The Prime Minister also spoke out against gross bias against Israel in the United Nations. The announcement was immediately rejected by the PLO. Senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat called on Arab and Muslim countries to sever all diplomatic ties with Australia.

In European Coalition for Israel’s view, recognising West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital is a step in the right direction, and will hopefully lead to the moving of the Australian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in due course. This recognition is an appropriate acknowledgement of Israel’s sovereign right to determine its own capital city, and simply reflects the reality on the ground that all institutions of government are located in Jerusalem.

The distinction between “East” and “West” Jerusalem, however, is in our view unfortunate. So is the Australian Government’s “acknowledgement of Palestinian aspirations for Statehood with East Jerusalem as capital”, and the statement that the moving of the embassy will only occur as and when a State of Palestine has been established pursuant to negotiations. Such an announcement not only ignores the failure of the Palestinians to create the conditions necessary for statehood, it prejudices Israel’s position in its negotiations concerning Jerusalem, which is a final status issue under the Oslo agreements.

Israel’s position is that the whole of the city of Jerusalem belonged to the Mandate for Palestine, and therefore to the sovereign territory of the State of Israel on its establishment in May 1948. It is only because of Arab aggression that the city was divided between 1949 and 1967. The UN Security Council’s demanded in 1980 (UNSC Resolution 476) that foreign embassies in Israel be moved from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv, following Israel’s reunification of the city after the 1967 Six Day War. In Israel’s view, which ECI believes is correct, Resolution 476 is based on an erroneous belief that “West” Jerusalem does not belong to the State of Israel. It failed to recognise the legal significance of the San Remo resolution (1920) and the Mandate for Palestine (1922), pursuant to which the whole city of Jerusalem became part of the State of Israel on its establishment in 1948. Further, it is important to emphasise that UN Security Council resolutions on this issue are not binding. It is also important to note that Resolution 476 conflicts with the earlier Security Council Resolution 242 (November 1967), which acknowledged Israel’s right to secure borders. The PLO and Israel have agreed (in the Oslo Accords) that the principles laid down in Resolution 242 form the basis for their negotiations.

European Coalition for Israel’s involvement in Australia began in 2012 when Australian born Andrew Tucker became ECI’s Legal Counsel. In cooperation with local partners, in particular Christians for Israel and Bridges for Peace, the European Coalition for Israel has been involved over a number of years in encouraging the Australian government to recognise the unified city of Jerusalem as capital of Israel. ECI has made several written submissions to the government in Australia, and Andrew Tucker has frequently met with government representatives and members of Parliament in Canberra.

Just three days before the announcement of Prime Minister Morrison, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell and ECI Director for UN Affairs Gregory Lafitte had the opportunity to meet with the Australian Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Ambassador Gillian Bird to discuss the Australian position.

ECI staff, including Legal Counsel Andrew Tucker, has been in regular contact with the office of the Australian Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, which will be responsible for implementing Australia’s new policy announcement.

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News Review of 2018 regarding Israel, the Middle East and the EU. Simon Barrett is joined by MEP Bill Etheridge, ECI Special Envoy Andreas Kelling and ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell.

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ECI: Europe needs a coherent and positive attitude towards the Jewish people and the Jewish state to fight antisemitism

Brussels, December 11th, 2018 – A new survey, conducted by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), has found an increasing level of antisemitism in Europe over the past five years. In the survey, which was released in Brussels on Monday, 28% of those interviewed said that they had experienced harassment because of their Jewish identity, but 79% of them did not report it to the authorities because they did not believe it would be of any help. 38% of the Jews who took part in the survey said that they were considering leaving Europe as they no longer felt safe in their home countries.

The results do not come as a surprise to anyone who has followed the situation over the last five years, but are nevertheless depressing. While cities like Brussels, Paris and Copenhagen are today directly associated with terrorist attacks against Jews, according to the survey, antisemitism has become an everyday problem for Jews in our cities and many no longer dare to wear traditional religious symbols or attend Jewish events concerned for their security and even in fear for their lives.

In a statement on Monday, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell called upon the European Union to formulate a comprehensive strategy to combat the rise of antisemitism directed not only towards Jewish people but also towards the only Jewish state in the world. “If we separate the State of Israel from European Jewry we will fail to address the core problem”, he said.

