'European Jewish communities are in serious danger'

European Jewish Congress calls on governments to launch campaign against intolerance, anti-Semitism to remember "Never Again" concept.

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) claimed that certain European Jewish communities are in serious danger after a recent wave of anti-Semitism, according to a statement released by the organization Thursday.

The statement gave a recent example of a respected and government-funded Catholic school in Antwerp that hosted a ‘Palestine Day’, which was replete with anti-Semitic references and activities for youngsters.

One stall at the event was titled “Throw the soldiers into the sea” where children were invited to throw replicas of Jewish and Israeli soldiers into two large tanks, the organization highlighted.

The EJC, which is the democratically elected representative umbrella organization of European Jewry, is calling on European governments and the European Union to launch a campaign against intolerance and anti-Semitism, so to remind European citizens that the new Europe was established after the Second World War on the concept of “Never Again.”

A number of examples of anti-Semitsm in Europe were highlighted by the EJC in an attempt to bring the issue to the attention of decison makers in Europe.

Another one of the examples highlighted by the organization involved anti-Semitism experienced in the Malmo Jewish community. An event organized for children of the Jewish community was disrupted after gang of thugs shouted “Heil Hitler” and “Jewish pigs.”

Newly elected mayor of the Swedish city, Ilmar Reepalu, considered the rise in anti-Semitsm an understandable consequence of the Israel-Palestine conflict and claimed “we accept neither Zionism nor anti-Semitism,” equating Jewish national self-determination with hate and racism.

In response to the rise in anti-Semitsm Dr. Moshe Kantor, President of the EJC said “small Jewish communities are facing a situation where they are being physically, verbally and psychologically threatened by fundamentalist elements and their extreme left-wing cohorts on one side and the far-right neo-Nazis on the other.”

“If they can’t receive protection or respite from mainstream officials then we are entering a very dark period for the Jews in Europe,” Kantor continued.

http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=191385