2 June 2021
Major international Jewish organizations today presented the European Commission with recommendations to combat antisemitism and to foster Jewish life , ahead of the publication of the EU’s first-ever strategy to combat Jew-hatred.
The European Union of Jewish Students (EUJS), the European Jewish Congress (EJC), the World Jewish Congress (WJC), B’nai B’rith International (BBI), the American Jewish Committee Transatlantic Institute (AJC-TAI), the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ), the European Union for Progressive Judaism (EUPJ), B’nai B’rith Europe (BBE), and CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe agreed that the European Commission must respond to the dangerous spike in antisemitic attacks.
All the groups recognize and applaud the sustained efforts in recent years to curb this age-old scourge and expect the European Commission to widen and deepen its work in the upcoming EU strategy, which was announced by European Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas earlier this year.
The recommendations build on the Council Declaration on mainstreaming the fight against antisemitism across policy areas, adopted unanimously by all EU member states in December 2020, and make concrete proposals for a wide spectrum of EU policy portfolios.
Recommendations include:
• Facilitating the recognition, monitoring of antisemitic incidents.
• Providing heightened security and victim support and ensure the judicial system robustly prosecutes antisemitic hate crimes.
• Integrating the fight against antisemitism into the EU’s integration and inclusion agenda, digital policy and its mandate in the field of education.
• Strengthening the existing legal framework to protect essential Jewish practices such as religious slaughter and male circumcision.
• Educating about Europe’s rich Jewish cultural heritage.
• Safeguarding the memory of the Holocaust against trivialization and distortion.
• Promoting the fight against antisemitism in European external action, including in international partnerships, political and human rights dialogues with third countries, and in the EU’s neighborhood and enlargement process.
We look forward to continued engagement with the European Commission to see these recommendations become part of the future EU Strategy on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life, as well as help to raise awareness and serve as a useful roadmap in the coming years.
Click here to read the recommendations.
