EJC Director Ariella Woitchik and Public Affairs Officer Caroline Totaro took part in the first meeting of the Joseph Wybran Circle organised by the Coordinating Committee of Belgian Jewish Organisations (CCOJB) on 19 September 2022 in Brussels.
The Circle was named in honour of former CCOJB President and an internationally renowned Belgian medical professor Joseph Wybran. Joseph Wybran was assassinated as a result of terrorist act on 3 October 1989 while still in office as CCOJB President. Justice has never been served in this case.
The Joseph Wybran Circle is a new discussion platform created within the CCOJB in order to coordinate information, responsibility and solidarity among its members. All year long, the circle will receive high-level personalities from the political and media sphere who will address in these gatherings and exchange with participants.
At this inaugural meeting, the President of the Circle Baron Jacques Brotchi as well as CCOJB President Yohan Benizri gave opening remarks and welcomed the participants.
The guests of honour were Yonathan Arfi, President of the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions (CRIF) and H.E. Amb. Idit Rosenzweig Abu, Israeli ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg.
“Besides the fight against antisemitism which remains central to our mission, we must actively promote a positive Jewish identity, focusing on spirituality as well as on Jewish culture, history and heritage. We cannot let our enemies define our own identity,” Yonathan Arfi stated.
According to Yonathan Arfi, the priorities of the French Jewish community for the coming years are of a strategic, political and also philosophical nature. He called for enhanced dialogue with civil society’s sectors and outlined the importance of acknowledging the antisemitic character of anti-Zionism.
H.E. Amb. Idit Rosenzweig Abu reaffirmed the importance of ties between Diaspora Jews and the State of Israel.
