We would like to invite you to the following Intensive Text Courses on major themes in Jewish Studies. The Paideia Intensive Text Courses consist of 30 hours taught in English by leading academicians in Jewish Studies.

If you are interested in joining a Paideia Intensive Text Course or meeting the new Paideia fellows please contact Paideia - The European Institute for Jewish Studies in Sweden

Twenty-seven innovators and social entrepreneurs from twelve European countries and Israel are being welcomed today by Paideia for its 5th annual Project-Incubator, a two-week intensive boot camp for projects dedicated to advancing European Jewish culture in action.

Since 2006, the Project-Incubator has empowered and educated leaders of more than 80 projects in 26 European countries and Israel, from cultural centers to kindergartens, from theatrical productions to environmental campaigns.

Dear Friends,

We would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming event of online conference “Shevet Achim”, held by the of the European Jewish Fund and the Leadel.NET project .

Dear Friends,

We would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming meeting of our joined project together with Leadel.NET and the European Jewish Fund, we called: “Shevet Achim”.

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR
10/05/2010 02:39

Center for study of contemporary European Jewry opens at TAU.

A center for the study of European Jewry will be inaugurated at Tel Aviv University on Monday.

By Yoni Kempinski

The Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry was inaugurated at Tel Aviv University Monday and will study existing legislation on anti-Semitism in Europe and will draft an ‘ideal law’ for combating the growing phenomenon.

The inauguration was addressed by President of the European Jewish Congress Dr. Moshe Kantor, for whom the center is being named, and was attended by the European ambassadors to Israel, Tel Aviv University Board of Governors, the leadership of the European Jewish Congress and representatives of the World Jewish Congress.

Dear Friends,

We would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming event of online conference “Shevet Achim”, held by the of the European Jewish Fund and the Leadel.NET project .

This innovative project introduces a Minister of the Israeli Government to the representatives of a European Jewish community. Each month a different community hosts this Video Conference.

The European Jewish Press

By AFP

“We join our Polish brothers and sisters in their time of sorrow, and express our deepest sympathies for their loss. Our thoughts, hopes and prayers are with them during this difficult time,” organisers of the annual March of the Living said in a statement.

Before joining World ORT, Mr. Singer served as Chief Education Officer of the Southern Command for the IDF and spent twelve years with the Office of the Prime Minister in a number of senior posts.

EJC President Kantor: We are looking into issuing arrest warrants against people like Dr. Tamimi who praises Hamas and supports suicide bombers

Israeli Vice-Minister Moshe Yaalon will address senior members of the British Jewish community during a video conference, called Leadel LIVE, on issues of mounting concern. Yaalon, who has not travelled to the UK because of the possibility of arrest, will tell the community that they need to stand up and be counted during the current concerted and orchestrated campaign to demonize and delegitimize the State of Israel.

The annual meeting of the EJF community members was held following the Holocaust Remembrance Day events in Krakow.

Arie Zuckerman, the a secretary general of the Fund welcomed the participants of the meeting of the European Jewish Fund with the brief description of the recent activities of the European Jewish Fund and touched on the global financial crisis, which has reduced participation by other contributions from investors, cutting the EJF’s ability to support programmes and preventing broader distribution of funds for communities’ activities.

On January 27, 2010, Krakow hosted the third “Let My People Live!” International Forum to mark the day 65 years ago when the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. The Forum was organised by the European Jewish Congress, the World Holocaust Forum Foundation and Yad Vashem – the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority. 

The European Jewish Press

By Maureen Shamee

Pope Benedict XVI officially declared Pius XII had displayed “heroic virtues” throughout his life and was thus a Christian worthy of imitation - the final hurdle before beatification, which immediately precedes canonization.

Reacting to the announcement, Moshe Kantor, EJC’s president, said :"The papal comments that the highly controversial Pope Pius XII displayed ‘heroic virtues’ is a major slap in the face of the memory of the Holocaust.”

Jerusalem Report

Eetta Prince- Gibson

A project for gifted teens from Eastern Europe takes them through Belarus to reclaim and strengthen their Jewish past and identity.

The European Jewish Press

By Yossi Lempkowicz

The delegation from the European Jewish Congress (EJC), led by the organization’s President Moshe Kantor, brought up the issue of Shalit during a meeting with Lavrov Tuesday in Moscow.

Shalit was kidnapped more than three years ago by Palestinian groups, including Hamas, near the Gaza border.

