The shooting at Charlie Hebdo last month was not only a human tragedy, but it was also a systematic failure at European level and of our education systems, stated European Commissioner for Education, Tibor Navracsics, at a meeting with Jewish community leaders who addressed the alarming rise of anti-Semitism in Europe.
The Hungarian Commissioner who is also in charge of Culture, Youth and Sport, pledged to raise the issue of “how to modify education programs to address social inclusion and hate” at a special meeting of EU Education Ministers to take place next month in Paris.
Speaking of the meeting in the French capital, he said: “There will be one sole item on the agenda – Best Practice.” “It is a part of my mission at European level to contribute on some level to a brighter future for co-existence,” he stressed, ,as he concluded: “There will always be scapegoats for the crisis, but they won’t always be the real scapegoats.”
The delegation of European Jewish leaders was led by Rabbi Menachem Margolin, Director General of the European Jewish Association (EJA), and included also Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs, Chief Rabbi of The Netherlands and Rabbi Shlomo Kovesh of Hungary.
Rabbi Margolin thanked the Commissioner for his commitment to the safety of the European Jewish Community, and stated that: "Education is the key to preventing horrific hate crimes like the terror attacks in Paris. We ask that all European curricula will include at least one hour a month dedicated to educating students on the causes of intolerance, racism and anti-Semitism.”
Addressing the recent lawsuit filed against a Jewish couple in Sweden that chose to homeschool their children, Rabbi Margolin added: "Jews have been a part of the European community for thousands of years and should have the right to educate their children according to their beliefs." In his response, Commissioner Navracsics echoed the words of European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans at a recent memorial ceremony for the victims of the Paris attacks, as he said: “Without the Jews, there is no Europe.”
Rabbi Binyomin Jacobs said that while there is a need to strenghten security measures of Jewish instutuibs, ‘’when one addresses the issue of anti-Semitism there is a need to think of the long term.’’ For him, ‘’a long-term solution can only be achieved through education.’’
‘’A teacher should have the tools and duty to notify authorities of any acts of anti-Semitism, much like she would for instances of child neglect," he said.