Knesset Aliyah and Absorption Committee chairman MK Gilad Kariv (Democrats) called on Monday for the government to renege on a decision to invite far-right European politicians from parties with “definitive antisemitic roots” to a conference at the end of March.
The conference, called “The International Conference on Combating Antisemitism,” is scheduled for March 26-27.
In a letter to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli, and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Kariv wrote that the invitation constituted a “deviation from the longstanding policy of Israeli governments and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and it directly contradicts the positions and policies of the representative organizations of Jewish communities in those countries and on the international stage.”
Kariv added, “The invitation of these representatives is particularly jarring given that this concerns an international conference on combating antisemitism, which is supposed to be conducted under the auspices of the president of the state and the prime minister."
Withdrawals
Kariv, in his letter, mentioned European leaders from French, Hungarian, and Spanish far-right parties, such as Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right French National Rally party.
The conference’s speaker list also includes Marion Marechal, a French Member of the European Parliament, and Hermann Tertsch, a Spanish Member of the European Parliament. Both figures belong to the far-right Patriots of Europe party, which Chikli has supported.
Kariv also noted that their invitation led others to rescind their participation. According to a number of reports, these include French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, German antisemitism czar Felix Klein, the UK government’s antisemitism adviser Lord Mann, and others.
