On September 16, the Executive meeting of the European Jewish Congress, chaired by President Moshe Kantor, took place in Brussels. The previous day, a special “Roundtable on Nuclear Non-Proliferation” was held under the auspices of President Kantor (EJC).

EJC President Kantor addressed the Executive with a progress report on the preparation of the upcoming Kristallnacht commemoration. On November 9, a memorial service will take place at the Great Synagogue of Europe in Brussels, Belgium. On the same day, the EJC plans to organize a demonstration for the liberation of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. On November 10, there will be a special event at the European Parliament promoting tolerance. This event will be held under the auspices of the President of the European Parliament Hans Gert Pottering.

Moshe Kantor also announced the establishment of the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation, with former Polish President Kwasniewki as Chairman. This Council intends to present, for the first time, to the European Parliament a convention on tolerance in Europe ; a white book will as well be introduced.

In light of numerous problems that have recently erupted on the issue of shehita in Europe, the meeting of the Executive provided a forum where EJC members addressed the issues linked to the commandment of Jewish ritual slaughter. In some European countries, aggressive pro-animal lobbying groups are pushing forth animals’ rights to the detriment of the Jewish religious imperative. After concluding on the urgent need to coordinate a strategy on this matter at the European level, the EJC President proposed to create a special commission involving scientific experts to contribute objectively to the debate and respond to the threat of inability for the Jewish people to practice their faith according to the halachic ritual.

On a different matter, many individual parents have turned to the EJC to bring to attention to the difficulties they are encountering in order for their children to respect the Jewish holidays, without being subject to disciplinary measures by the schools. The respect of the Jewish calendar in the European educational systems is an issue that was discussed at length during the Executive, which concluded on the need to launch an awareness campaign. This campaign will be launched with an official letter jointly addressed by the EJC and the Conference of European Rabbis to the national ministers of education asking for the non-penalization of Jewish children absent on religious holidays. In parallel to that, a letter addressed to the EU Directorate-General for Education and Culture will be sent shortly.

The EJC met in early September with the director of the Agency for Fundamental Rights (which replaces the European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia) in Vienna.

Alfred Donath, Chairman of the EJC commission on anti-Semitism, gave an assessment of the surge in anti-Semitic attacks throughout the European continent and thanked the communities for answering the questionnaire on this issue. With the contribution of international experts, a special report on anti-Semitism, produced by the EJC, will be published by the end of 2008.

Following an in-depth presentation on Jewish refugees from Arab countries by Edwin Shuker, co-chairman of ‘Justice for Jews from Arab countries’ (click here to be redirected to the website) and Sydney Assor, Chairman of the Association of Moroccan Jews in Great Britain, Moshe Kantor encouraged the involvement of the EJC in the promotion of the forgotten exodus of Jews from Arab lands. The European Jewish Fund will help in supporting this project.

The Executive also reviewed the preparations for Durban II which will take place in 2009 in Geneva, as well as other organizational matters.

The following members were present at the Executive meeting in Brussels :

KANTOR Moshe, EJC President ;

KAUFMANN Flo, Chairman of the Council (UK) ;

CWAJGENBAUM Serge, EJC Secretary General ;

BENATOFF Cobi (Italy) ; BLEICH Yaakov (Ukraine) ; BULZ Michel (Luxembourg) ; GOLDSCHMIDT Pinchas (Russia) ; KRAKOWSKI Tomasz (Poland) ; KRAUS Tomas (Czech Republic) ; LEVINSOHN Dalia (Spain) ; STERN Maram (WJC) ; VIS Ruben (Netherlands) ; WINTER Herbert (Switzerland) ; ZUCKERMAN Arie (Israel) and GLIKERMAN Myriam (EJC Paris office).

Also present by special invitation were : ASSOR Sydney (BOD, UK) ; CARMEL Philip (Conference of European Rabbis) ; DONATH Alfred (chairman, EJC Commission on anti-Semitism) ; SHUKER Edwin (BOD, UK) and RAHMANI Moise (Chief Editor of Los Muestros).