The European Jewish Congress (EJC) held its Executive Meeting in Prague today where a delegation met with Czech Prime Minister Petr Nečas to discuss new threats against the Jewish community. The EJC received an endorsement from the Czech Prime Minister for their plan on how best to tackle these threats.

EJC President Dr. Moshe Kantor also presented Prime Minister Nečas with the Compass of Jerusalem Award for his friendship towards the Jewish people and the State of Israel and his work towards a more tolerant and just Europe.

At the top of the EJC agenda with the prime minister were the triple threats of the rise of neo-Nazism, which has taken advantage of the economic situation, the incitement and attacks from Muslim extremists and a possible unprecedented rise in anti-Semitism in Europe due to an escalation in the Middle East.

The EJC delegation also expressed its concern about the rise in incitement and attacks against Jews from extreme Muslim elements. “The New anti-Semitism is found amongst the extreme enclave Muslim communities in Europe, which are affected by what is happening in the Middle East and use that as an excuse to attack Jews, Jewish sites and institutions,” Kantor continued. “There is a great concern that an escalation in the Middle East could trigger vicious attacks against the European Jewish community.

“With this in mind, the EJC has a plan for pan-European coordination of intelligence, legislation, security and public awareness to deal with this scenario.”

The EJC laid out important phases of the plan that require implementation to safeguard European Jewry and other minorities. “We need to advance strong legislative efforts, working together with non-Jewish NGOs, to define and protect our communities from violent hate crimes and to ban any form of incitement,” Kantor said. “Intelligence sharing and intelligence cooperation, between the various enforcement authorities across Europe is vital, as is implementing and enforcing security measures.”

“In addition, creating public awareness of this threat, as well as a concerted education program are also useful preventive tools.”

The EJC has already met with French President François Hollande and has meetings scheduled in the coming weeks with EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton and the Prime Minister of Spain, to discuss these issues and receive their cooperation and assistance.

The EJC plan was well-received by the Czech Prime Minister who stated that he will endorse this initiative and agreed to promote it amongst other leaders in Europe. “We thanked Prime Minister Nečas for his endorsement and noted the low levels of anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic. We hope that this can serve as a model for other parts of Europe,” Kantor said.

The EJC meeting comes ahead of the Government to Government (G2G) talks that are held between Czech and Israeli members of government.

“The G2G talks are a very strong statement of support and cooperation between the Czech and Israeli leadership and we add our gratitude to the Czech Government for their support of Israel,” Kantor said. “It is important that a strong message is sent out that the delegitimization of Israel is akin to the New Anti-Semitism and has no place in Europe.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)