Between the 24th and 26th of November, a senior delegation from the European Jewish Congress met with high-level Russian officials, including Russian President Dimitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, to discuss issues of global importance.

The discussions were centered on issues such as Russia’s attitude to tough sanctions against Iran in the wake of the stalled P5+1 talks and the possible sale of the S-300 missile system to Iran. The possible sale of the S-300’s is of great concern to the EJC.

The European Jewish Press

By Maureen Shamee

“There is no other organization with such an august reputation that allows vile propaganda and lies from a dictator to be prorogated in this manner,” Kantor said in a statement.

The leader of organization which represents Jewish communitres across is outraged that Ahmadinejad should be allowed year after year to use the General Assembly podium to spread his malicious fabrications.

“The United Nations has sadly demonstrated once again that it has allowed itself to become the last refuge of tyrants,” he said.

Haaretz

By Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent

Anti-Zionism is a new form of anti-Semitism that can be found in foreign media, Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told Swedish Jews Tuesday. The comments were made during a videoconference held following the controversial publication in a Swedish paper of an article claiming Israeli soldiers stole organs from Palestinians.

By Cnaan Liphshiz, Haaretz Correspondent

Anti-Zionism is a new form of anti-Semitism that can be found in foreign media, Information and Diaspora Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud) told Swedish Jews Tuesday. The comments were made during a videoconference held following the controversial publication in a Swedish paper of an article claiming Israeli soldiers stole organs from Palestinians.

IsraelNN.com

Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein will address members of the Swedish Jewish community in a live satellite broadcast on Tuesday. Among the issues to be addressed is the libel of a Swedish newspaper which accused Israel of harvesting organs of Arabs. 

European Jewish Press

By: Maureen Shamee

JERUSALEM (EJP)---As part of a project to foster close attachment between Israel and the European Jewish community, Israeli Minister of Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Yuli Edelstein will address members of the Swedish Jewish community in a live satellite broadcast on Tuesday.

Jerusalem Post

By HAVIV RETTIG GUR

Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein expects the diplomatic crisis over an incendiary Swedish newspaper report to take center stage next week when he meet s with Swedish Jewry in a video conference with community representative. 

President of the European Jewish Congress Viatcheslav Kantor, as part of the delegation of the World Jewish Congress, visited Vatican and met with Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of Italy.

Various aspects of relations between the State of Israel and the Jewish Diaspora, on the one hand, and Vatican and the Italian Government, on the other, were discussed during the both meetings.

Regnum

On Wednesday, May 20, European Jewish Congress (EJC) President Viatcheslav Kantor and a World Jewish Congress delegation met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in Rome. That same day, the Jewish delegation held talks with Secretary of State for the Holy See Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the EJC press service told REGNUM News Agency.

My dear young colleagues!

Dear friends!

We are standing today at a dramatic crossroads. The decisions we make today shall have great impact on our future, and your future – the future of our children.

Will we make brave decisions? Or are we going to be misled, or, even worse, are we going to mislead ourselves?

The Presidium of the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) approved changes to its organization’s governance structure and appointed prominent public figure Viatcheslav Kantor to chair the Presidium and businessman Yuri Kanner to serve as RJC President.

The global financial and economic crisis has temporarily overshadowed the issues of nuclear proliferation and nuclear disarmament. Unprecedented and unexpected problems of economic welfare and even survival directly affecting all segments of society in all countries all over the world have pushed aside long-term issues of preventing nuclear catastrophe that have been on the agenda of world policy for a long time.

In August 1941, German sailor Reinhard Wiener saw something he was unlikely to forget. Stationed in Latvia, Wiener was walking with a fellow serviceman toward the beach, when a soldier came running toward them. “He said we shouldn’t go on because a horrible thing was happening on the beach,” Wiener recalled. “We asked what was going on, and he said yes, they’re shooting Jews down there.”

Release Coincides with Durban II, Holocaust Memorial Day

Tel Aviv, Israel, 20 April 2009 – As the Durban II anti-racism conference convenes, and on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day (April 21), the European Jewish Congress and Tel Aviv University jointly released surprising new survey findings regarding the state of anti-Semitism worldwide. 

Jpost.com (сайт)
01.04.2009
Jonny Paul

The mother of Ilan Halimi, a 23-year-old French Jew murdered in a brutal attack in 2006, told a conference on anti-Semitism held at the European Parliament on Monday about the importance of fighting anti-Semitism so that her son would not become a “detail of history.