“The widespread animosity from national governments against the Jews as a nation, the State of Israel, quickly translates into hostility towards individual Jews in ways that the results of the survey reveal.”

The most common anti-Semitic slogan recorded in the survey is that “Israel behaves like Nazis towards Palestinians” (51%).

“If our governments accept and tolerate a UN member state such as the Islamic Republic of Iran which is openly calling for the destruction of the Jewish state, then we are tolerating antisemitism at the highest level. If our governments, in addition to that, consistently vote for UN resolutions which expressly deny Jewish history and the right of the Jewish people to self determination, we cannot expect our citizens to have a positive attitude towards the Jewish people as a whole”, Sandell said.

“We need to see Jews and the Jewish state not as ‘problems’ that need ‘solutions’, but instead learn to appreciate the Jewish people, their culture and their state as well as their contributions to our societies and civilization. Only when we have a holistic and positive view on Jewish culture as a whole can we expect our citizens to make a change in their negative attitudes and stereotypes.

The fundamental problem in the West today is that we have lost our own sense of history and identity. When we fail to acknowledge our Judeo-Christian roots, we also lose a true understanding of who the Jewish people are. Instead of seeing them as an integral part of our history and culture, we see them as aliens, who have no place in our society. In Nazi Germany the Holocaust was preceded by a ‘de-Judification’ of society, from religious beliefs to arts and culture. A similar move to purge society of Jewish history and influence can today be witnessed in many mainline churches, as well as in international governmental organisations who accept historical revisionism in order to deny the Jewish people their own history and identity.

The antidote to antisemitism is not simply the promotion of tolerance and protection for the Jewish people within our cities and societies but an open and sincere acceptance, recognition and celebration of Jewish culture in all its richness.”

The comments were made from New York where Sandell and ECI Director for UN Affairs, Dr Gregory Lafitte were attending a UN symposium marking the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Through the work of the Forum for Cultural Diplomacy ECI has for the last seven years been presenting Jewish culture and important Jewish contributions to the international community and the creation of the United Nations. At the UN symposium on Monday the important role of the Polish-Jewish international lawyer Raphael Lemkin in formulating the Universal Declaration was highlighted as well as his role in coining the word genocide and initiating the Genocide Convention.

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In her remarks, EU coordinator on combating antisemitism, Katharina von Schnurbein reminded the audience of the fact that Jewish life and traditions, such as Hanukkah, are an integral part of European culture and identity.

“When Jewish families today put in to question whether there is a future for their children in Europe we have reasons to be worried,” she said while announcing that the most comprehensive and largest ever survey on antisemitism in Europe will be presented in Brussels on Monday.

Von Schnurbein was appointed Special coordinator only three years ago but has worked tirelessly to help the EU member states find a coherent strategy to combat antisemitism. While the ECI celebrated its 15th anniversary in the European Parliament building in Brussels, the Ministers of Interior of the 28 EU member states met a few hundred meters away, in the Council building to unanimously pass the first ever EU-resolution condemning antisemitism in Europe.

The declaration calls on EU member states to take steps to ensure security for Jewish communities, institutions and citizens; to emphasise the importance of Holocaust commemoration and education; calls on all EU member states which have not already done so to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the fields of law enforcement, education and training; and calls on the European Commission and Europol to pay particular attention to online antisemitism and to content advocating anti-Semitic terrorist offenses.

“The ECI could not have received a better birthday present”, Founding Director Tomas Sandell said after the conference. This clearly illustrates that the European Union takes the threat against Jews in Europe seriously. In his remarks he commended the work of Katharina von Schnurbein who has worked relentlessly to unite the EU-member states behind the resolution. He also praised the current EU presidency of Austria for taking such a strong stand in paving the way for the adoption of the resolution on Thursday. In a personal message to the symposium Chancellor Sebastian Kurz congratulated ECI on its anniversary and stated that “for Austria the security of Israel is non-negotiable.”

This message was also conveyed by Austrian MEP Heinz Becker who spoke about the role of the European Parliament in combating antisemitism. Becker is the current chairman of the EP working committee against antisemitism. He noted that “we have to stand against all threats to the Jewish people and the State of Israel, including the existential threat from Iran as well as from Hezbollah and the BDS movement.” He was supported by co-hosts MEP Bas Belder from the Netherlands, Branislav Škripek from Slovakia and Arne Gericke from Germany, representing the European Christian Political Movement in the European Parliament.

