The Diplomatic Salon on the European Union's Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life was held on Wednesday at EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev's home in Herzliya.
Wednesday's event
The Salon began with a video message from European Commission Coordinator on combating Antisemitism Katharina von Schnurbein highlighting over 100 strategies to fight antisemitism and promote Jewish life. She added that 14 European countries have followed in the EU's footsteps and begun developing national strategies.
Von Schnurbein's comments were followed by a panel discussion regarding the best ways to empower European Jewish communities amid rising rates of antisemitism.
The panel featured speakers such as Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, President of the Conference of European Rabbis, former Jewish Agency Chairman and Combat Antisemitism Movement representative Natan Sharansky, Minister-Counsellor Ruth Cohen-Dar, Director of the Department for combating Antisemitism at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Jean-François Guthmann, member of the Executive Board of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions, and World Union of Jewish Students CEO Shelly Wolkowicz.
“For us Europeans, on whose soil the Holocaust was carried out, lofty words are not enough. They need to be followed up with deeds. That’s why in October 2021, the European Union presented its first-ever Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life.”
Dimiter Tzantchev, European Union Ambassador to Israel
Ambassadors and diplomats from 25 countries, as well as activists and civil society leaders, also participated in the event.
“For us Europeans, on whose soil the Holocaust was carried out, lofty words are not enough. They need to be followed up with deeds,” said EU Ambassador to Israel Dimiter Tzantchev. “That’s why in October 2021, the European Union presented its first-ever Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life. It’s an actionable plan with many concrete proposals that earmarked millions of Euros for various projects to fight the hatred of Jews and to promote Holocaust memory and education.”
"The Center for Jewish Impact created the ’Diplomatic Salon‘ project to offer a shared platform for key players in Israeli society with foreign ambassadors, senior diplomats, special envoys and attachés based in Israel,” said Robert Singer, Chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact. “Through the Salon we covered a critical issue for the State of Israel and the Jewish diaspora around the world using in-depth discussions and extensive reviews of the impact of antisemitism on the lives of the Jewish diaspora alongside fostering their well-being."