Discours de candidature à la présidence du CJE, prononcé le 7 novembre 2012, par Richard Prasquier

I still remember my pride in May 1960 when Eichmann was captured by Israeli agents and taken to face trial in an Israeli court. I remember my anger when I heard in May 1967 our politicians preparing condolences speeches at the expected demise of the State of Israel. I wept, as probably everyone you who are old enough to have seen these pictures, when I saw the first Jewish soldiers listening to the Shofar in front of the wall of the Temple of Jerusalem. We are all one people, this people is the family I never had, being born in Poland at the end of the war, to parents who had survived against all odds. This people has a center, the State of Israel, and a capital, the undivided city of Jerusalem. But this people, our people, needs to keep the heritage of two millenias of life, and enrich the long lasting dialogue between both the European periphery the Israeli center and between our Jewish people and the countries of which we are faithful citizens. This connection is what European Jewish Congress is about.

Most of our countries live within the European Union or are very closely related to it. This is the normal perimeter of action of the European Jewish Congress. Our institution should be located only in Brussels and should be organised as a place of technical expertise in dealing with the complexities of the European Union, both for legislative lobbying at the European level and for the research of subsidies to the Jewish communities in search of sources of funding.

Being himself a member of the European Union would give a major boost to the credibility of the President of the European Jewish Congress in his endeavours. Contrary to what may be pretended, this credibility is now clearly insufficient.

Many of the demands of the communities are related to Holocaust history. As some of you know, this is a topic in which I have been involved for many years as member of the international council of Auschwitz, previous president of Yad Vashem in France and having myself returned the first gaz chamber to the Auschwitz museum. I do consider that this issue is important on the European level. We need to carry through European regulations against Holocaust denial, one of the most rabid forms of anti-Semitism.

This is not a question for the Jews, it is a question for the society. It is not a question of commemorating, it is a question of understanding on the basis of history the potential for evil that hides deep within human beings and which can be ignited by very easy indoctrination. Holocaust education is not about fancy events, or about grandiloquent expressions, it is about the enforcement of moral strength in times where financial and power criteria take precedence above the others. It is reflection about the ignorant or malevolent use of words such as genocide. It is about fight against the enemies of Israel who define the Holocaust as a hoax while they regret that Hitler in the same time was not able to achieve his objectives. It is about building a critical mind, something of vital importance in our age of uncontrolled communication. Therefore Holocaust history is not a question of the past, it is a question for the future.

The future… This is what it is all about.

We live in a continent which is unsure of its values and of its future, where the economic crisis may be the forerunner of unbridled xenophobia. We live in a continent where in some countries, Jewish population is less than one per cent of what it was before the war. We must respond to this demographic challenge by fostering Jewish education and by developing links between the generation of young Jews who master internet techniques and social networks. I am proud of having with me a number of dedicated young individuals, French or not French, who have already been leaders in Jewish students associations and whom I know well. They and others will be the new image of European Jewish congress.

The future of European Jewry is at stake. It is time to act now, it is time to act swiftly and decisively. We cannot wait four other years during which the European Jewish Congress will remain ignored or insignificant. Some burning issues stand ahead of us; we are in the same house and we must confront them together. This is why I decided to run for this election.

These burning issues are radical Islamism, Israel bashing, rise of populism and restrictions on religious practices. Although my discussion about them will be extremely short, I have these issues continuously in my heart.

The rise in populism is a distressing reality in some of our countries. In Greece, a neo-nazi party is now the third in the opinion surveys. Even when these people pretend to have other targets than Jews, and sometimes try to reach out to the Jewish community on the basis of having the same enemies, Jews should never fall in these unhealthy alliances.

The danger on religious practises has recently emerged as a threat to continuation of Jewish life in some European countries. Here also we need to have a better concertation between the different countries at risk.

Israel bashing has become in some countries a convenient way of pretending to care for the underdog and to be on the good side of history by fighting against the last colonialism of our times. Whenever Israel is considered to be THE culprit for all the tragedies that are looming in the middle East or even in the world, I say that antisionism has drifted towards anti-Semitism. The Jew as an individual has given way to Israel as the Jew of Nations. This stigmatisation process has to be pinpointed and strongly opposed. We have to compare and to fight together the different manifestations of this bashing process: this is an issue in which we have been active in France, both in the media world, and against the “lawfare” as opposed to the “warfare”that is currently being waged against Israel in a very organised way, encompassing commercial, academic or institutional boycott.

