The European Jewish Association formally lodged an appeal with the European Commission Wednesday 28 Tammuz to establish an EU Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism, as part of its ongoing campaign to call on Europe to take a leading role in tackling the problem amid rising anti-Semitism in Europe.

Having secured the support of a number of cross-party members of the European Parliament, united in their desire to see a more cohesive approach to tackling anti-Semitism across the Member States, EJA General Director submitted the appeal along with the MEP’s signatures to First Vice-President Frans Timmermans, as he called for a specially-appointed envoy to be charged with not only fighting but also monitoring anti-Jewish acts, to “ensure we have an accurate assessment of the scope of the problem and continue to take a proactive approach to combating it”.

Recalling the significant security measures taken by governments of some of Europe’s largest and most historic Jewish communities, Rabbi Margolin argued that “the solution [to anti-Semitism] doesn’t lie in security alone”. Invoking last year’s Global Survey on Anti-Semitism by the Anti-Defamation League, which found that anti-Semitic attitudes hit an average of 24% in Western Europe compared to 34% in Eastern Europe, he concluded that a broader approach across all EU Member States and all governmental departments was necessary, “as many member states do not have adequate mechanisms in place to themselves accurately monitor levels of anti-Semitism domestically”, so could not begin to tackle the true scale of the problem.

Rabbi Margolin has repeatedly lobbied for the establishment of an EU Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, after the US model, to help advance the EU’s policies on tackling anti-Semitism as a whole.

Signatories of the EJA’s appeal to establish an EU Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat anti-Semitism to date are: Vice-President Adina Valean MEP, BastiaanBelder MEP, AnnelieseDodds MEP, Seb Dance MEP, Juan Carlos Girauta Vidal MEP, Milan Zver MEP, Jude Kirton-Darling MEP, Angel Dzhambazki MEP, TomášZdechovský MEP, György HÖLVÉNYI MEP, Petras Austrevicius MEP, Brando Maria Benifei MEP, Ramon TremosaiBalcells MEP, Charles Goerens MEP, Martina Anderson MEP, Lynn Boylan MEP, Liadh NíRíada MEP, Matt Carthy MEP, Lars Aduktusson MEP, Dr.ArtisPabriks MEP, DavorStier MEP, Philippe Juvin MEP, HannuTakkula MEP, Olga Sehnalová MEP, Theresa Griffin MEP, Jan Zahradil MEP, Cecilia Wikström MEP, Peter NIEDERMÜLLER MEP, Jan Albrecht MEP, TatjanaZdanoka MEP, Soraya Post MEP, and Luigi Morgano MEP.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)