On January 28, the fifth meeting of the European Jewish Fund (EJF) Executive Council was held in Jerusalem.

The Leadel team are always on the look out for interesting stories and personalities that will encourages young Jewish adults across the globe to become more engaged in their Jewish lives, as well as the community at large. Limmud 2008 was, therefore, the obvious place to go.

The city of Moscow celebrated its first Day of Tolerance on December 7. The Russian Jewish Congress invited members of diverse student organizations from around Moscow for a night of music and socializing at the club B2. Over four hundred students from around the world, including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Ossetia, Africa and Central Asia attended the event.

On International Tolerance Day, November 16, the Russian Jewish Congress and Russian Research and Educational Holocaust Center held a memorial event commemorating the 70th anniversary of die Kristallnacht in Kaliningrad. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a letter addressed to event participants.

Haviv Rettig

JPost Correspondent, BRUSSELS, THE JERUSALEM POST

The Council of Europe will consider over the next few years a new convention meant to standardize and unify anti-prejudice legislation throughout the council’s member states. 

NZZ am Sonntag, Switzerland

In early October, the European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation was founded in Paris. Its co-founder Moshe Kantor calls on Swiss personalities to support the initiative.

When I took up residence in Geneva I was immediately impressed by the democratic Swiss system where tolerance and mutual respect, the bases for living in peace and prosperity, have become deeply enshrined. This is also epitomized by Switzerland’s political neutrality on the international stage.

European Jewish Press

Following is the full text of the speech by Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme at an event organized in Brussels by the European Jewish Congress and CCOJB, the umbrella body of Jewish organisations in Belgium, on November 10, 2008, to commemorate 70 years since “Kristallnacht”, the anti-Jewish pogroms by the Nazis prelude to the Holocaust, and to promote tolerance throughout Europe.

The Jewish Chronicle

By Toby Axelrod, Brussels

A NEW project for tolerance and reconciliation was formally launched in Brussels at ceremonies marking the Kristallnacht pogrom — also attended by EU representatives from Arab states including Saudi Arabia.

Jewish Chronicle, UK

By Toby Axelrod, Brussels

A NEW project for tolerance and reconciliation was formally launched in Brussels at ceremonies marking the Kristallnacht pogrom — also attended by eU representatives from arab states including Saudi Arabia.
A European Jewish Congress spokesman said it was the first time so many representatives

UK JEWISH NEWS

As Jewish communities around the world commemorated the seventieth anniversary of Kristallnacht, a rose laid on track 17 of Grunewald railway station in Berlin recalled the tens of thousands of Jews deported to their deaths from the site in the months and years that followed the infamous Night of the Broken Glass. 

CTK, Czech Republic

Representatives of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) and Czech President Vaclav Klaus discussed anti-Semitism and the current world financial crisis, Tomas Kraus, secretary of the Federation of Czech Jewish Communities, said. “The rabbis commented on the financial crisis from the perspective of the negative experience of Jews from the 1920s and the 1930s. After such crisis scapegoats are often sought and the Jewish community has rather bad experience with it,” Kraus said. He said the rabbis expressed fears that it might happen again that culprits are sought in a situation where nobody is to blame.

Wall Street Journal, USA
Wall Street Journal Europe, Belgium

By Bret Stephens

Sunday was the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. With some notable exceptions, Europe has opted to mark the occasion by missing its point. “We must not be silent,” said German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a memorial ceremony in Berlin’s renovated Rykestrasse synagogue, one of the few that was not burned down that night by the Nazis—though 2,200 others were, as crowds of German or Austrian citizens looked on. “There can be no tolerance, for example, if the safety of the state of Israel is threatened by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran.” Well said. Maybe the chancellor will turn next to the issue of the 2,000 German companies that still do business with Tehran, whose exports are up more than 14% this year.

Over 300 rabbis from 30 European countries attended the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) Convention in Prague, which centred on the pivotal issues affecting European Jewish communities, including outreach and conversion policy.

The conference, which was held as part of the Week of Tolerance in Europe and the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, opened with a memorial ceremony at the monument to Czech Jews deported to Nazi death camps.

Two days of events were held in Brussels to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht and to launch a new program of tolerance across Europe. The events sponsored by the European Jewish Congress, the European Council for Tolerance and Reconciliation, Yad Vashem and the World Holocaust Forum were attended by, amongst others, the president of the European Parliament, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Prime Minister of Belgium and a number of politicians, diplomats and dignitaries from across Europe.

