For the first time since the establishment of the State of Israel, a special joint committee comprising the Government of Israel and the National Institutions has been established to commemorate Diaspora Jews who lost their lives in antisemitic attacks, which was laid out in Israeli Government Resolution No. 492, dated May 7, 2023.
The committee will determine who is qualified to be commemorated at annual memorial events and calls upon members of the public to submit the names of terror victims in the Diaspora who may be eligible.
The committee is chaired by Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and Avi Cohen Scali, director-general of the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism. It is under the direction of Josh Schwarcz, the secretary-general of the Jewish Agency for Israel, with the participation of representatives from the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism, the National Security Council, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization.
The committee began its deliberations and granted recognition to dozens of victims of antisemitic murders since the establishment of the State of Israel, based on an initial professional scanning of the circumstances of the attacks.
It also examines the details of violent aggressions of an antisemitic nature in the Diaspora and consequently has established a list of victims who are eligible for commemoration according to the following criteria:
• The incident matches the following definition of injury incurred by hostile action: “An injury due to hostile acts of military forces or paramilitary forces or irregular military forces of a state that is hostile to the Jewish people, from hostilities carried out by an organization or a person that is hostile to the Jewish people, or from hostile acts that were carried out while providing assistance to one of the aforementioned, or on their behalf, in order to promote their goals, provided that the main purpose of the hostile act as stated, was to harm the Jewish people or a Jew for being Jewish.”
• The target of the attack was chosen on account of their Jewishness and their identification (real or imagined) with the Jewish people (a building, a public or a private event, or an individual).
• The injury was based on a professed antisemitic or anti-Zionist perception.
• Harming a Jew as a result of deliberate damage caused to an Israeli property or an Israeli entity.
• The assailants have a prior history of antisemitism.
• The incident was defined as antisemitic by the relevant authorities in the country of occurrence.
Interested parties and the general public are invited to send proposals to the committee to acknowledge the names of specific victims.
A concise letter comprising a summary of the event, not exceeding two pages in length, should be sent to the following email: avivaz@jafi.org. The letter must state the name of the submitter and who they represent, and relevant documents must be appended.
