Krakow, 27th January, 2015 – As the official commemoration events marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz came to a close on Tuesday evening, the European Coalition for Israel, together with the Jewish Community of Krakow, hosted a unique concert of commemoration in the Tempel Synagogue of Krakow, only an hour from Auschwitz.

The significance of seventy years and the current threats to Jews in Europe were the central themes of the introductory speeches.

In his welcoming word, ECI Chairman Harald Eckert turned to the host of the evening, Holocaust survivor and President of the Jewish community of Krakow—Tadeusz Jacubowicz, and publicly apologized for 1,800 years of Christian antisemitism in Europe, which culminated in the mass murder of 6 million Jews. “As a German and as a Christian, I want to ask for forgiveness,” he said.

The concert was part of an international conference that brought together Christian leaders from the whole world to learn from the lessons of the Holocaust and to recommit themselves to standing with the Jewish people and the State of Israel at this critical time.

In his keynote speech, Executive Director David Harris of the American Jewish Committee shared his personal story of close family members who had to flee Europe simply because they were Jews. He asked, “What made the Jews so despicable that they had to be killed by the Nazis?”

Harris, who was part of the official American delegation at the Auschwitz commemoration, warned about being more concerned with dead Jews than the ones that are feeling threatened today after the deadly attacks in Toulouse, Brussels, and Paris. He also criticized those who refuse to see any connection between the Jewish people and the State of Israel.
He asked, “How many Jews could have been saved, if there had been a Jewish state in the 1930s?”  When Hitler wanted to kick the Jews out of Germany, there was not nation willing to receive them.  When the mass extermination of the Jews started a few years later, they still had no place to go.

The evening’s guest of honor—Minister of Multiculturalism for the Canadian government—Tim Uppal, reiterated the commitments of his government to stand with Israel and the Jewish people as they encounter new threats. He openly expressed his concern over the rise of new antisemitism. He called the campaigns to boycott Israel in the name of human rights a bigotry which is trying to make antisemitism acceptable to a new generation.

ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell quoted the new EU Foreign Policy Chief Frederica Mogherini, who recently said, “A Europe where Jewish parents are afraid to send their children to school is no longer Europe.” He went on to say that Europe would not be Europe if not for the Jewish contributions to our civilization over the last 3,000 years; Jews are not to be simply “tolerated” but celebrated, respected, and appreciated for who they are.

The main attraction of the evening was the KolorBach ensemble from Paris. The name of the group refers to the unique alliance between the Jewish tradition of Klezmer music and Bach. The concert, which was played for a full house of international guests and dignitaries, concluded with the Polish national anthem and the Israeli national anthem, Hatikvah.

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Paris , 11th January 2015– On Sunday an estimated 4 million people marched in various cities across France in support of the victims of last week´s terror attacks and in defense of freedom of speech and expression. More than 1,8 millions gathered in Paris where ECI European Director Perrine Dufoixtook part in the solidarity rally.

After the march, ECI issued a statement calling for Europe and Israel to stand united against the threats of radical Islam. At the rally, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could be seen marching in the front row with senior European political leaders, among them, European Union leaders Jean–Claude Juncker and Donald Tusk,  as well as French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Manuel Valls.

In a unique interview, published on Sunday in Atlantic Monthly, the French Prime Minister warned that ”France is no longer France if Jews have to leave the country in fear of their lives.” Last year over 7,000 Jews left the country due to security concerns following a spike in violent attacks against Jewish targets.

’It is unacceptable that Jews still have to live in fear in Europe in 2015’, ECI Director Tomas Sandellsaid in a statement. ’If Jews are no longer secure to make France their home, it is not only the French Republic which has failed, but the European project as a whole’, he said. ’There is no Europe without vibrant and thriving Jewish communities. The Jewish community is a vital part of European society”

In November, ECI issued a joint statement with the European Jewish Congress in solidarity with Christians and other religious minorities currently being slaughtered in Syria and Iraq by the same terrorist groups behind the Paris attacks –  ISIS and Al Qaeda. On Friday, it was ECI’s turn to express solidarity with the Jewish community in France after four Jews were killed in a terrorist attack in a kosher supermarket Paris, just  2 days after the horrific massacre at the French weekly satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

’What offence did the customers in the kosher shop pose to the perpetrators other than being Jews?’, Sandell asked. ’One generation ago, this same ideology led to the killing of six million Jews in Europe.’

In less than two weeks, the 70th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz will be commemorated around the world.

’It is high time to ensure that Europe is safe for Jewish communities. Europe and Israel face the same enemies of open and pluralistic societies. Terrorism needs to be condemned and fought with equal determination, regardless of whether the attacks take place in Paris or Jerusalem, in Africa or in the Middle East. Europe and Israel should stand united in the fight against radical Islam, as well as other forms of political extremism that threaten our democratic societies.’

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Brussels, 15th December, 2014

‘A just and a comprehensive peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians cannot be orchestrated in the capitals of Europe or at the UN in New York, but can only come about through direct negotiations between the Israeli Government and the Palestinian Authority’, said ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell in a statement on Monday. ‘The role of the international community is to help facilitate these negotiations, not replace them with unilateral declarations dictating the final outcome’, Sandell added.

On Wednesday, 17th December, on the Jewish holiday of Hannukah, the European Parliament is expected to vote on a non-binding resolution recognising a Palestinian state. Although the recognition would have no immediate political effect, its message would be detrimental to the peace process, Sandell believes.

‘The political message such a recognition would convey is that there is no need for negotiations or compromises on the Palestinian side in order to achieve statehood. This is an illusion’, warns Sandell. ‘The only way to reach a just and comprehensive peace agreement is through negotiations and costly compromises on both sides – not through unilateral declarations.’