European Jewish Press
By: Yossi Lempkowicz

Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme (L) receives a compass called the ‘Navigator of Jerusalem’, from European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor, at Monday’s dinner marking the 70th anniversary of ‘Kristallnacht’. Kantor wants Europe to step up efforts to promote tolerance.

YNET

Sharon Roffe-Ofir

Amidst fears of fresh wave of xenophobia in wake of global economic crisis, European Parliament pledges more tolerance in special session marking 70-year anniversary of Kristallnacht. Israeli, Arab representatives invited to take part

Associated Press, USA
By WILLIAM J. KOLE

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Every few months in Austria, vandals topple tombstones in a Jewish cemetery and spray swastikas on the headstones. But it’s not just happening here, officials warned Monday, as Europe’s top human rights body joined forces with a global Holocaust education task force to fight what they denounced as a “scourge of anti-Semitism” across the Continent.

JTA

BRUSSELS (JTA) – They still hear sounds of breaking glass, still smell the fire, still feel a parent’s hand protectively close over their own. And they still feel fear.

European Jewish Press

Moshe Kantor, President of the European Jewish Congress, speaks during the memorial service organized at the Great Synagogue of Brussels, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of ‘Kristallnacht’.

Haviv Rettig , THE JERUSALEM POST

Dramatic Muslim representation is expected at Monday’s “Special Event Promoting Tolerance throughout the European Continent” at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Representatives of Libya, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Pakistan, Morocco, Turkey and Malaysia, among others, are to attend an event publicized as part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. 

European Jews: Our situation worse than 60 years ago
Deutsche Presseagentur, Germany

Brussels - European Jews on Monday marked the 70th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s Kristallnacht pogrom while warning that their situation in Europe is worse than it was 60 years ago. “Today we feel worse than after the Second World War,” Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), said at the ceremonies in Brussels marking the Kristallnacht. 

ITAR-TASS (English service), Russia

BRUSSELS, November 10 (Itar-Tass) — Russia and the EU should pool efforts to eliminate all forms of xenophobia, the president of the European Jewish Congress, Viacheslav Kantor, told Itar-Tass on Sunday. He took part in the events to remember the Jews killed by Nazi on the Crystal Night on November 9-10. Then ninety-one Jews were killed and an estimated 3,500 were sent to concentration camps. “In the near future we will draft a European convention on tolerance. It will be submitted to the European Parliament and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe for consideration,” Kantor said.

Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor
European Jewish Press, Belgium

Seventy years ago, the synagogues burnt in Germany. The German State had not only withdrawn its protection from the Jewish part of its population, it had appointed itself as the leader of all those who were out to take away honour, property and even the lives of Jews. Until this day, “Kristallnacht” symbolizes the failure of civil society and its institutions, and it was the beginning of the biggest crime in the history of mankind, the Holocaust.

The Jerusalem Report

IN THE SHADOW OF INCREASING interracial and interethnic violence across Europe, and under the threat of it escalating further due to the impending world financial crisis, the newly established European Council on Tolerance and Reconciliation (ECTR) held its inaugural meeting in Paris, in early October. The Council is co-chaired by Aleksander Kwasniewski, who was president of Poland from 1995 to 2005 and wealthy Russian businessman Moshe Kantor, the president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), who initiated the new non-governmental organization.

Associated Press

The head of the European Jewish Congress says Turkey has a key role in promoting tolerance and dialogue between the Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths.

On October 21, Minsk hosted a mourning march and meeting dedicated to the 65th anniversary of the destruction of the Minsk Ghetto. The events were attended by representatives of international and foreign Jewish associations and communities, religious organisations, Belarusian officials and foreign diplomats. To honour the memory of Holocaust victims in Belarus, participants marched through the territory of the former Minsk Ghetto to the Yama Memorial Complex on Zaslavskaya Street, where the meeting was held.

On October 6, 2008, President of the European Jewish Congress Viatcheslav Kantor met in Brussels with leaders of local Jewish organizations. The meeting brought together over 50 senior members of the Belgian Jewish community to discuss xenophobia, education, commemoration and the future of European Jewry for more than three hours.

On September 16, the European Jewish Congress (EJC) Executive met in Brussels under the chairmanship of President Moshe Kantor. The meeting followed a roundtable discussion on nuclear non-proliferation organised by Kantor the previous day.

