Paris Mayor Pledges Fight Against Anti-Semitism
NEW YORK (Press Release)– Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has signed on to Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism, an AJC initiative calling on municipal leaders across Europe to publicly address and take concrete actions against rising anti-Semitism.
“The City has a responsibility to fight anti-Semitism, otherwise it will develop in the midst of it,” said Mayor Hidalgo. “Paris, which is home to the biggest Jewish community of Europe, needs to be a pioneer in the fight against hate so that other cities can benefit from its expertise and commitment.”
Hidalgo is the first mayor in Europe to join the AJC initiative, launched in the United States in July, and now expanding to Europe. More than 300 mayors and municipal leaders from 47 states across the U.S. have so far signed the statement.
“We call upon mayors, municipal leaders and other officials in Europe to join us in affirming that anti-Semitism is not compatible with fundamental democratic values,” states the Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism statement. The Mayors’ statement emphasizes that “in a world of global communications where anti-Semitic ideas can and do spread quickly, the impact of the rise of anti-Semitism in Europe does not stop at Europe’s borders.”
“Anti-Semitism is a cancer that, left unchecked, will metastasize and threaten to destroy the democratic and pluralistic nature of Europe,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris at the Brussels gathering.
The Mayors United Against Anti-Semitism statement affirms a core set of principles, including the condemnation of anti-Jewish hatred in all forms; rejection of the notion that anti-Semitic acts may ever be justified by one’s view on the actions or existence of the State of Israel; a declaration that anti-Semitism and any prejudices due to religious differences are inconsistent with core democratic values; and the belief that the promotion of mutual understanding and respect among all citizens is essential to good governance and democratic life.
The statement pledges a commitment to working within and across European and American communities to advance the values of respectful coexistence, and to affirm that anti-Semitism is incompatible with fundamental democratic values. (Preceding provided by the American Jewish Committee).
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Bus Passenger Tells True Meaning of Holocaust Numbers
By Judy Lash Balint
JERUSALEM — Everyone knows survivors of the Shoah are dying off. Here in Israel, more than a thousand Holocaust survivors pass away every month, according to figures from the Foundation for the Benefit of Holocaust Victims in Israel.
Unlike when I first made aliya back in the 1990s, it’s rare these days to see people whose arms are branded with those ugly, dark blue numbers, marking them as survivors of the Nazi camps.
But this happened yesterday, on a #13 bus in Jerusalem. I sat down on a rear-facing seat next to an elderly woman and across from two younger women. After one stop, the woman opposite me made a remark about the fashion sense of a cluster of people we had just passed at a street corner. That got us all going, and a lively conversation ensued about the state of the shops along King David Street and the state of things in the country.
After a few moments silence, I saw the woman across from me who had started the conversation, staring intently at the older woman sitting next to me.
“It’s real,” the older one said. I had no idea what she was talking about until I glanced sideways and caught sight of the numbers visible on her wrinkled forearm.
“Jasenovac,” she added in a matter of fact tone, naming one of the more notorious camps in what is now Croatia. “I was 14. Born in Yugoslavia, deported.” “I made aliya alone in 1948 and never looked back. I have four kids and 17 grandchildren.”
Yes, those are the important numbers, I told her; not the ones branded on your arm.
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Balint is a freelance writer in Israel whose blogging can be found at Jerusalem Diaries.