The vote comes only weeks after Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas called for “a day of rage” in Jerusalem which led to the brutal murder of four Jewish rabbis while praying in a synagogue in Jerusalem.  Whilst Hamas remains committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, its moderate partner Fatah has also become radicalised in recent weeks, calling the mere presence of Jews on Temple mount “a contamination”. These and other statements of incitement have met with no protests in the EU capital, where parts of the European Parliament now want to rush through a recognition.

‘The EU cannot reward terrorism in one part of the Middle East, whilst trying to fight it elsewhere’, the open letter states. The EU’s main focus should be to fight Islamic radicalisation in the region and not punish the only true democracy and partner for peace.

The vote in the European Parliament is expected to be close. The left-leaning parties are committed to voting for statehood while the centre-right parties, by and large, are opposing it. Last week the second largest party group, the Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, signed a new partnership agreement with Fatah, in an effort to further galvanise support for a Palestinian state.

In a similar letter to Ambassadors of Members of the UN Security Council in New York, ECI spells out the objections to a new UN resolution, imposing a solution to the conflict by dictating the conditions for a final peace agreement. The resolution, which is spearheaded by the Jordanians, demands full Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank within two years and full recognition of a Palestinian state.

The letter is accompanied by an ECI position paper on Palestinian statehood written by ECI legal counsel Andrew Tucker.

‘It is clear that Palestine does not constitute a state under international law, as it violates the first principle of the UN Charter for accepting new members in the UN, namely the commitment to peace’, he notes. ‘You cannot call for the destruction of another UN member state and at the same time apply for UN membership’, he concludes.

‘There can be no peace in the region as long as the UN fails to address the growing incitement against Jews and turns a blind eye to the radicalisation of the Palestinian Authority’, Sandell adds.

There are currently efforts in New York to present the UN resolution on the same day as the European Parliament vote – in other words, on the day of Hannukah.

In little more than a month, on January 27th, the 70th Anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz will be marked by the UN and the EU.

‘As Europeans, we have a moral obligation to remind the international community of our commitment to the Jewish people by ensuring that they will be able to live in peace and security in their ancestral homeland.  If the European Parliament and the UN Security Council support a Palestinian Authority containing elements committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, we have learnt absolutely nothing from history’, Sandell concludes.

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Brussels, 24th November, 2014

On Thursday, November 20, 2014, the statement was read and handed over to the Director of the EU European External Action Service (EEAS), Christian Berger, in connection with the ECI 11th Annual Policy Conference in the European Parliament in Brussels. The letter, which calls for internationally monitored safe havens for the persecuted minorities in Syria and Iraq, is co-signed by the European Jewish Congress, Pentecostal European Fellowship, and One Free World International, making it a unique cooperation between Christians and Jews in support of religious freedom.

ECI Director, Tomas Sandell, noted at the conference that one of the few voices, which has been raised up in support for the persecuted Christians in Syria and Iraq, has come from the Jewish community. When the world at large has kept silent, Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Ron Prosor, has repeatedly raised the issue at the UN level. In Brussels, Raya Kalenova, the Executive Vice-President of the European Jewish Congress, signed the joint statement. At the conference, she spoke about the importance of the moral support from Christians friends in Europe.

“Whereas each day of Jewish life in Europe is filled with uncertainty and security considerations, here I feel among friends”, she said. Kalenova, who spoke about the rise of antisemitism in Europe, agreed that it is high time that we address the plight of Christians in the Middle East.

The joint statement was also signed by Egyptian-born, Human Rights activist Majed El Shafie, who expressed the need to stand together against the forces that want to erase religious freedom. Today, he is the Founding President of the organization One Free World International which works for religious liberty around the world. At the conference, he spoke about his life as a former dissident in Egypt, and how he found refuge in Israel. Having been brought up believing Israel was the enemy, today he is a friend of the Jewish state because of its values and principles, which protects minorities in a region where oppression is the norm.

The policy conference, which brought together EU lawmakers and officials with ECI activists from different parts of Europe, also made a call to the EU to stop the funding of hate. In his panel discussion with Christian Berger (EEAS director for the Middle East), Sandell noted that the EU is the single largest donor to the PA, and therefore needs to make the funding conditional on the end of incitement. He noted that the brutal killing of the four rabbis in the synagogue in Jerusalem on Tuesday was preceded by a call from PA leader Mahmoud Abbas for “a day of rage.”
“Incitement leads to action and those who fuel incitement need to be made accountable,” said Sandell. Berger agreed that education is the key to the peace process in the Middle East.

The conference noted the untimely vote in the Spanish Parliament that supported a Palestinian state, just a few hours after the massacre in Jerusalem.
“We cannot fight terror in Syria and Iraq, and put it in to government in Ramallah”, Sandell continued and was supported by Majed El Shafie who called Isis and Hamas, “the same expression of the one and the same hateful ideology of radical Islam.” Hamas, which has praised the recent massacre in Jerusalem, is currently a coalition partner of Fatah in the PA unity government.  A similar vote in the European Parliament is expected in mid-December.

The conference, which was hosted by Dutch MEP Bastiaan Belder, also featured Swedish MEP Lars Adaktusson, Slovak MEP Branislav Skripek, ECI Legal Counsel Andrew Tucker, and Israeli Deputy Ambassador Ronen Gil-Or, who all spoke up for the persecuted Christians and other religious minorities in Middle East and the need to stand together with Jews in Europe and Israel.

ECI Chairman, Harald Eckert from Germany, concluded the conference by stating that Europe has a moral duty to teach the world about the ultimate consequences of antisemitism.
“Seventy years after the liberation of the Nazi death camps in Europe, this educational campaign needs to be strengthened both in Europe and in the Middle East”, he concluded.

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