Shelly Paz , THE JERUSALEM POST

A series of animated films about the Kabalist Rabbi Nachman from Breslov, a plan to open Jewish yoga centers across Europe and a Know-Your-Body program based on Jewish tradition.

GAZETA Newspaper

As the 21st century dawned, there was great hope that the world would soon become a safer place. However, the tragedy of September 11, 2001, the ongoing war against the Taliban in Afghanistan, the fight against terrorists in Iraq and the stagnant Middle East peace process have shown that that hope was premature.

STRENGTHENING European Jewry is a top priority for Arie Zuckerman, secretary general of the European Jewish Fund.

And the former legal advisor for the Israeli Prime Minister’s office knows how to go about achieving his goals.

The Jerusalem Post

The Jewish Film Festival in Croatia has become a festival on wheels, venturing to cities in Serbia and Bosnia to form bonds with the smaller Jewish communities, director of the festival Natasha Popovic told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.

ROSSIYSKAYA GAZETA

After the end of the Cold War the barrier to nuclear danger seemed much higher, but the euphoria passed away quickly. The world entered a new millennium with old threats, including the threat of nuclear weapons. The problem of nuclear terrorism and certain rogue nations and regimes trying to gain access to nuclear materials and technologies has become much more acute. Because of this, the role of public anti-war organisations, led today by the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, is growing more important. 

(Brussels, 1 July 2008) – The European Jewish Congress (EJC) today completed a series of meetings with EU top officials to discuss issues of concern to the European and Jewish Communities. The delegation, headed by EJC President Moshe Kantor, included the President of the Belgian Jewish Communities Joel Rubinfeld and EJC Secretary General Serge Cwajgenbaum, among others. 

Strasbourg- European Jewish Congress President Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor held a working meeting with the PACE President Lluis Maria de Puig to discuss a wide range of issues of European significance.

The Joint Seminar of the International Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe and Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs was held in Rome on June 12, 2008. The full name of the seminar - “Reviewing the Results and Looking on the Prospects of the PrepCom for the 2010 NPT Review Conference”. 

(TORINO, Italy) Thursday morning, as people around the world saluted Israel’s Sixtieth Anniversary, the President of the Italian Republic, Mr. Giorgio Napolitano, and President of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor attended the official opening ceremony of The International Book Fair of Turin 2008 in an event focused largely on Israel and its contribution to the global Jewish community.

Yesterday (May 13, 2008), President Shimon Peres launched the first annual Presidents Conference “Facing Tomorrow” in Jerusalem. This major event has brought prominent figures from around the Jewish world to Israel to celebrate Israel’s 60th Anniversary.

The European Jewish Congress leadership, headed by EJC President Moshe Kantor, has traveled to Macedonia on Tuesday, May 5th and 6th as part of the organization’s recent effort to strengthen smaller Jewish communities across the continent.  This new initiative is being developed by a committee headed by Jose Oulman Carp, the President of the Portuguese Jewish community, and is designed to help discover ways to assist these smaller communities in confronting a myriad of challenges they are currently facing. Other communities previously visited by the EJC include those in Slovenia and Athens among others.

REGNUM

At an April 14 press conference in Moscow Mr. Viatcheslav Kantor, president of the Luxembourg Forum commented on developments in relations between the international community and Iran with regard to its nuclear program. In Mr. Kantor’s words, “the United Nations Charter states that where economic sanctions do not prove to be effective it is time for military sanctions.”

RIA Novosti

Mr. Viatcheslav Kantor, president of the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe, says that recognizing Iran’s nuclear status would help resolve the crisis surrounding the country.

Russian and U.S. experts from the Luxembourg Forum on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe gathered in Moscow to convene their first meeting this year to discuss a new UN Security Council resolution on Iran and current state of the Iranian nuclear crisis.

EU Business

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) called on the European Union Tuesday to strenghten sanctions against Iran over its latest efforts to develop its nuclear programme.

“We want the improving of the sanctions… against Iran in case it continues the weaponisation of its nuclear programme,” EJC President Moshe Kantor told journalists in Ljubljana during a three-day visit to Slovenia, which currently holds the EU presidency.

EJP

The President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC), Moshe Kantor warned that Iran has already capacities to build nuclear weapons and called on the EU countries to suspend economic cooperation with Tehran, during a meeting Tuesday in Ljubljana with the EU Slovenian presidency. 

