International Holocaust Remembrance Day

The AJC Transatlantic Institute, in cooperation with the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung and the Israeli Mission to the EU, commemorated for the sixth consecutive year the International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Academy Palace in Brussels.

Distinguished key note speakers were EU Commissioner of Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality Věra Jourová, who in her remarks gave a clear endorsement on the IHRA Definition of anti-Semitism. It explains how, for example, the demonization of Israel, not legitimate or even extreme criticism, can be a form of modern anti-Semitism. Fitting the occasion, Holocaust survivor and former chief Rabbi of Israel, Yisrael Meir Lau, gave powerful remarks on the importance of remembrance.

The ensuing panel, which was moderated by TAI Director Daniel Schwammenthal, included Katharina von Schnurbein, the European Commission's Coordinator on Combating anti-Semitism, Yohan Benizri, President of the CCOJB, the Belgian Federation of Jewish Organizations, and the Dutch journalist Esther Voet, Editor in Chief of the NIW, the New Israelite Weekly.