For the fifth consecutive time, the General Assembly of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) – the only democratically elected representative organization of European Jewry – elected Dr. Moshe Kantor as president.
Kantor decided to step down from this position three years ago, after the European Council decided to include his name in the list of sanctioned individuals in connection with the Ukraine war. He was replaced by Dr. Ariel Muzicant as interim president.
Once the European Union lifted all sanctions imposed on Kantor on March 15, the 71-year-old Kantor was asked by European Jewish communities to run again for the presidency of the EJC.
Kantor opposed Muzicant in this election. Both presented a very distinct future vision of the EJC. While Kantor was promoting strengthening the independence and unity of the organization, Muzicant proposed that the EJC should tighten its cooperation with the World Jewish Congress. Kantor won, garnering almost two-thirds of the vote.
Kantor, born in Moscow but who has for the last 30 years resided in Switzerland and the UK, was first elected as EJC president in 2007.
Following his election on Wednesday as president of the EJC by the organization’s General Assembly, which gathered this year for the first time in its history in Jerusalem in order to express solidarity with Israel, Kantor spoke exclusively with The Jerusalem Post about his future plans.
When and why did you decide to run again for the presidency of the EJC?
It was never my choice to stop representing and advocating for European Jewish communities. You take on such roles as a responsibility to your community.
If I was active for more than 20 years before Oct. 7, now the core issues for European Jews – which are support for Israel and fighting increasing antisemitism – have become much more urgent. This is certainly not the time for any Jewish leader to take a step back. There is so much to do, and I want to continue where I left off.
In the face of all the hatred we are witnessing in Europe since Oct. 7, how should we define Israel’s relations with Europe? What do these levels of antisemitism mean for the future of Jews in Europe?
Israel has many friends in Europe at the bilateral level and in the European institutions. These friendships should be strengthened. We know that despite many of the outrageous comments from some senior politicians in some places in Europe, such as Ireland and Spain, the Jewish state has a certain amount of support for its position across Europe.
Our role is to stress the right of Israel to defend itself against the same forces that Europe itself is targeted by. The same ideology of hate that targets Europeans, including Jews, as we see in the violent street protests in European cities, has even more violent manifestations in Israel.
Every Jew in the world has learned since Oct. 7 that his personal destiny as a Jew is completely tied in with the destiny of the Jewish state.
We have the right to send our children to school and pray in our synagogues without fear and with the same rights to protection that every European citizen deserves. At the same time, we must be forceful in asserting our support for our brothers and sisters in Israel, including constant advocacy with European governments to use their diplomatic channels to free all the remaining hostages.
We understand that what happens to the Jews in any society is an indication of the health of that society. So, we will continue working with our friends and partners across Europe to improve the safety of our Jewish communities and enable them to thrive and flourish.
Your previous presidency of the EJC was cut short after you found yourself subjected to EU sanctions related to Russia’s war on Ukraine. Were you surprised by this move by the EU?
Yes, and it was an unfortunate act, based solely on incorrect, baseless, and even biased assumptions. As president of the EJC, I have had a close relationship with many European leaders and often personally met with them to advocate on behalf of European Jewish communities for over two decades. They know me well. The so-called evidence against me was based on a few Google-translated articles from little-known publications sponsored anonymously.
Just as an example of how careless and problematic the entire sanctions process was, is the fact that in the first draft of the evidence package against me, the word “Jewish” was added to my nationality. This is the type of antisemitic act that is reminiscent of darker times. Only after my lawyers complained did the EU Commission officials remove that word and send me an official apology.
What effect have these sanctions had on you personally? What effect did they have on the EJC?
They obviously hurt me personally because I was accused of something that clearly wasn’t true. But more than they hurt me, the sanctions hurt Jewish communities across Europe that I was supporting, as well as dozens of projects relating to the fight against antisemitism, Holocaust denial, the promotion of Jewish education, and the improvement of the security and crisis readiness of Jewish communities.
I understood the effects this was having on the Jewish communities when I saw the statement of solidarity signed by more than 50 Jewish leaders in January 2024 urging for my removal from the sanctions list.
