"We know that anti-Semitism is not a Jewish problem – it’s indicative of broader problems in society."
At a recent meet the press event in Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, where the British Empire still echoes, I sat down with the EU’s representative to Israel to discuss everything from anti-Semitism and Brexit to the Iran deal and a European army.
Anti-Semitism is growing all over the world, with recent attacks in New Jersey and Halle in Germany. What is the EU doing to fight the growth of these threats?
One issue is the physical security of Jewish communities, which is the responsibility of member states — but clearly, placing police in front of synagogues to prevent attacks like in Halle treats symptoms but doesn’t deal with the underlying problems.
At the EU level we contribute in a few ways to the fight against anti-Semitism. First is that we get countries together to formulate policies; we have Katharina von Schnurbein as the EU representative for anti-Semitism and we have promoted this kind of position among member states. The second area is Holocaust and anti-Semitism education in schools and among migrants who don’t have the same awareness of the issue.
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