MEPs to EJC Symposium : We Have to Combat All Forms of Anti-Semitism, Even from the EU Parliament itself
|
To watch the speeches, please follow this link A one-day symposium on fighting racism and anti-Semitism and fostering tolerance in Europe was held at the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament, other senior politicians, diplomats, religious and communal leaders from around Europe took part in a unique event titled "Building Together the Future of Europe". The European Jewish Congress (EJC), under the patronage of the Czech Presidency of the EU and the European Parliament, with the participation of the European Commission, organised a groundbreaking symposium aiming at confronting and denouncing the current alarming rise in anti-semitism, which gripped Europe in the past few months. The theme of the symposium was "Building Together the Future of Europe". Community leaders Flo Kaufmann (UK), chairman of EJC Council Richard Prasquier (CRIF, France), Joel Rubinfeld (CCOJB, Belgium), Roni Smolar (Finland), Peter Feldmajer and Gusztav Zoltai (Hungary), and Alfred Donath (Switzerland) , and Religious leaders (among them Cardinal Barbarin from Lyon, chief rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, the imam of Drancy Hassen Chalghoumi, accompanied by a large delegqtion of French imams), MEPs of the various political groups, experts, intellectuals and victims or racism met to discuss how to face the challenges posed by intolerance and to promote co-existence. Several MEPs spoke of the need to combat anti-Semitism even in the European Parliament itself and not succumb to political pressure to ignore this form of hatred. "Some EU parliamentarians hide behind ’Muslim pressure’ instead of working towards eradicating anti-Semitism," said MEP Paulo Casaca from the Party of European Socialists. Other parliamentarians said that not recognizing the moral right of Israel to defend itself is tainted with anti-Semitism, as this is a basic right of every nation. Jan Marinus Wiersma, Vice President of the European Socialists, condemned statements made recently by Jean-marie Le Pen, when the French octogenarian again belittled the Holocaust, and noted that the EU should not just make declarations against people like Le Pen, but that it should take measures to prevent them from addressing the Parliament. Jacques Barrot, Vice-Commissioner of the European Commission, in his speech to the symposium referred to the upcoming Durban II conference. "The EU should closely monitor the events at the Durban conference and react immediately if there is any diversion from the agreed upon line," Barrot declared. "If necessary we will call on the EU member states to withdraw from the conference if we see violations of core European values in Geneva,” he continued. "It’s out of the question for Europe to accept a compromise at any price." Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, also referred to Durban II with a note of caution. "We strongly insist and recommend to all the European countries to consider Durban II as a challenge to the co-existence in Europe," said Kantor. "The European Union should be a leader with regard to Human Rights and should not leave the United Nation arena to nations, where human rights are violated daily and which abuse UN bodies for political reasons. These bodies should be monitored very closely by the members of the European Union from now on." Kantor also spoke of the European role in fostering tolerance and fighting racism. “Human diversity is our treasure and should not be a source of conflict,” Kantor declared. The symposium also heard from victims of racism and communal and religious leaders who described what needs to be done to combat intolerance, racism, xenophobia and anti-Semitism. Ruth Halimi, mother of Ilan who was tortured and murdered in 2006, spoke emotionally about her son and the brutal attack. The trial of the suspects in the murder of Ilan Halimi begins next week. "I am happy to speak about my son because what happened to him is not a detail in history," Halimi said referring to Le Pen’s comments. "The murderers choose Ilan because he was a Jew, because they thought that all Jews are rich". |