Agence France Presse

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) called on the European Union Tuesday to strenghten sanctions against Iran over its latest efforts to develop its nuclear programme. “We want the improving of the sanctions… against Iran in case it continues the weaponisation of its nuclear programme,” EJC President Moshe Kantor told journalists in Ljubljana during a three-day visit to Slovenia, which currently holds the EU presidency. 

Jerusalem Post

The head of the European Jewish Congress urged European countries Tuesday to cease doing business with Iran entirely, saying current European Union sanctions are “not sufficient at all.”
“It’s absolutely necessary to stop completely economical relations with Iran,” Moshe Kantor said in a telephone interview. 

International Herald Tribune

ZAGREB, Croatia: The head of the European Jewish Congress urged European countries Tuesday to cease doing business with Iran entirely, saying current European Union sanctions are “not sufficient at all.”

JTA

The heads of the European Jewish Congress and European Union will discuss the Iranian nuclear threat and anti-Semitism.

Moshe Kantor, the EJC president, will meet Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa, the rotating head of the European Union, Tuesday and Wednesday in the Slovenian capital of Ljublijana along with other members of the prime minister’s cabinet. The EU presidency

European Jewish Press
10.03.2008

The European Jewish Congress (EJC) denounced the jubilation displayed by thousands of Palestinians in Gaza and southern Lebanon following the terrorist attack against a rabbinical seminary in Jerusalem. 

European Jewish Press
Yossi Lempkowicz

European Jewish Congress (EJC) president Moshe Kantor hopes that his call for unity “will be heard,” after four countries suspended their participation in the pan-European body.

“We don’t have the privilege to be occupied with internal fights, we are living in a dramatic time,” he said in an interview with EJP.

“We should be occupied with the Iranian threat, the biggest threat ever to humanity. We should be occupied with the dangerous rise in anti-Semitism in Europe. We should be occupied with future of Jewish communities in Europe,” he said.
Four countries, France, Germany, Austria and Portugal, suspended their membership in the European Jewish body last month after an extraordinary general assembly extended term limits of Kantor’s presidency from 2 to 4 years.

Jerusalem

Dear Colleagues:

First, I want to express my appreciation to the organizer of this conference. This lady is not in the room as she is taking care of some important things, but I ask you kindly to applaud her because she alone did a tremendous job.

Seventy years passed since World War II and unfortunately values and priorities changed in this world. Again, we see that commercial motivation is dominating upon the humanitarian values. For example, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere today is much more meaningful for some of us than xenophobia, racism and anti-Semitism. This is something, which is not acceptable at all. We know from our history that this is the beginning of dramatic changes in the common mentality. Every time in the history when something like this happened, it was the beginning of a tragedy, it was the beginning of World War I and World War II. Since Michael asked me to be very short and I was not on a program, I will be very concentrated on the most important issues.

President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor reported on the state of anti-Semitism in Europe to the Global Forum on Anti-Semitism, held under the aegis of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Israel in Jerusalem on February 24-25. 

The Forum was attended by more than 300 prominent representatives from 45 countries, including members of parliaments, lawyers, ambassadors, heads of non-governmental organizations and Jewish communities throughout the world. Israeli Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni and Minister of Diaspora Affairs Isaac Herzog welcomed the Forum’s participants. 

European Jewish Congress President Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor and EJC Secretary General Serge Cwajgenbaum met with Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on February 12th, 2008.

The meeting of the European Jewish Fund took place this year in Paris a day after its sister organization the EJC held its GA and historically adopted a constitution. Yet today the atmosphere at the hall was totally different – tables put into circle invited people to share ideas and express opinions regarding the activity of the European Jewish Fund, the new venture, which has already gained significance and respect due to the activities it performs for the sake of European Jewry.

On February 10, 2008, an extraordinary session of the General Assembly of the European Jewish Congress took place in Paris with delegates from more than 40 European Jewish communities. After many years of strenuous efforts, an EJC constitution was adopted. It is supposed to be a new legal instrument enabling the EJC to operate more efficiently and contributing to fruitful cooperation of Jewish communities in Europe.

European Jewish Press

European Jewish Group Calls for Stiffer Penalties for Hate Crimes in Greece and voiced concern over the rise of an extreme-right party, during a meeting Monday in Athens with Greek President Karolos Papoulias.

ANA-MPA SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN:

President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias on Monday received a delegation from the European Jewish Congress, led by its President Moshe Kantor and accompanied by the president of the Jewish Community in Athens Moise Constantinis. The EJC delegation had earlier also met Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis and Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis.

