Dear Ronald,
Dear Chella,
Rabbis, leaders of Jewish communities and organisations,
Distinguished guests,
Dear Friends,
I share with Ronald every word of his speech [Applause], especially the message about how to teach young generations to produce new Jewish kids. I am quoting exactly. [Laughter] But it is good. Thank you very much.
We are living in an age of contradictions and extremes. Extreme poverty. Extreme wealth. Extreme happiness. Extreme sadness.
Never before so many people had access to healthcare, clean water, education and jobs. Yet more and more people are leaving their homes to build better lives elsewhere.
Never before have we seen such a fall in American and European standards of living, and such a rise in Indian and Chinese standards of living. Understanding the trends underlying the contradictions of our modern world is critical, because many of them pose a threat to the lives and peace of Jews everywhere. How can we counter or minimise them? Let me start with what I see as the most important trends.
Judeo-Christian civilization is no longer dominant, determining the course of world history. What is now remarkable is the extent to which China, India and the Muslim world have, over the past decades, become central to global affairs. The world order is becoming polycentric – politically, economically and culturally. The consequence is that global governance based on European and Western values is no longer possible in this world.
The second but closely related trend I want to highlight is the evolution of globalisation, which has triggered a rise of neo-nationalism and isolationism.
Brexit is the first sign in the West. “Make America Great Again” is the second one. One can easily detect similar slogans in the worlds of Victor Orban, Abe, Modi, Erdogan and other leaders. The 2017 election campaigns in France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Iran, South Korea and other countries are focusing on these ideas.
From the early 2000s, there has been a rise of political movements, which seek a return of power to the nation-state and away from the post-World War II international institutions such as the European Union.
These movements, fuelled by the global recession of 2008 and rising poverty, infuse populism, racism and of course Antisemitism.
In this context, I agree with the English philosopher John Gray, who underlined the following contradiction in the 20th century, still accurate today, that intellectual and scientific values accumulate in the world, meaning that they pass from generation to generation, unlike ethical values which unfortunately do not have such cumulative effect. This is why each generation must learn these values on its own because if it doesn’t there is always a possibility to be thought by new catastrophes. This is true for the explosive nature of Antisemitism. Everybody knows that the Shoah happened, but the new generations are ethically uneducated. They are overloaded with information, but lack ethical values.
In light of the current economical dynamics, IMF (International Monetary Fund) Managing Director Christine Lagarde also noted right to the point: “Economic growth was too slow, for too long and for too few.”
The average annual GDP per capita growth decreased dramatically in the United States and Europe. The social contract, which worked well for the past fifty years, is no longer in place.
We, as citizens of the developed world, believed that every new generation would live better than the previous one; that children would live better than their parents. Is there really a better description of the concept of Jewish aspiration? Unfortunately, this concept does not work anymore in the developed countries, but it is still valid in China and India. The middle class – the pillar of social stability – is deteriorating. As a result, nearly one in four EU citizens, about 120 million people, are threatened with poverty and social exclusion.
So, it is not surprising that even well-to-do European societies are dominated by fear rather than values – fear of poverty, fear of migrants, fear for their lives amid terrorist attacks. There are indeed many things to fear. Threats are real and come from different horizons.
The Jewish street together with the State of Israel can play a major role in preventing those threats, including the threat of nuclear terrorism. We are strongly involved in these issues.
Ten years ago, on EJC’s initiative, the International Luxembourg Forum on preventing the nuclear catastrophes was founded. The Forum has brought together the world leading experts in nuclear non-proliferation. Currently the Forum is the most influential organisation dealing with this issue. I would like to stress the importance of promoting a strong coalition between US, EU and Russia to fight together the threat of terror and nuclear proliferation. Israel and world Jewry will benefit the most from this process.
Dear friends,
I have outlined the trends shaping our world and now I want to turn to the effect on us, Jews.
As a result of the trends I mentioned, across the political spectrum, both in Europe and in the United States, we are witnessing strange and sometimes dangerous coalitions. Some of these coalitions make Antisemitism part of their political message. Radicals from all sides remove taboos – Antisemitism becomes trivial, routine, and part of the so-called ‘new normality’. And when we complain, extremists on the right and left tell Jews that we are “weaponising” Antisemitism. This is a new form of a very old Antisemitism. Jews are perpetrators while anti-Semites are victims.
Most of the people at this gathering are products of the post-1989 world, meaning that we spent most of our adult years in a period dominated by the spread of democracy and the absence of a global threat of war.
This period has been almost ideal for Jews, and not only in the Western world. However, the prosperous and flourishing “Jewish street” at that time doesn’t exist anymore. In many parts of the world of the 21st century, the terror threat and violent Antisemitism forced us Jews to isolate ourselves and even to flee from some European countries. And let’s face it, no Jewish community, anywhere in the world, and however strong and organised, is now immune to Jew hatred.
