Moscow – A delegation of the World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomatic Corps conducted a diplomatic meeting with the Chairman of the Moscow City Duma on Tuesday, October 30th.
25 members from 15 countries and 5 continents of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps were hosted by Alexey Shaposhnikov, Chairman of the Moscow City Duma to conduct a diplomatic meeting with him and his senior staff, including the Head of the Commission for the Affairs of Public Unions and Religious Organizations Anton Paleev, Head of the Commission for Security Inna Svyatenko, and Head of the Commission for Human Rights Tatiana Potyaeva.
The meeting began with a moment of silence for the 11 innocent victims that were murdered, just for being Jewish, at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The focus of the meeting was to discuss Moscow's efforts to combat anti-Semitism, its extensive coordination with the local Jewish community, and the city's relations with Israel including trade, social programs and security.
The Moscow City Duma expressed their gratitude for Russian Jewry’s “outstanding contributions” to Russian society including “the heroes” of the Second World War, in politics, literature and more. The Moscow City Duma senior representatives also highlighted the city’s various public celebrations of Jewish holidays, its collaboration with Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and praised the cooperation with Israel on counter-terrorism, describing Israel as one of the most successful countries in preventing terrorist attacks.
The WJC Jewish Diplomats encouraged the Moscow City Duma to adopt the IHRA working definition on anti-Semitism – the only internationally recognized definition of anti-Semitism which states that the delegitimization of Israel and the comparison of Israel to Nazis is anti-Semitism.
Coordinator of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps Gabriel Rosenberg briefed the Moscow City Duma senior representatives on the work of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps, the flagship diplomacy program of the WJC, and gave Chairman Shaposhnikov a book with all 70 statements the WJC Jewish Diplomats have delivered at the UN Human Rights Council in the past four years.
The WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps delegation was in Moscow for a Regional Meeting in conjunction with the Moscow International Conference on Combating Antisemitism, Racism, and Xenophobia, co-sponsored by the WJC and the Russian Jewish Congress.
This event is a partnership initiative of the World Jewish Congress and Genesis Philanthropy Group.
