Natan Sharansky accepted the position of chairman of the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Board of Advisors, the group announced on Thursday.
“It is a very tenuous time for Jews around the world because of rising hate emanating from multiple directions and ideologies,” Sharansky said.
“We are at a tipping point where anti-Semitism has become respectable and acceptable and many of its perpetrators do not even realize they are being anti-Semitic. That is why the struggle for international recognition of the IHRA definition is very important.”
The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, which has been adopted by more than 35 nations, provides a way to identify modern manifestations of anti-Semitism and develop strategies to fight them.
“It has become worryingly comfortable and even praiseworthy to hold positions on Jews or Jewish collectivity that would not be acceptable against any other people or minority. This is anti-Semitism and we need to combat it together with allies and friends, and that is what CAM is doing so effectively,” Sharansky added.
Sharansky, who previously served as deputy prime minister of Israel and chairman of the Jewish Agency, is possibly best known as a former Prisoner of Zion and leader in the struggle for the right of Soviet Jews to immigrate to Israel.
CAM is a global coalition engaging more than 600 partner organizations and 1.7 million people from an array of religious, political and cultural backgrounds in the fight against the world’s oldest hatred.
