2 No. 59 JUSTICE his issue of Justice is published a few months before the IAJLJ international conference on "Fifty Years of a United Jerusalem." During the conference, elections will be held for executive positions in our Association, pursuant to our By-Laws, and I will hand over my honored position to the newly elected IAJLJ President. I would like to briefly outline the activities of the Association during my tenure. The IAJLJ is an apolitical organization – the members of which hold widely differing views on a range of topics. Accordingly, during my presidency, I have tried to develop a pluralistic dialogue with opposing opinions, even when these were not always consistent with the declared principles of our Association or not always politically correct. Given the fact that our Association is devoted to fighting for human rights, we are commanded to exercise vigilance about everyone's human rights, something that we have indeed attempted to do and that I consider to be a vital tenet of our existence. I begin by referencing how we addressed the atrocities perpetrated against the Syrian civilian population, in the Human Rights Council in Geneva. The world is silent. We and others have asked many questions about the role of the United Nations, the great Powers, and others. Hundreds of thousands of men, women and children have been slaughtered, yet the Security Council is unable to reach a decision to end this impossible situation because of cynical political considerations regarding Syria's Bashar al-Assad regime, Russia, Iran and Hezbollah. In a sharp transition, I note the side events we conducted in Geneva and at the UN in New York on terrorism and UNRWA. We held rallies on behalf of Gilad Shalit, near Red Cross institutions around the world, and championed his rights as a captive. We engaged in the activities of the "Davis" UN Committee of Independent Experts responsible for following up on the Goldstone Report by giving voice to the citizens of Sderot, who were then suffering from frequent Qassam attacks; we brought witnesses from the Gaza environs to explain their plight to the committee examining the conduct of Operation "Protective Edge," UNRWA’s activities, the fight against antisemitism and more. The International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists is an institution of immense importance to me, and as the years pass, its significance increases. This is especially true today, as we witness the rise of extreme right-wing forces capable of posing a real threat to democracy and human rights. The spread of antisemitism around the world needs no elaboration. I recently heard Katharina von Schnurbein, European Commission Coordinator on Combating Antisemitism, who stated that, in the final analysis, what we see in Europe is the old antisemitism, which, of course, must be fought. I highlight this fact because we identified a strong connection between events in Israel, for example, Operation “Protective Edge,” and the rise of antisemitic activities against the Jewish citizens of various countries where harsh criticism was directed at the actions of the State of Israel. These activities have been described as "the new antisemitism," but a deeper examination reveals all the hallmarks of the old antisemitism, as noted above by the EU representative. In pursuing our work against antisemitism, we must not forget that a campaign of de-legitimization of the State of Israel has been waged for several years through the BDS, and consequently, during my tenure, our Association turned its attention to the BDS movement as well. As part of the overall fight against antisemitism, we collaborated with Professor Dina Porat of Tel Aviv University's Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry, in activities aimed at persuading European countries to adopt a working definition of antisemitism, which, we considered, could serve as a basis for formulating offenses in the domestic laws of countries. Ultimately, a uniform definition would have made it easier to fight the many antisemitic phenomena taking place across Europe and elsewhere. Our first seminar was held in Austria with the participation of the Austrian Ministry of Justice and Ministry of the Interior. We were pleased to note that Austria had indeed adopted that working definition. We are now in contact with the German Ministry of Justice to conduct a similar seminar. During the course of my tenure, we also placed an emphasis on attracting legal delegations to Israel, where they could have the opportunity to gain a first-hand impression of Israel's legal system. These are similar to IAJLJ delegations abroad, such as the delegation to Spain during my predecessor's tenure, which significantly advanced the debate about Salah Shehade – a Palestinian terrorist, Head of the Military Arm in Gaza killed during the second Intifada –following the submission of complaints against senior Israeli military officials in respect President’s Message T
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