Moshe Kantor attends a series of high-level meetings with the President, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Greece to address issues of concern to the European Jewish Community.

In a historic visit to Athens February 4 designed to strengthen Jewish-Greek relations, President of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) and Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) Moshe Kantor met with President of the Hellenic Republic Karolos Papoulias, Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis, Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis and other top governmental leaders.

Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor, President of the European and Russian Jewish Congresses, met with several leading Israeli politicians during his recent trip to Israel.

In Jerusalem on January 29, 2008, Mr. Kantor met with Israeli Foreign Affairs Minister Tzipi Livni to discuss urgent issues facing Israel and international Jewry, in particular the peace process, the Iranian threat and the need to counteract assimilation.

Haaretz
Anshel Pfeffer

Israel should grant Jews around the world the right to vote even on political issues, European Jewish Congress President Moshe Kantor said yesterday.

Kantor spoke during meetings of the Board of Governors of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) yesterday in Jerusalem. 

European Jewish Press
29.01.2008
Yossi Lempkowicz

European Jewish Congress President, Moshe Kantor, has warned against the rising number of neo-Nazis in Europe.

Speaking at a special commemoration organized Monday evening in the European Parliament on the occasion of International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Kantor said : “There are more neo-Nazis than Jews today in Europe.”

Jerusalem Post

President of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor said Monday that a dangerous “banalization and trivialization” of the Holocaust in Europe is causing Europeans to misread the dangers of anti-Semitism today as well as misunderstand and overlook the looming threat to the world posed by Iran’s nuclear programs. 

Viatcheslav Moshe Kantor who heads the European Jewish Congress (EJC) and the Russian Jewish Congress (RJC) spoke about the importance of the Remembrance Day for the European Jewry at the memorial event held by the European Parliament to mark the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. He stressed the necessity to promote the fight against xenophobia and anti-Semitism, in the meanwhile preserving the historical memory. Kantor also announced his plans to hold the Third International Forum Let My People Live! and discussed legislature initiative by the EJC.

Seventy years have passed since Europe plunged into die Kristallnacht, which followed the publication of the Nuremberg Laws, the laws of inhumanity and Intolerance.

Europe paid a high price for its tolerance for other people’s Intolerance – 50 million Europeans were wiped from the face of earth, including 6 million European Jews. 

The official declaration of the International Conference on Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe was presented today at the RIA-Novosti press centre. The Conference was held in Luxembourg on May 24-25 this year.

The declaration was presented by a group of experts, including Hans Blix, Chairman of the Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission and former Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (via videoconference between Moscow and Stockholm); Rolf Ekeus, Board Chairman of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and former High Commissioner on National Minorities of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe; Viatcheslav Kantor, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Luxembourg Conference and President of the European Jewish Congress and Russian Jewish Congress; Uzi Arad, founding head of the Institute for Policy and Strategy and Adviser to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee; Vladimir Dvorkin, Principal Researcher of the Institute for World Economy and International Relations at the Russian Academy of Sciences, Professor, retired Major General; and Sergey Oznobishchev, Director of the Institute for Strategic Assessments and Professor of the Moscow State Institute for International Relations at the Russian Ministry of Interior. 

On December 19th, 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany, EJC president Moshe Kantor addressed the Executive Board of the Central Council of Jews in Germany at the invitation of Charlotte Knobloch, Council president and EJC vice president. Mr. Kantor spoke about various issues including the planned commemorative ceremony for the 70th anniversary of the Kristalnacht planned to take place in November 2008. Moshe Kantor was accompanied by EJC secretary general Serge Cwajgenbaum, WJC deputy secretary general Maram Stern and EJC vice president Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt

Rashid Kaplanov has passed away. To my great sorrow, he is not the first person of my generation to depart. This is always a tragedy. It always happens too early. And there is never anyone to replace the one who is gone. The loss of Rashid is painful for those who knew and loved him, but it is also a great tragedy for the humanities in Russia and abroad.

On the occasion of his visit to the British Jewish Community, EJC President Moshe Kantor joined the Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women for their 73rd Annual Remembrance Ceremony and Parade. President Kantor met with the leadership of AJEX and commended them on their courage and the important work they were doing in honouring the memory of the Jewish soldiers who fought with the British Services during World Wars I and II.

Jewish Telegraph Agency

The European Jewish Congress president has urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel to up the ante on Iran.