EU member states, to legislate on the sacred ritual tradition of Jewish animal slaughter. A September draft written declaration in the European Parliament called on the Commission to instigate special labelling for the meat of ritually slaughtered animals, to eliminate “misleading omissions liable to distort the transactional decisions of consumers”, whilst claiming that consumers should have the right to ensure the meat they are purchasing comes from animals that have been slaughtered with proper regard to animal welfare.
The Polish parliament dismissed a government-sponsored bill to protect the religious slaughter of animals, whilst their Lithuanian counterparts voted in legislation aimed at protecting the practice.
The ability to eat kosher meat is a fundamental right for all people. The fact is that many people prefer to eat kosher meat simply for health reasons, regardless of religious beliefs or considerations.
Of course, everyone must respect the public’s right to know; there is no question that it is fair and correct to require listing a food’s ingredients on the label. Nevertheless, it is clear that the calls of a number EU member states to label meat slaughtered according to religious ritual as such, sets off many alarms – history has shown that such demands have led to large-scale bloodshed (human, not animal blood).
Did these pluralistic liberals, before attempting to isolate their neighbours who subscribe to different lifestyle choices, ascertain whether or not traditional kosher slaughter causes more harm or abuse to animals, G-d forbid, than other methods of slaughter? Had they conducted that research, they would have discovered that countless objective authorities agree that religious slaughter – both by Jewish and Muslim doctrine – is the least painful method of animal slaughter. In fact, the Jewish kosher slaughter code requires that no less than thirteen steps be taken before an animal may be slaughtered. One of these requirements is to verify that the animal is not hungry or thirsty when it is slaughtered.
If those “enlightened” individuals were truly concerned about animal rights, they would declare war on all forms of slaughter. Animal rights are not guaranteed by disparaging one particular method of killing animals, whilst allowing others to continue unabated, including hunting or factory slaughter?
And if allowances must be made, considering most people consume meat top some degree, and our decision-makers choose instead to legislate on the most humane method of slaughter (is it humane to put a living thing to death in any manner?), they ought to worry about the conditions in which animals are raised before their slaughter. They should be concerned about ensuring
sufficient living space, quality and quantity of food, medications, comfort level during  transportation for slaughter, quality and wattage of the electric shocks administered for slaughter, the number of shots needed to kill an animal, and more.
The number of animals slaughtered each year according to kosher standards is less than 1 percent of those slaughtered by other methods. If the issue in question here is the public’s right to know, what logic is there in demanding that kosher meat be labelled, without addressing the 99.9 percent of the slaughtered animals in the country?
For the past 3,000 years, the Jewish people have had to deal constantly with innumerable attempts to infringe upon their freedom of religion – a liberty that has long been established as a basic human right.
As well as being illogical and inconsistent from the perspectiveof animal rights, labelling kosher meat will give ammunition to anti-Semites to attack Jewish tradition. It is very disturbing to note that people who claim to be enlightened liberals are advancing this motion. These people who present themselves as pluralists are, perhaps unwittingly, waging an all-out war against anyone who chooses to live differently from them.
In the 1930s, things began with the burning of books and ended with the burning of human beings. I shudder to think how this new discrimination, beginning with methods of animal slaughter, will end.

  • November 27, 2017
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European Jewish Association

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.

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