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Highlights from Sebastian Kurz's Keynote Speech on EU-Israel Relations and Jewish Life in Europe

Analysis

14/12/2020

Europe Can’t Fight Antisemitism While Ignoring Threats to Israel

The EU regularly expresses its commitment to Israel’s security. But when it comes to the deadly threats the Jewish state faces, more often than not Europe is missing in action. In this POLITICO Europe opinion piece, AJC CEO David Harris raises questions about Europe's mixed messaging towards Jerusalem, its misguided policy on Iran and Hezbollah, the memory of the Holocaust, and the global fight against antisemitism.

13/12/2020

Let the Game-Changing Begin

The U.S.-brokered peace agreement between Israel and Morocco goes all the way to the civilizational level. AJC Chief Policy and Political Affairs Officer Jason Isaacson explains in The Times of Israel how this year’s fourth diplomatic breakthrough for Israel in the Arab world is unique. This historic revival of the millennia-old ties between Morocco and the Jewish people are an example for others in the region to follow: “The season of game changing may be just beginning.”

10/12/2020

The Underappreciated Abraham Accords

This year’s historic Abraham Accords inked between Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain weren't everywhere met with the enthusiasm they deserve. Benedetta Buttiglione, the AJC Transatlantic Institute’s EU Policy Advisor, dissects in La Voce Repubblicana the flawed assumptions underpinning conventional thinking about the Middle East. A growing number of Arab nations are seeing the benefits of partnering with Israel and no longer allow their own interests to be held hostage by Palestinian intransigence.

27/11/2020

Europe, Do Better At The UN

The UN General Assembly is poised to pass a total of 17 resolutions targeting Israel while omitting Palestinian terror and attempting to erase the millennia-old Jewish ties to Jerusalem. In comparison, the world’s worst human rights abusers like Iran will get a slap on the wrist. Writing in New Europe, the AJC Transatlantic Institute’s Deputy Director Michael Sieveking calls on the EU – currently under Germany’s presidency – to oppose this diplomatic assault on the Jewish state.

23/11/2020

Europe Must Fight Political Islam

Islamist radicalism and violent extremism are on the rise in Western societies, as the deadly attacks recently in Vienna and the beheading of a French teacher chillingly reminded us. Writing in Europe’s best-selling newspaper BILD, AJC Europe Director Simone Rodan-Benzaquen and AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis urge governments to cut ties with Islamist groups propagating anti-Western ideologies, like those linked to Iran’s regime or the Muslim Brotherhood: “We must set our sights on the organizations of political Islam, which are not violent themselves but create the climate for such murders.”

04/11/2020

Briefing: Hezbollah in Europe

AJC and the Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) have produced an exhaustive, fact-based analysis that makes the case for the full designation of Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. This brochure titled Hezbollah in Europe offers a more specific focus on our continent. It will...

28/10/2020

Iran Is More Aggressive Than Ever Before

On 18 October the international arms embargo on Iran expired. The regime can now legally purchase upgraded and advanced weaponry. “This is bad news for the Middle East and sets the conditions for even more bloodshed,” writes AJC Berlin Director Remko Leemhuis in Switzerland’s biggest newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Germany, one of the JCPOA’s signatories, must live up to its special responsibility to help end Tehran’s quest for nuclear arms, its aggression in the region, and its support for terror proxies such as Hezbollah.

28/10/2020

Europe Can’t Fight Antisemitism Without Defining it

Antisemitism can only be overcome if it is correctly identified in all its forms. Writing in The Times of Israel, AJC’s Rabbi Andrew Baker and Holly Huffnagle call on governments worldwide to adopt and implement the Working Definition of Antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The definition, which recognizes anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism and was endorsed by the EU Council in 2018, is a critical tool to train law enforcement, judges, and educators and should serve as guideline for social media platforms to effectively fight anti-Jewish hate speech online.

30/09/2020

Black-Jewish Unity

AJC and the National Urban League wrote a new chapter in the history of Black-Jewish relations in the United States. #BlackJewishUnity week featured groundbreaking online events viewed over 100,000 times and - as part of the campaign - AJC President Harriet P. Schleifer and National Urban League head Marc H. Morial published an op-ed in USA Today, America’s largest circulation paper: “Blacks and Jews can draw from a long history spanning many decades to tackle today’s monumental challenges. Once again, we stand shoulder to shoulder as Lewis did in 1965 with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.”

30/09/2020

An Israeli Success Story

Over the past few weeks alone, Israel’s global diplomatic position has dramatically changed. AJC CEO David Harris reflects in The Times of Israel on the positive trend that began already years ago. Whether it’s the Start-Up Nation’s vast knowledge industry and innovative power or the fact that Israel, an arid country, has become a water exporter – country after country is seeking deeper ties with Jerusalem, including states in the Arab world.