Jewish cultural heritage must be both protected and promoted in EU cities and regions in a way that drives Europeans to value and consider Jewish cultural heritage a vital part of Europe's culture and way of life
It should become standard practice for Member States and their authorities to use the definition of antisemitism provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to help them identify antisemitic patterns and various manifestations of antisemitism.
encourage firm action on combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life on national/regional/local level
reinforced involvement of civil society organisations and Jewish communities, enhancing active collaboration with these entities and providing financial support for their initiatives through existing EU funding programmes
address the transversal nature of antisemitism through tackling antijudaism and fight against questioning the legitimacy of the State of Israel, as well as attaching sufficient attention to Holocaust remembrance;
when implementing the strategy, both Member States and local and regional entities must have a particularly important role to play when it comes to combating antisemitism and fostering Jewish life
increase awareness and knowledge of Jewish history, religion and culture needs to be a priority. It is essential to dismantle societal prejudices and to help promote full recognition that Jewish life is a part of European society;
review educational material on Judaism, antisemitism, the Holocaust, and modern-day Israel used in European educational institutions so that it is in full compliance with the UNESCO standards of peace, tolerance, coexistence and non-violence. Appropriate training of teachers at all levels of education, to address anti-Semitism and counter prejudice in and through education.
achieve coordinated and cross-border development of multilingual teaching materials on preventing antisemitism as well as teaching manuals that are digitally and freely accessible
strengthen mechanisms to control the financing of groups which, under the guise of non-governmental organisations, harbour antisemitism, promote the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, or justify and encourage terrorism
involve national, regional and local authorities, as well as Jewish communities and civil societies, in order to strengthen the strategy's legitimacy and to combat antisemitism in Europe more effectively.
The European Commission's report, following the adoption of the opinion in the CoR Plenary Session of June 2022, made extensive references to the opinion (namely points 1, 4, 10, 18, 19, 21-23, 25, 30, 36, 37, 40), endorsing the CoR positions and outlining future actions.
THE EUROPEAN COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
- stresses that Jewish culture is an integral part of European culture, and that Jewish cultural heritage must be both protected and promoted in EU cities and regions in a way that drives Europeans to value and consider Jewish cultural heritage a vital part of Europe's culture and way of life. It must draw attention to the millennia of Jewish life traditions and to the countless important contributions made by people of Jewish belief or background to our shared society and culture. In this regard, believes that it is important to step up cooperation between regions and civil society;
- fully supports the notion that it should become standard practice for Member States and their authorities to use the definition of antisemitism provided by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) to help them identify antisemitic patterns and various manifestations of antisemitism. Recognising an act as antisemitic and naming it as such creates trust in the authorities and the courts, and makes people more willing to report crimes motivated by antisemitism;
- welcomes the Commission's acknowledgment that Israel is a key partner for the European Union in the global fight against antisemitism. Furthermore, the Committee fully supports cooperation with the ad-hoc Working Group set up by the European Commission and with the European Parliament Working Group Against Antisemitism (WGAS);
- expresses the Committee's availability to contribute, where appropriate, to the work of the ad-hoc Working Group on combating antisemitism set up by the Commission, and its willingness to invite the Group's representatives to relevant Committee meetings;