![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shtetel.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-15-at-17.06.46-1024x683.jpeg\")
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/shtetel.co.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/WhatsApp-Image-2026-07-15-at-17.06.49-2-1024x683.jpeg\")
'The 'Union of Rabbis in Islamic Countries' held, at the invitation of the European Union leadership, a historic conference in Brussels, the capital of the European Union, with the participation of rabbis from Islamic countries - including the Chief Rabbi of Iran, Rabbi Yehuda Garami. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A meeting of the Executive Committee of the 'Union of Rabbis in Islamic Countries' was held in the European Union's own parliament building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rabbis met with senior European Union officials and raised the many challenges facing Jewish communities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Union's senior officials were interested in the religious freedom enjoyed by Jewish communities, with an emphasis on the situation of the Jewish community in Iran, where approximately 20,000 Jews live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In talks between senior EU officials and rabbis, the issue of strengthening Jewish life in Islamic countries came up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Union officials promised to address these issues and informed the rabbis that they would be in contact with the union's chairman, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Hitrik, of the rabbis of Turkey, who organized and led the historic gathering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the European Union, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, Magnus Brenner, and Dobruka \u0160uica, a Croatian politician serving as the EU Commissioner for the Mediterranean, and Oliver Vrhli, the European Commissioner for Health, as well as numerous diplomats and members of parliament, participated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schweitzer praised the rabbis: "I was once the mayor of Dubrovnik in Croatia. There is a small synagogue in the city, one of the oldest in Europe that is still in active use. Sephardic Jews built it after they were expelled from Spain, over five hundred years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\""It survived an earthquake. It survived a world war, it survived the siege of my city in the 1990s. And it's still there today, still open, and people still pray there. This synagogue is proof that a stronger place, when every religion is free to live and thrive, is exactly what you represent.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Schweitzer added: "Every day you show that Jewish life can blend with a Muslim majority, and can live together. In some of your communities, they have existed together for centuries. This is precious.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She clarified: "We must not accept discrimination, persecution or violence - anywhere, against any minority. We are equally committed to these values \u200b\u200bat home. Ahi wants to raise a voice of protest when your communities are threatened.".<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Union senior official Katharina von Schnorbein, the European Union Coordinator for Combating Anti-Semitism and Fostering Jewish Life in Europe, who participated in the conference, discussed the situation in Europe regarding anti-Semitism, and the relations between Jewish communities and the European Union, and made it clear that the European Union is committed to eliminating all anti-Semitic acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said that as a child growing up in Germany, she learned from Holocaust survivors about Germany's terrible history in World War II, and that this pushed her to work for Holocaust survivors, and also to pass on history to the younger generation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
She noted that her door is always open to any important request from Jewish communities. She handed out special kippahs with the European Union symbol to the participants, and promised that she would do everything possible to ensure that Jews could walk the streets of Europe with kippahs on their heads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rabbis who participated: Chief Rabbi of Iran Rabbi Yehuda Grami, Chief Rabbi of Kazakhstan Rabbi Yeshaya Cohen, Chief Rabbi of Kyrgyzstan Rabbi Aryeh Reichman, Chief Rabbi of Nigeria Rabbi Israel Ozan, Chief Rabbi of Albania Rabbi Yoel Kaplan, Chief Rabbi of Gibraltar and member of the Presidency Rabbi Ron Hasid, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi of Azerbaijan Rabbi Shneur Segal, Rabbis of Tunis Rabbi Amram Penche and Rabbi Binyamin Hatab, Rabbi Levi Banon of the rabbis of Morocco, Chief Rabbi of Tanzania Rabbi Shimi Haziza, Chief Rabbi of Brussels Rabbi Albert Gigi, Rabbis of Brussels Rabbi Pinson, Rabbi Haddad, Head of the Rabbinical Center of Europe Rabbi Menachem Margolin. Rabbi Levi Matusov, Rabbi of the European Union, Rabbi Menachem Samama, Rabbi of the Council of Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rabbis came up with ideas on how to streamline the kashrut, mikvah, marriage, and Jewish burial systems, and exchanged information and advised each other on a variety of important issues. The union's senior officials informed the rabbis that they were welcome to contact them at any time on any Jewish issue. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Union's senior officials who appeared at the historic gathering received a prestigious souvenir from the Union of Islamic Rabbis. Among the senior officials who participated were the Director General of President Trump's Peace Council, Nikolai Mladenov, and Arie Lightstone, of the Peace Council.<\/p>\n\n\n\n