World Jewish News

Rabbi Margolin:'We must fight BDS in order to ensure the security of European Jews'

In Europe, the BDS (Boycott, Divestment,Sanctions) movement “is not just a way to attack Israel, it is a way to attack Jewish people. We must fight it in order to ensure the security of European Jews,’’ a European Jewish leader declared.

Addressing the annual Jerusalem Post Conference in New York on Sunday, Rabbi Menachem Margolin, General Director of the European Jewish Association (EJA), a body representing hundreds of Jewish communities and organisations in Europe, declared : ‘’I believe that BDS is not challenging Israeli exports to Europe. It’s not about boycotting Israeli products to Europe. BDS is about anti-Semitism and anti-Semitism influences immediately the security of the Jewish people in Europe and their future in Europe.’’

‘’BDS is something that all Jewish organisations, all Jewish communities all over the world need to flight not only for the State of Israel but also for the security of the 3 million Jews who live in Europe,’’ he added.

Margolin spoke at a panel entitled “The future of the Jewish people and the war against BDS,” which was moderated by Jerusalem Post Column One writer Caroline Glick, and included the participation of International Fellowship of Christians and Jews President Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Member of the Knesset Elazar Stern and CEO of the Harry Triguboff Institute Shalom Norman.

Rabbi Margolin has been groundbreaking in his efforts to galvanize efforts and action in Europe against anti-Semitism.

He explained the audience that ‘’three years ago I had the privilege to found an organisation called Europe Israel Public Affairs (EIPA) which aims to fight against BDS, to make Europe closer to Israel and to improve the image of Israel in Europe.’’

‘’During the last few years we brought to Israel hundreds of senior journalists from leading newspapers in Europe. We organised briefings in Europe for them, we brought Members of the European Parliament and their advisers .I am proud to tell you that in the last year-and- a- half we succeeded to secure 400 positive articles about Israel in the largest newspapers in Europe. We speak to the Europeans , we speak in their language. We show them that support of Israel is not only to be correct but also that boycotting Israeli products means that many Europeans will suffer because Israeli products and inventions save so much European lives. We show the Europeans that if they don’t support the Israelis this will raise the level of anti-Semitism in Europe.’’

He also said that one cannot compare the situation in Europe to the situation in the United States. ‘’America did a great work with the different organisations in Washington and it’s not just by miracle that the US is Israel’s biggest friend.’’

But he emphasized that ‘’we could also make Europe a big friend of Israel.’’ ‘’I would be more than happy to cooperate with all the American organisations and learn from you how you succeeded in making America so strong with Israel.’’

‘We can make Europe again a great and secure place, not only for the Jewish people who live on the continent,’’ Rabbi Margolin concluded.

At the conference, Israeli Minister of public security, strategic affairs and public diplomacy Gilad Erdan insisted that Israel is “concerned about human rights, both for Israelis and Palestinians. We want dialogue. We want co-existence. We want to build bridges. The tragedy of BDS is that it does exactly the opposite. Just like terrorism, it does nothing for the Palestinians. It is not pro-Palestinian; it is anti-Israel… BDS and terror are two sides of the same coin.”

by Yossi Lempkowicz

EJP