The findings of the Annual Report on Antisemitism Worldwide issued yesterday by the Kantor Centre in Tel Aviv University made that clear and I recommend it to you. While the numbers of anti-Semitic incidents, especially violent ones, has decreased worldwide in 2016, the enemies of the Jewish people have found new avenues to express their Antisemitism with significant increase of hate online and against less protected targets like cemeteries.
We see from statistics a decrease in the number of anti-Semitic incidents, especially violent attacks, mostly in countries with large Jewish population. In 2016, violent anti-Semitic incidents felt by 12 percent. A significant fall was noted in France where the Government has outlined a 61 percent decrease in all forms of Antisemitism in 2016. Among the reasons of the decrease in the number of violent anti-Semitic incidents is the visibility of improved security measures to protect European populations as well as Jewish areas and institutions.
These positive results however are counter balanced by a sharp increase in anti-Semitic incidents in English speaking countries, which have been historically more welcoming to Jews. The UK saw an increase of 11 percent in 2016. In Australia the rate of increase was 10 percent. However, most significantly, was an alarming rise of 45 percent in anti-Semitic incidents in the United States, mostly on University campuses where Jewish students are facing hate and intolerance. We also see increase in cases of verbal and virtual Antisemitism online and on social networks.
Finally, I would like to stress the direct correlation that exists between the number of anti-Semitic attacks worldwide and the decrease in standards of living and rising poverty in the top migrants sending countries. The common conclusion: the Antisemitism crisis has nothing to do with the Jewish street but it is a result of the general negative trends.
To raise awareness about these challenges, the EJC has created a large network within the European Institutions. We speak to heads of state, ministers, commissioners and members of the European Parliament on a constant and on-going basis.
Let me now turn directly to security.
The security of our communities is a vital issue and we need courageous leadership to fight for Jewish interests and not accept a situation where Jewish security is neglected by governments. In 2012, the EJC launched the so-called security and crisis control program – SACC – a major effort to enhance the security of our communities. In 5 years we have dramatically improved crisis management, opened a new office and a control room in Vienna and activated a very sophisticated application, which has been distributed to more than 30 countries in Europe. Thanks to this application, all Jews in Europe can have on their smartphones a panic button which will inform the local police and our control room on their location and in some cases on the nature of their problem. The system could be extended up to 5 million people. My security specialists have told me not to discuss further details in public. But let me tell you how proud I am that in this area we have seen dramatic progress.
I would like to conclude by raising an important issue concerning the relations between World Jewish Congress and its European affiliate, or the European Jewish Congress. I had a very interesting and very nice talk with Roland yesterday about this and I believe we found all common points on how to manage all this. [Applause]
I want to say few words about this. We have only one complain to WJC: the frequent duplication of EJC’s programs in Europe, especially concerning our SACC program. Such duplication can impede its professional and operational capacities. This harms the EJC, waists our resources and confuses our partners across Europe. This must be stopped.
Instead, we must focus on our efforts and funds, on existential issues faced by Jewish communities.
The Policy Council of the World Jewish Congress must clearly define the goals that we want to achieve and mobilize all our communities to reach these goals together. For example, 70 years after Shaoh was stopped, we still do not have an UN definition of Antisemitism and maybe Mr Gutiérrez can succeed in this direction. But at least, we have to have a common understanding of the definition of Antisemitism on the level of OSCE. Let’s unify our efforts in this direction.
I hope that after this Plenary, the Governing Board will form the Policy Council by electing its Members according to the bylaws of the WJC. And I want to repeat: I appreciate very much yesterday’s agreement with Ronald Lauder to work together and to have a good friendship between the European Jewish Congress and the World Jewish Congress. [Applause]
Dear Friends,
I would like to conclude with the words of Leo Tolstoy, the Duke Leo Tolstoy, who wrote more than a century ago something very touching: “ What is the Jew? What kind of unique creature is this whom all the rulers and all the nations of the world have degraded and crushed and expelled and destroyed, persecuted, burned, drowned and who despite their anger and their fury continued to live and to flourish? The Jew is the symbol of eternity. He is one who for so long had guarded the prophetic message and transmitted it to all mankind. A people such as this can never disappear. The Jew is eternal. He is the embodiment of eternity.” Exactly for these words and his position, the Duke Tolstoy was expelled from the Orthodox Russian Church. And I was crying with tears of appreciation when I read it the first time.
This positive perspective gives us hope. We continuously proved to the world that we Jews are resilient, generous and tolerant, well known for our love for life and solidarity.
Unity is our strength and this is what we need to strive for. Let’s come together as “one person, with one heart”.
“Ke-Ish Echad, Be-Lev Echad”.
Thank you.
Dr Moshe Kantor
President of the European Jewish Congress
Chairman of the World Jewish Congress Policy Council
Dr Moshe Kantor is a prominent public figure, international philanthropist and scientist who has served as the President of the European Jewish Congress since 2007. He is known worldwide for his fight against antisemitism, racism, neo-Nazism, negationism and intolerance. The prosperity, freedom and security of the Jewish people are his first priorities.
