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<\/a><\/p>\nIsraeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar and Mauro Berenstein, president of DAIA. (Courtesy Mauro Berenstein).<\/p>\n
Asked about a recent poll by the British nongovernmental organization Campaign Against Antisemitism indicating that a significant number of British Jews are considering leaving the United Kingdom due to rising antisemitism, Wegier said he had seen the figures, even if he had not reviewed the study in full. What stood out to him was a parallel trend often overlooked. \u201cFor every two or three Israelis coming into the UK, you also see people thinking about going the other way,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not dramatic, but it\u2019s real.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since October 7, the distance between threat and response has not merely widened\u2014it has largely disappeared. Incidents, slogans, and accusations now move across borders at digital speed, amplified by social media and activist networks, and increasingly translate into violence.<\/p>\n
J50 forum participants pointed to the shooting attack at Bondi Beach in Australia, the deadly terrorist attack targeting Jewish worshippers in Manchester during Yom Kippur services, and the shooting attack against Israeli diplomatic staff in Washington as examples of how quickly incitement migrates from rhetoric to bloodshed.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat our opponents do in one part of the world can be emulated minutes later elsewhere,\u201d Daroff said. \u201cWe saw that with campus encampments in the United States that appeared almost immediately in London and other parts of Europe. Being in constant communication allows us to respond quickly, accurately, and with a full grasp of what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
That sense of convergence was evident at a recent J50 in-person meeting in Jerusalem. Participants included representatives from Australia, Poland, the Netherlands, Canada, the United States, Argentina, and several other countries. Communities of vastly different size and political context, attendees noted, are now confronting remarkably similar dynamics, often driven by narratives that originate elsewhere and arrive locally already fully formed.<\/p>\n
The structure of J50 cannot be separated from Israel\u2019s own institutional history on antisemitism. Responsibility for combating antisemitism has shifted repeatedly within the Israeli government. For many years, the issue was handled by the Foreign Ministry. After the creation of the Ministry of Strategic Affairs, it moved there. Under the Bennett\u2013Lapid government, it was returned to the Foreign Ministry. When the current government took office, the portfolio was transferred to the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, which was formally renamed the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism and placed under Minister Amichai Chikli.<\/p>\n
Those shifts created uncertainty abroad about where coordination should reside, particularly during moments of crisis. Several J50 participants, speaking off the record, said that the period in which responsibility for combating antisemitism was concentrated in the Ministry of Diaspora Affairs under Chikli was marked by confusion and weak coordination. Jewish communal leaders, they said, were often left without a clear or reliable counterpart when incidents escalated. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know who to call,\u201d one participant said. \u201cThere was no clear address and no follow-through. There was a lot of rhetoric, but no operational system behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n
We didn\u2019t know who to call. There was no clear address and no follow-through. There was a lot of rhetoric, but no operational system behind it.<\/p>\n
J50 participants said the experience underscored the need to shift coordination back to Israel\u2019s diplomatic infrastructure, arguing that embassies and the Foreign Ministry, through their global reach and daily engagement, are better positioned to maintain continuous and functional contact with Jewish communities worldwide.<\/p>\n
Berenstein argued that Argentina\u2019s relative resilience is linked to strong governmental support and a clear condemnation of Hamas. Even so, he described J50 as a necessary response to a shared challenge. \u201cThere was an understanding that if we meet and work as a team, we achieve a better objective,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He outlined how DAIA functions within a broader institutional chain, serving as the political representative of Argentina\u2019s Jewish community, while coordinating regionally through the Latin American Jewish Congress and globally through the World Jewish Congress. He said that J50 adds focus and immediacy to the existing structure. \u201cThis was not a general meeting,\u201d he said. \u201cWe were convened to understand the current situation of antisemitism and what actions can be taken to counter it.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the clearest examples of that added value lies in the transfer of practical tools. DAIA worked with TikTok to develop a guide aimed at countering antisemitic content, alongside a streamlined reporting mechanism that allows flagged material to be reviewed quickly. \u201cIt took us almost a year to get there,\u201d Berenstein said. \u201cNow other countries can use it immediately. If they had to start from scratch, it would take them another year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Daroff described the same dynamic in broader terms. He argued that the ability to share tactics, legal approaches, and language that resonate locally turns isolated successes into cumulative impact. \u201cIt\u2019s not one plus one plus one equals 50,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s 50 plus 50.\u201d<\/p>\n
Security concerns form another pillar of the forum\u2019s rationale. After attacks on Jewish targets abroad, the capability to communicate instantly has become critical. While J50 does not handle classified intelligence, the Foreign Ministry source said it allows leaders and officials to understand developments on the ground without relying solely on fragmented media reports. When something happens in one country, others are alerted immediately, allowing communities to reassess risk and posture in real time.<\/p>\n
Beyond immediate response, participants emphasized that J50 is also about narrative. Berenstein argued that after October 7, Israel and Jewish communities were confronted by a coordinated messaging campaign that moved faster than official responses. Accusations hardened into slogans before Israel had begun to explain what had occurred. Addressing that gap, he said, requires both education and law enforcement.<\/p>\n
This hate has caused death<\/p>\n
Daroff framed the same challenge more starkly. He described what he called a \u201chorseshoe effect,\u201d in which ideological extremes converge in demonizing Jews and delegitimizing Israel. \u201cThis hate has caused death,\u201d he said, warning that the rhetoric increasingly targets not only Jews but also evangelical Christians who support Israel.<\/p>\n
For Wegier, the lesson is that reaction alone is insufficient. Education and engagement with non-Jewish allies must be central, particularly in universities and civil society. He noted that after a particularly difficult academic year following October 7, conditions on British campuses improved in the most recent year, with increased Jewish participation even as security around events intensified.<\/p>\n
The role of J50 leaders, then, is neither ceremonial nor subordinate. They are not spokespeople for Israel, and they are not policymakers. They are intermediaries who already operate at the intersection of community leadership, media scrutiny, and governmental engagement, and who now have access to faster information and a wider comparative view of how antisemitism manifests globally.<\/p>\n
Foreign ministers come and go. What matters is that this infrastructure stays in place.<\/p>\n
Whether the model endures remains an open question. Daroff warned that Israeli political turnover could undermine continuity if the framework is not institutionalized. \u201cForeign ministers come and go,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat matters is that this infrastructure stays in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, J50 marks an attempt to clarify roles at a moment when antisemitism no longer respects borders or institutional boundaries. Whether coordination can keep pace with the threat will depend not on rhetoric, but on continuity, credibility, and the willingness of all sides to sustain the framework beyond the current crisis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Years of lack of cohesive communication and real time coordination have prevented uniform messaging. Israel\u2019s Foreign Ministry set…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":212576,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-212575","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212575","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=212575"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/212575\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/212576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=212575"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=212575"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=212575"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}