The Conference of European Rabbis has unveiled a seven-point plan to combat antisemitism and extremism across Europe, warning that governments must move beyond protecting synagogues, schools and community centers and confront the networks that allow hatred and radicalization to take root.
The plan was presented at a Rosh Hashanah reception in Brussels and sets out a series of demands aimed at strengthening Europe’s response to what the organization describes as a sharp rise in antisemitism and extremism in recent years.
Among the measures proposed are revoking visas, licenses and permits from religious leaders who incite hatred or glorify terrorism; creating a transparent registry of major foreign donations to religious institutions; investigating funding linked to extremist states or organizations; and stripping charitable status or freezing funding for bodies that promote antisemitism or extremism.
The conference also called for tighter oversight of religious institutions, including external inspections and scrutiny of teaching materials and staff where there are concerns about radicalization. It urged regulators, education authorities and law enforcement agencies to share information more effectively and called for institutions that repeatedly promote violence or hatred to be shut down.
In the public and digital spheres, the plan calls for technology companies to remove inciting content quickly and for tougher enforcement against hate speech and incitement under the European Union’s Digital Services Act.
It also urges authorities to prosecute those who incite violence or promote terrorist organizations, hold protest organizers accountable when repeated incitement occurs at demonstrations and ban organizations that systematically glorify terrorism.
The initiative comes against the backdrop of a series of serious antisemitic attacks across Europe cited by the conference, including the killing of two worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester on Yom Kippur, a stabbing attack in Golders Green in which two Jews were seriously wounded, the torching of ambulances outside a London synagogue and an explosives attack on a synagogue in Liège.
The conference also warned about extremist actors and the financing networks supporting them.
Its manifesto said European security agencies and courts have linked Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to alleged plots and proxy activity targeting Jews across the continent. It also cited suspicions that charitable organizations have been used to channel extremist funding and provide legitimacy to networks connected to terrorism.
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt
(Photo: Eli Atkin)
Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, president of the Conference of European Rabbis, said physical security alone was no longer enough.
“We can no longer rely on fences, barriers and security guards to protect Jewish institutions,” he said. “Security is essential, but it does not solve the problem. Europe must know how to deal with the sources of hatred, extremism and radicalization that create the threat.”
“If Europe does not know how to protect its Jewish citizens, it will also endanger the values on which it is based: the rule of law, democracy and freedom,” Goldschmidt said. “The goal should be clear: to allow Jews to live openly, safely and with dignity in Europe.”