You ran against Ariel Muzicant, with whom you have worked closely for many years. How did it feel?
As I said when I accepted the presidency, I want to thank Ariel for holding the reins over the last few years, and his work and dedication to the EJC. I hope we will continue working together for the good of European Jewish communities.
Where do you see Europe going?
It is a difficult question that relies on many factors.
I have long advocated that tolerance in democratic societies must be protected by limiting the spread of extremist ideologies that threaten security and human rights. This concept promotes the idea that societies should not tolerate intolerance and should use legal, educational, and security measures to prevent radicalization and hate, ensuring that freedom is not exploited to undermine democracy.
We also need to address the enormous polarization that we see in our European societies. These divisions fuel extremists on both sides.
How do we deal with a problem whereby some young people in Europe are being indoctrinated with a hatred of Jews, similar to what is happening in the Middle East?
There are elements that perhaps cannot now be taught to accept our common values. But, unfortunately, it is this very group that controls others in their communities by exercising violence and terror. Our messages are therefore not really relevant to them. But the majority within these polarized groups are thankfully still reachable.
The plan that I envisioned to address this issue will use advanced technological tools, including AI, to map target groups of young people by age, occupation, interests, geographical location, etc. It is this young generation who are present on online platforms as regular users. Experts would develop content tailored for each group. For this program, we would partner with successful micro-influencers, who would then share the content with our target groups. Those micro-influencers would serve as proof that it is worthwhile to change direction.
I call this program, HEJ – Homes-Education-Jobs. This program is aimed at convincing young people that they can build themselves a better future, not by applying their hatred to violent attacks against Jews, but, rather, through education, positive employment, and establishing homes for their families. I am convinced that this vision can be successful.
Until 2022, I served as president of the Anna Freud Center in London. One of the main programs of this center was aimed at making teenagers become positively contributing members of society.
During the COVID pandemic, the center team, working on the program, discovered while working with micro-influencers that, with the adopted content, 80% of the youth participating in this program were convinced to reverse negative behavior within just a one-hour session.
This is the basis of my philosophy for fighting antisemitism today, one that will be organized under the umbrella of the EJC.
How can we combat antisemitism that calls itself anti-Zionism, coming primarily from the left, educated, and often well-off sectors of society?
I call this “university campus” antisemitism. Campuses have become the birthplace of antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
It is a much deeper problem. It is not so clear how we can fight it. We should continue utilizing our current methods of education and advocacy. But the EJC cannot solve the problem of this mega-phenomenon called antisemitism alone. We should find our activity niches. With the same instruments, I plan to work on Islamist antisemitism. In reality, it is the same fight.
Societies that allow antisemitism to flourish will pay in the future the price for their neglect. This is what history teaches us.
After your election, what are your future plans?
Firstly, I plan to continue our activities in support of Israel and our fight against antisemitism in Europe. I also plan to relaunch the European Jewish Fund to support initiatives for the Jewish communities. Then, our work against the nuclearization of the Middle East, first and foremost, is the nuclearization of Iran.
Fifteen years ago, I founded the Luxembourg Forum for Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe. We will strengthen the forum’s work.
However, our main effort will be assuring the physical security of Jews in Europe. To that end, we created the Security and Crisis Center, which is operating in all European communities.
When I started my activities as president of the EJC some 20 years ago, our main fight was on narratives, resolutions, definitions of antisemitism. We must continue this fight.
Regarding our new direction, first, there should be a new understanding of what antisemitism means today. The rockets that are fired from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, or Yemen, which target Israelis, also find their way into attacks against Jews in Europe. This is not only about narratives anymore. It is about actions against Jews. We must understand the nature of this new antisemitism and find out who feeds it.
Having to go to the safe room in my house in Israel, with my family, more than 150 times, I have had enough time to think about those who push the buttons firing the missiles at us and those who took our hostages. Many of them are young people.
Our efforts should be addressed directly to these promoters of physical antisemitism through social media platforms. I consider it a huge challenge for us, and I would be very happy to get the support of my Jewish colleagues from other countries in this endeavor.