Radical Islamism is a major danger for Jews in many countries in Europe. I recently wrote in an op-ed for the journal Le Monde stating that radical Islamism, as an ideology, can be compared to Nazism because it deshumanises its enemy. I speak here of radical Islamism, which should be confounded with plain Islamism, which is the quest for the Sharia to become the law of the country, and definitely not with Islam per se. But Radical Islamism is a major danger for the entire society not only for Jews and we have to reach out to all segments of our society including those Muslims who might be the next targets. This is something that we do and we think that there is a beginning of consciousness as to the dangers ahead of us. We must continue, but continue in a very lucid approach, taking into account that some or our partners in the interfaith dialogue are not reliable. Here also it is important to have feedback from people of their own country who know better what they say in front of different audiences. We have a duty of lucidity.

A major actor of radical Islamism is Iran: nobody knows what will happen in the following months, but everybody understands that if there is a military strike on Iran, Jews in the world will be in danger.

Security is therefore of the utmost importance, and this also has to be addressed to the European Union. At the end of the day the Europeans will have to decide whether Jewish protection is high on their agenda or not. Those municipalities that have in fact decided it is not, should be denounced vigorously. We want Jews to live in Europe and go to Israel if they think that life is more meaningful there, but not because life is unbearable here.

Since it has become unfortunately rather easy with the help of Internet to become a home-grown terrorist, without prolonged training in Waziristan, novice solitary terror may generate dramatic consequences. This is what almost happened in the attack in the grocery store in Sarcelles six weeks ago. No national community may be sure to be kept away of such isolated individuals.

As the man who was in charge of the French Jewish community on March 19th, the horrendous day of the Toulouse terror attack, I have unfortunately a rather thorough experience in crisis management. People usually say that I did my work properly. This meant to be available 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, to speak to the public authorities at every level, to appear in the media and to confront those who gave distorted explanations of this event, to address Muslim leaders and more than everything to share pain with the community of Toulouse and the families of the victims who have become my respected friends. This is what the President of a national community should do. The President of the European Jewish Congress and other national community leaders have to stay close to him, not to replace him, and to help his community by every possible means. We have to be felt as a united people: whoever attacks a Jew because he is a Jew attacks all Jews. I have to say that we have found no support whatsoever from the European Jewish Congress at the time of the Toulouse attack, as if the organisation had been non-existant. The interest of EJC for security, which I support, is very recent, some weeks ago and did not take into account I the beginning the work already done by some communities. This is symbolic o f the dysfonctions in the linkage between the community and the EJC.

With the experience of five years at the head of a big and heterogeneous community in the face of difficult and sometimes tragic events and surroundings, I have learnt very much. These years have  transformed me. I know what it means to work with people on the ground, to build consensus and respect, to make demands in the corridors of power. I want to work in the same manner with the European communities. This means to coordinate with them, this means to listen to them, because they are the ones who know the local situation. This means to use the European Jewish Congress as an information hub, within a network, not as replacement organisation but as a facilitator and as an amplifying sounding board. Immediate connections should take place with both defined individuals within the communities or regional unions, the information should circulate both ways. The direction of the European Jewish Congress should, and will not remain a one man show. Together is the motto.

My work as a physician and as a community leader has been to work with people and to work for people. I did not have the time, in this very short campaign occurring in a hectic period in France, to meet all of you although I spoke with most of you. I saw the diversity of the Jewish communities in different countries of Europe. I also discovered the unusual human quality of the leaders of these communities. Whatever the results of the elections are, these encounters will remain in my memory, and I pledge not only to work in harmony with you but to visit your country whenever you find it useful, convenient or necessary. I do not want to be the President of a French European Jewish Congress. I pledge to be a European trying to strengthen Jewish life in every place of a continent which is so important for us.

And a last but important word. I would never have taken the risk of ruining my own personal reputation if I had not had the solemn guarantee that the European Jewish Congress will be able to work properly and that there will absolutely be no dire material consequence on some communities should I be elected as the President of the European Jewish Congress.

I count on you. You can count on me.

Richard Prasquier

7 novembre 2012