European Coalition for Israel

”Second San Remo conference” reaffirms Israel´s legal right to exist as a Jewish homeland

San Remo, 26 April, 2010 – Invited guests from three continents, among them the Deputy Speaker of the Knesset MK Danny Danon, commemorated on Sunday 25 April the 90th Anniversary of the signing of the San Remo resolution of 1920 at a gathering at the actual site of the original conference, the historical Villa Devachan in San Remo, Italy. At the event Deputy Speaker Danon spoke about ”the importance of raising awareness of the reconstitution of the Jewish state 90 years ago in San Remo which has since been forgotten and ignored by a large part of the international community, including the media. However, in recent years several respected  international lawyers and scholars, among them Jacques Gauthier and Howard Grief, have helped raise awareness of the legal foundation of the modern state of Israel which came into effect when the Balfour declaration was incorporated into international law by the Supreme Council of the Allied Powers in San Remo in 1920 and later approved unanimously by the League of Nations at the Peace Conference in Lausanne in July 1922.

ECI invited to join new flagship initiative by French president at high level meeting in Paris

Paris 16 April, 2010 – European Coalition for Israel was one of a handful of Israel associations that were invited to the presidential Elysée Palace in Paris on Thursday to the launching of a new project to foster better relations between Europe and Israel. French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised the initiative when he met with representatives of European Israeli friendship organizations, among them ECI as the only Pan-European initiative.

The meeting took place during a three-day state visit to Paris by Israeli President Shimon Peres who is also supporting the initiative. During their meeting the two Heads of State discussed issues of common concerns, such as the fate of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who has dual French-Israeli citizenship, the Iranian nuclear threat and the prospect of a future famine in the Middle East. President Peres warned for a region where people are hungry and frustrated. He called upon the French-Israeli business community to help prevent such a scenario by investing in new agricultural technology which can help give the whole region a boost.

65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz commemorated at events in Krakow and Brussels - ECI called upon the EU not to forget today’s threats against the Jewish people

Brussels 1, February, 2010 – The 65th anniversary of the liberation of concentration camps of Auschwitz-Birkenau was commemorated on Wednesday at various ceremonies and events in Krakow and in Brussels.

In his speech in Auschwitz President Jerzy Buzek of the European Parliament said “it is our duty to ensure remembrance and to educate.”
“- Those who lived through the hell of the camps never forget. The others - the younger generations - must not be allowed to forget.”

This call was also echoed in the Yehudi Menuhin hall in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday evening where a record number of guests attended the Annual European Holocaust Memorial hosted both by the European Coalition for Israel and MEP Alf Svensson and with two Shoah survivors, Benjamin Silberberg and Henri Elberg sharing their testimonies from the Nazi death camps.