A new academic center to study anti-Semitism that is set to be unveiled in London on Sept. 11 has received praise from Labour Party leader Keir Starmer and the United Kingdom’s Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, wrote The Jewish Chronicle.
Starmer said the new London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (LCSCA) had his “full backing” in its “important work” of combating the rise in anti-Semitism.
He added that “it’s vital that as a society we continue to challenge anti-Semitism in all its forms and provide the education needed to prevent it. I look forward to seeing the impact of their work.”
LCSCA’s mission statement on its website says that it aims “to challenge the intellectual underpinnings of anti-Semitism in public life and to confront the hostile environment for Jews in universities.” The institution, which has a network of donors supporting it, will open with a three-day conference and a launch event that will take place at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London.
In a video message to be played at the conference, Mirvis intends to discuss the “significant threat” of racism targeting the Jewish community in the United Kingdom.
“In my own experience, I have found that when writing and speaking on the subject of anti-Semitism and when fielding questions on the issue, one’s words will only carry weight and make a deep impact if they are backed up by authoritative and reliable facts and figures,” he will say in the video message, according to The Jewish Chronicle.
“Nowhere is this more evident than on university campuses, where it is incumbent upon us to engage in the battle against anti-Semitism within the arena of ideas,” noted the rabbi. “For this reason, I welcome enormously the establishment of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, and I wish it much success in its crucially important work for the sake of our future.”