In his keynote speech, ECI Legal Council Andrew Tucker asked why Europe is obsessed with the Jewish state. When Europeans speak about the need to find a “solution” to the Middle East conflict we should all be worried.

He noted that ”The Christian nations of Europe were instrumental in giving birth to the State of Israel, as well as the modern nations of the Middle East. However over the last 100 years they have gradually distanced themselves from the Jewish State. Since 1973 European policy has focused on pressuring Israel to help create the State of Palestine. Unfortunately this policy has failed to produce a peaceful resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict. It is now time for Europe to reassess this policy. In our view the key to achieving peace in the region is not by condemning Israel and pressuring it to give up land, but strengthening the rule of law. This means sovereignty of the Jewish state, condemning violence and terror, and assisting Israel to protect the rights of all minorities.”

The symposium also discussed how the EU could strengthen the partnership with Israel.
MEP Bas Belder pointed out how the EU cooperation with Israel has been taken hostage by the lack of progress in the peace negotiations.
“We should not make EU-Israeli cooperation conditional on progress in the peace process, by punishing Israel for the fact that the Palestinians are refusing to come to the negotiating table.”

Walid Abu-Haya, Deputy Chief of Mission of Israel to the EU & NATO pointed out how Palestinians are the losers when the EU boycotts products from the disputed territories.

In his final remarks Sandell called upon the EU to reject historical revisions which the EU member states express time and time again in their voting at the UN and UNESCO when denying the historical connections between the Jewish people and the land of Israel.
“It is high time for the EU member states to also recognise Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Israel”.

Meanwhile at the United Nations in New York, all 28 EU member states voted on Thursday in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution condemning Hamas in what was the first ever UN resolution against the terrorist group. Despite failing to reach a two thirds majority, the vote, which had the support of 87 nations was considered a diplomatic victory for Israel.

Other speakers in the Brussels conference included Josh Reinstein from the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, Nuno Wahnon Martins from the European Jewish Congress, Andrea Carignani di Novoli from the European Commission, Nili Shalev from the Israel Innovation Authority, Shai Newman from Israeli technology company Compedia and Leo van Doesburg from the co-organiser European Christian Political Movement.

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The Iranian threat to Israel and the Middle East. Simon Barrett is joined by MEP Bas Belder, Michael Sieveking from AJC Transatlantic Institute, and ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell.

The post European Report December 2018 appeared first on European Coalition for Israel.

Some key findings:

– More than 1 in 3 of those polled thought that Jews have too much influence.
– 1 in 3 knew little or nothing at all about the Holocaust.
– 1 in 5 believed that antisemitism is a response to everyday actions of Jews.
– 40% said that Jews were at risk of racist violence in their countries.

In a statement in Budapest, the home of the third largest Jewish community in Europe, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell expressed his deep concern arising from the results of the poll.

“These findings confirm the alarming trend of rising antisemitism in Europe which we have witnessed for the last 15 years and reminds us of the need to combat Jew hatred on a broad front. We have to make sure that antisemitism becomes an issue which concerns the whole of society and not only those who are immediately affected by it”, he said.

During a working visit to Budapest on Tuesday Sandell met with Jewish community leaders to learn about their own experiences of antisemitism. He was told that Jews today feel safer in Budapest and Bucharest than in Paris and Berlin. This observation was also backed up by the findings of the CNN-poll which revealed a high percentage of anti-Semitic feelings in Central and Eastern Europe, whereas anti-Semitic violence is almost non-existent in these countries. At the same time many Jewish community leaders in Central and Eastern Europe disagree with their governments about the role of the local population in the round-up of Jews seventy-five years ago.

“But while we may differ on how we view the past, the fact of the matter is that Jewish life in Budapest today is very good compared to many other parts of Europe”, said the Head of the Hungarian Jewish Community András Heisler. The CNN poll confirms his observation as many Jews in Western Europe avoid wearing religious symbols, such as the Jewish kippa, in fear of being attacked.

