JERUSALEM - Solly Kaplinski, director of the English desk at Yad Vashem, recalled his father's experience during the Holocaust.

From Lithuania, Kaplinski's father lost his entire family and eventually, with his wife, made his way to safety.
They were going to take a boat to British-ruled Palestine, but his wife said, "We've been through two wars already. We're going to South Africa."

Kaplinski noted how times and perceptions have changed since then.
 
"Had there been a European Coalition, a Christian Embassy, Bridges for Peace, Christians For Israel or Christian Friends of Israel, how different the situation might've been 60 to 70 years ago," Kaplinski said at a "Europe Day" reception at the ICEJ last night.

The reception was sponsored by the European Coalition for Israel - a partnership between the ICEJ and the three other major Christian Zionist organizations- to draw attention to the Coalition's work as the only Christian pro-Israel lobby at the European Union.

About 70 people attended, including Israeli Knesset members, ambassadors, prominent academics and journalists.

The European coalition for Israel represents the only lobby group which is active in Brussels to fight anti-Semitism and to help Israel's difficult stand within the EU.

"We are in the EU to influence European policy toward Israel, but not meddle with Israeli policy," said former EU Parliament member Rijk van Dam, now the Executive Director of the Coalition.

Van Dam explained the challenges of lobbying for Israel at the EU. More than 500 European Parliamentarians are indifferent toward Israel and the majority in the EU believes that Israel is able to defend herself, he said.

But just down the street in Brussels is a Jewish kindergarten surrounded by armed guards and concrete walls.
 
"It is unbelievable that in the 21st century, in the so-called capital of Europe, a kindergarten for Jewish children has to hide behind a bunker," he said.
International Director Jürgen Bühler said that Israel and the Jewish people are facing many challenges today in Europe. "The big question now is, whether we as Christians learned the lessons of the past and whether we are willing to speak out and act on behalf of the Jewish people and their state," he said.

Malcolm Hedding, ICEJ executive director, said Christian organizations have monitored the development of anti-Semitism which has reemerged as anti-Israel policies. In a meeting in February 2004, these organizations decided to take a stand in the EU.

"The European Coalition for Israel is an outcrop of the decision to come to the defense of Israel and the Jewish communities of Europe" he said.

At the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Kaplinski said the challenges of combating anti-Semitism are daunting.
"Anti-Semitism is a disease .... It may lie dormant, but it is impossible to cure," he said. Thus, he said, Jews must value, "The European Coalition and our other friends who give us unconditional love and support."