The rise of antisemitism around the world is alarming and collaborations are needed to fight it effectively, President Isaac Herzog said Monday while meeting with the Combat Antisemitism Movement’s (CAM) Advisory Board at his residence in Jerusalem.
“We need collaborations to combat antisemitism, and I commend the work CAM does and hope it goes from strength to strength,” Herzog said. “It is a just cause and saves lives.”
CAM is a global coalition engaging more than 600 partner organizations and nearly two million people from a diverse array of religious, political, and cultural backgrounds. Among member organizations are the Congress of Christian Leaders and the American Pastors Network.
Herzog is a former CAM Board Member.
The delegation included CAM Founder Adam Beren and new CAM Advisory Board Chair Natan Sharansky, as well as several representatives of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, former global government and diplomatic figures, academics and others involved in fighting antisemitism.
“Almost one thousand governments and organizations have adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which is a core focus of CAM’s work,” said Beren. “Antisemitism is no longer the purview of one side or the other on the political or ideological spectrum, so we need to have a very clear definition of what constitutes antisemitism for government and law enforcement agencies around the world.”
Members of the delegation briefed Herzog about the state of antisemitism in different areas of the world, including the US and Europe.
“After the two recent global events, Covid-19 and the invasion of Ukraine, we have witnessed a significant rise in antisemitism and conspiracy theories about Jews,” Sharansky said. “The digital space is a major contributing factor which multiplies and amplifies these messages of hate. To combat this, we need a united global response every day and at all times, because it is largely a problem of information, so we have to ensure the right messages are getting across.”
Earlier in the week, CAM held its first-ever Advisory Board meeting in Israel. Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, who is on an official visit to the Jewish state, addressed the meeting.
“It is vital for us to be aligned in the fight against antisemitism,” said Rama. “To my mind, the biggest dangers we face are not from vandals in a Jewish cemetery, which exposes them as barbaric, but from those who look rational and rationalize antisemitism. The antisemitism that emerged from the British Labour Party a few years ago worried me more than when I hear about the vandalism of a synagogue.”