The 15th anniversary symposium of the European Coalition for Israel will take place in Brussels on Thursday December 6th. The following week, on Monday December 10th, the European Commission will present the largest survey ever done in Europe on the perceptions and experiences of Jewish communities with antisemitism. The survey is a compilation of the actual levels of antisemitism in 13 EU countries and underscores the point of view of the thousands of people who are affected.

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Brussels, November 13th, 2018

In a statement on Tuesday afternoon, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell called upon the member states of the European Union to unequivocally condemn the terror attacks and use all means possible to put pressure on the leadership of Hamas to immediately stop the firing of rockets.
“There can be no double-talk as Israeli civilians, including the elderly and children, are fleeing for their lives from missiles and rockets. Hamas terror attacks against Israeli civilians must stop once and for all, and the Hamas terrorist leaders should understand that an attack on Israeli civilians is an attack on the entire free world. Eighty years after “Kristallnacht” in Germany, the European Union should express, loud and clear, that Jews have the right to live in peace and security not only in all of Europe but also within the borders of the State of Israel. Civilian Jewish life in Ashkelon and Sderot is just as precious as in Brussels and Copenhagen,” he said.

The Israeli government has shown a remarkable level of restraint in recent months as southern Israel has been terrorized by fire kites, causing great damage to the Israel border region with Gaza.

“As Israel is faced with the worst ever barrage of missiles from terrorist groups in Gaza, the government simply cannot be expected to any longer remain seated and watch while its citizens are in such danger,” Sandell said.

The IDF is said to have intercepted 100 of the missiles from Gaza with its Iron Dome anti-missile system, but was unable to prevent several buildings being hit in southern Israeli towns. A 40-year-old man named Mahmoud Abu Asbah, a Palestinian resident of the West Bank town of Halhul, north of Hebron, was killed after a house was hit by a missile in Ashkelon late Monday night. Eight others were wounded in the strike, including two women who were in the same building at the time of the attack and are now said to be in critical condition. Over all more than 50 Israelis have been treated for injuries since Monday, most of them for light wounds or stress-related trauma, authorities reported.

“As European citizens, we stand in full solidarity with our Israeli friends at this difficult time. We pray for a speedy recovery of the injured and for peace and security to return to southern Israel”, Sandell concluded.

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EU’s funding of Palestinian textbooks. Simon Barrett is joined by MEP Anders Primdahl Vistisen, Chief Executive Officer of Impact-se, Marcus Sheff, and ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell.

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Moscow, October 29th, 2018

“Any attempt to understand, justify or rationalise the motive of the killer or to point fingers at political enemies for this tragic massacre is an assault on the memories of the victims and an indirect legitimisation of antisemitism. Today ideological extremists are unified on one issue – their obsession and hatred of Jews. Whilst some right-wing extremists blame the deadly shooting on the US President for being too friendly with the State of Israel, left wing radicals put the blame on the Israeli Prime Minister for allegedly igniting violence against American Jews for his policies in the Middle East or on the US President for his domestic policies. These accusations are utterly misleading and dangerous. By accepting these, and other justifications for the killing of Jews, we are ourselves giving in to antisemitism,” he said.

“This is not the time to point fingers but to unite in our fight against antisemitism and hatred. Our hearts, thoughts and prayer are with the American Jewish Community and especially with the families of the victims of the shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.”

Sandell has been invited to Moscow for a two-day conference hosted by the Russian Jewish Congress. The theme of the conference, “Protecting the future” has proven timely and critical after the shootings in Pittsburgh. Among the topics to be covered at the conference are “antisemitism, Racism and Xenophobia on the internet”, “The role of religion in combating antisemitism, Racism and Xenophobia”, “Culture and Education as a tool for combatting antisemitism, Racism and Xenophobia.”

Among the speakers to address the conference are Ambassador Ronald Lauder, President of the World Jewish Congress, Chief Rabbi of Russia, Berl Lazar, President of the Conference of European Rabbis and Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinсhas Goldschmidt, Russian Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Sergey Vershinin and some seventy other academics, government leaders, religious leaders and diplomats.

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EU’s funding of UNRWA, the UN Relief agency for Palestinian refugees. Simon Barrett is joined by MEP Peter Niedermüller, Director of Israel Britain Alliance, Michael McCann and ECI Brussels Representative Ruth Isaac.

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