Red Lines Follow-Up: Meeting with Iceland’s Ambassador to the EU

January 10, 2019

Eja chairman Rabbi Margolin met this morning with Iceland’s new ambassador to the EU, Benelux countries and San Marino, HIs Excellency Mr Gunnar Palsson. In a friendly get to know you discussion, His Excellency offered to report back to his government on our Jewish Red Lines, and expressed his support and desire for greater co-operation and ties between the Icelandic Government and the small but significant Icelandic Jewish Community. The EJA very much looks forward to continuing this dialogue and co-operation with His Excellency. 

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Israelitische Gemeenschap van Antwerpen

New Cooperation with "The Lemnaria" Synagogue of Jewish Community of Moldova(Kishinev)

The European Jewish Association is proud and delighted to welcome another organisation to our growing roster of partners and communities.
We have just concluded and signed a memorandum of understanding with The Jewish Community of “The Lemnaria” Synagogue of Jewish Community of Moldova(Kishinev).
We are sure that this cooperation will bring with it beautiful and important accomplishments. We look forward to working for the betterment of Moldova and European Jewry together.

PM Viktor Orban with warm message of cooperation with EJA

We recently updated you on the Chairman of European Jewish Association Rabbi Menachem Margolin congratulating PM Victor Orban on his reelection as the PM of Hungary.
Rabbi Margolin had received a letter from PM Orban with a kind message reiterating continuous support to the Hungarian Jewish community along with the promise of further productive cooperation with the EJA.

UNESCO-listed Flemish festival comes under fire for anti-Semitic floats

A famous Belgian carnival has run into trouble with the authorities because of the way it is said to portray Jewish people.
The annual carnival in the Belgian town of Aalst is a 600-year-old ritual, drawing up to 100,000 spectators each year. The event is described by the local authorities as a symbol of the town’s identity in the region.
One of the floats in the parade, however, entitled “Shabbat Year,” features two giant puppets, depicting Orthodox Jews complete with traditional side-curls, wearing pink suits, and standing amidst bags of money among rats, which the mayor of the Flemish described as “humoristic.”
The portrayal has caused an outcry among Jewish groups who have branded the float as “racist and anti-Semitic”, accusations that have led to the launch of a protest petition which has been signed by over 15,000 people.
In a new development, UNESCO, the Paris-based United Nations body for education and culture, is now considering whether to “de-list” the carnival from its prestigious Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
“UNESCO had to be vigilant and uncompromising” in ensuring that the regulations of its Convention are fully respected, a source for UNESCO said while adding that a decision will be made on the matter later this year.
Earlier in March, the Assistant Director-General for Culture at UNESCO, Ernesto Ottone, was highly critical of the floats, saying, “The satirical spirit of the Aalst Carnival and the freedom of expression cannot serve as a screen for such manifestations of hatred.”
Ottone spoke of the float’s “indecent caricatures” which, he said, are contrary to the “values of respect and dignity embodied by UNESCO”.
The European Commission has also weighed in on the controversy with a spokesman commenting that “it should be obvious to all that portraying such representations in the streets of Europe is absolutely unthinkable…74 years after the Holocaust.”
The three-day folk carnival, arguably the most famous of its kind in Belgium and a favourite of young and old alike, has been on the UNESCO list since 2010.
The article was published on New Europe

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