The European Jewish Association is scheduled to unveil a wide-ranging action plan to fight anti-Semitism in Europe at its annual conference in Paris today (Tuesday).
The plan was compiled in recent months by chairman of the EJA Rabbi Menachem Margolin and a team from the EJA, who consulted with experts, heads of Jewish communities throughout Europe, Jewish organizations, and parliamentarians and government ministers in various European nations. The EJA team also consulted with members of the European Parliament.
The plan calls for wide-scale action in conjunction with European nations’ formal school systems, as well as the promotion of national and European-wide legislation designed to combat anti-Semitism.
Israel Hayom has learned that some parts of the plan have already been launched as pilot programs in some European countries, with the cooperation of various governments.
In addition to the work plan, the EJA is training young Jews across Europe to identify and fight anti-Semitic activity.
Tuesday’s conference is being held in cooperation with the Israelite Central Consistory of France, the Action and Protection League (APL), and the World Zionist Organization.
A booklet outlining the plan obtained by Israel Hayom states that “Anti-Semitism is back in Europe. It is on the rise. Incredibly, Jews are back in the frontline … Never again? There shouldn’t need to be a question mark,” the booklet begins.
The development of the plan has been heavily influenced by data showing an increase of ignorance of the Holocaust across Europe, which indicates a need to update curricula. The plan calls for the allocation of more resources to Holocaust education, along with content that teaches students about Jews’ contributions to civilian life in Europe in all fields.
The EJA plan also promotes legislation that would call for more stringent punishment for the public use of anti-Semitic Jewish stereotypes. The legislation is to be based on existing laws designed to prevent discrimination on the basis of race or ethnicity.
Another part of the plan seeks to prevent the private, for-profit sale of Nazi memorabilia, while keeping items deemed to be of historic or academic value in national archives, museums, and educational institutions.
Margolin said that the conference would be sending a message that “hundreds of Jewish communities were united in sending a message of an identical strategy. It is not enough to say ‘Never Again.’ We must all make it so.. Not shout ‘Gevald,’ ‘anti-Semitism,’ but ensure that the plan is implemented in an orderly and professional manner.”
APL founder Rabbi Shlomo Koves, who also serves as the rabbi for Chabad in Hungary, added, “The Jews of Europe are facing a new era characterized by a constant rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents. We established the European Action and Protection League to teach [people] about the phenomenon and battle it. In the next few months, we will be publishing a survey conducted in 16 European countries and includes 16,000 respondents. The results indicate a worrying lack of popularity for anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli opinions throughout Europe.”
Meanwhile, thousands of miles away from Europe, President Reuven Rivlin met with students from Jewish schools in Melbourne, Australia, where he is on a state visit.
Rivlin answered students’ questions, some of which touched on Israel’s relations with Diaspora Jewish communities and the rise of global anti-Semitism.
Rivlin told them that Israel was “very worried” about increased anti-Semitism, particularly incidents that targeted Jewish students. The president told them that as Jews in the Diaspora, they could live “fully Jewish lives” and that anti-Semitism must meet with zero tolerance.
