March 7, 2016 — New York, New York
Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena today signed on to Mayors United Against Antisemitism, an AJC initiative calling on municipal leaders across the United States and Europe to publicly address and take concrete actions against rising antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is unacceptable,” declared Mayor Carmena.
Carmena is the first mayor in Spain to join the campaign of AJC, the global Jewish advocacy organization. Mayors United Against Antisemitism was launched in the United States in July, and expanded to Europe in the fall. To date, 56 European mayors from 16 countries, representing over 40 million people, and 309 mayors and municipal leaders from 47 states across the U.S., representing over 80 million people, have signed the statement.
“Mayor Carmena’s commitment to safeguarding Madrid’s Jewish community, and to being a vanguard against antisemitism and proponent of democratic values, is deeply appreciated,” said Dina Siegel Vann, director of AJC’s Belfer Institute for Latino and Latin American Affairs, who attended the signing ceremony today in Madrid, together with an AJC delegation composed of lay and staff leaders. Siegel Vann thanked the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain, an AJC partner, for being in close contact with the mayor and her staff.
To date, mayors in Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Ukraine and the United Kingdom have signed on to the Mayors United Against Antisemitism statement.
The statement calls upon “mayors, municipal leaders and other officials in Europe to join us in affirming that antisemitism is not compatible with fundamental democratic values.” It emphasizes that “in a world of global communications where antisemitic ideas can and do spread quickly, the impact of the rise of antisemitism in Europe does not stop at Europe’s borders.”
The Mayors United Against Antisemitism statement affirms a core set of principles, including the condemnation of anti-Jewish hatred in all forms; rejection of the notion that antisemitic acts may ever be justified by one’s view on the actions or existence of the State of Israel; a declaration that antisemitism and any prejudices due to religious differences are inconsistent with core democratic values; and the belief that the promotion of mutual understanding and respect among all citizens is essential to good governance and democratic life.
The statement pledges a commitment to working within and across European and American communities to advance the values of respectful coexistence, and to affirming that antisemitism is incompatible with fundamental democratic values.
