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Do Jews feel safe in today’s Europe? This is a question that we at the EJA are asking ourselves more and more, but more important than the question itself, is the motivation behind even asking it.
It seems a fundamental contradiction that in an EU that espouses freedom of religion and that puts respect of diversity at its core, that we even have to attend - as the EJA did this morning – a European Commission round-table on anti-Semitism with the EU’s special co-ordinator on the issue.
We met just as the security alert level in Belgium went down a notch to 2. It’s been up to 4, allowing Jews, at the time, with typical gallows humour, to joke that we are better off than the majority of the population given that our threat level stays at 3, virtually in perpetuity. And we met as Germany just announced it was putting in place a government appointed monitor on Anti-Semitism.
At the meeting we dealt with a recent survey on perceptions of anti-Semitism amongst Jews, the results of the 3rd monitoring exercise on the Commission’s code of conduct regrading online hate-speech and we were given a presentation by Gilles De Kerchkove, the EU’s counter terrorism co-ordinator (after his fairly bleak assessment we tongue-in-cheek asked him how he sleeps at night!).
To give you a brief snapshot, a majority of European Jews said that wearing Jewish symbols makes them feel unsafe, there were 2982 notifications of hate speech submitted to IT companies that are taking part in the code of conduct (an increase compared to the previous exercises) and lastly that the biggest terrorist threat is home-grown not external.
So again, we have this disconnect between stated policy and political reality. This is not to belittle the EU’s work. It is vital, important and meaningful. It just seems that the message is being lost somewhere, almost as if the moment it leaves the corridors of power in Brussels, it evaporates.
At the EJA, we have made it our mission to stop this. To help strengthen the EU’s hand and, by also working at bilateral level with Member States, to make sure that the noble and important EU objectives are supported, implemented and acted upon.
It starts by tackling the disconnect directly. Asking the right questions, and simply reducing the debate to almost child-like simplicity:
You say you value and support Freedom of Religion? Prove it!
Stop the targeting of Jewish practice and custom at Member State level, give a clear lead in concrete legislation where you have competence, and where you don’t give clear and unambiguous guidance.
Because without it, words are just words, however well intentioned. Because Jews are living in a Europe where these words co-exist with laws outlawing kosher slaughter, regulations that call into question circumcision, and educational establishments that penalise Jews for observing their holidays. And we haven’t even really touched on the security issues that Jews continue to face. Level 3, dark humour aside, is a disgraceful state to live in.
So, our question asked at the beginning of our newsletter isn’t just an attention-grabbing headline, but a very real and pressing one. Right now the answer appears to be no. The EJA won’t rest until it’s yes.
Thank you for your support. Until next time.
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