January 26, 2023 — Brussels
American Jewish Committee (AJC) CEO Ted Deutch today met with Israel President Isaac Herzog, after Herzog told the European Parliament that Israel’s right to exist is not subject to debate.
Deutch was in Brussels with an AJC delegation to meet with members of the European Parliament and Herzog, who spoke to the parliament, one of the legislative bodies of the European Union, on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
“Casting doubt on the nation-state of the Jewish people’s right to exist is not legitimate diplomacy. It is antisemitism in the full sense of the word, and it must be thoroughly uprooted,” Herzog said.
Deutch praised Herzog’s “powerful message” and called it “central to the work” that AJC does as a global advocate for the Jewish people.
“I was proud to bring AJC lay leaders to Brussels to stand with President Herzog and join him at the European Parliament,” Deutch said.
AJC also co-sponsored a Holocaust memorial that was unveiled today in the parliament building.
In his address, Herzog mentioned the regime in Iran, which has, on numerous occasions, called for the annihilation of Israel.
“There’s so much that we can and must do together for our sake and for the sake of future generations,” Herzog said. “We must work together as a single community determined and cohesive against the forces of darkness and hatred that threaten to destroy us.”
Herzog spoke the day before International Holocaust Remembrance Day , which is held on Jan. 27, to mark the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in 1945.
Herzog also warned the parliament about the alarming increase in global antisemitism, which he said was fueled, in large part, by social media.
“Viral antisemitism is spreading at a rapid pace of the click of a button,” Herzog said. “The distance between a viral video and a physical attack hardly exists at all. The distance between a Facebook post and the smashing of headstones in a cemetery is shorter than we would like to think.”
AJC is slated to release its next State of Antisemitism in America report on Feb. 13, the most-comprehensive look at how American Jews and the general population view antisemitism in the U.S. The current report can be viewed at https://www.ajc.org/AntisemitismReport2021.
While in Brussels, the AJC delegation also attended a board meeting of the AJC Transatlantic Institute (TAI), which engages EU and NATO officials as well as diplomatic missions, journalists, think tanks, and civil society leaders to strengthen the transatlantic bond and EU-Israel ties. Daniel Schwammenthal is TAI Director.
