Albania will host the first-ever Balkans Forum Against Anti-Semitism tomorrow. The event will take place online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Edi Rama will speak at the event as will Speakers of Parliament in Albania, Kosovo and North Macedonia. Officials from the United Nations, US, UK, Germany, Israel, and Italy will also take part.
The forum aims to create a “united front” in Balkan countries to combat antisemitism. The event has been organised by the Albanian parliament in collaboration with the Combat Anti-Semitic Movement and the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Last week, Albania passed a resolution on antisemitism. MPs Taulant Balla and Blerina Gjylameti urged the government to fight the phenomenon and take measures to fight it.
“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed as hatred of Jews. “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed at Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, institutions and religious sites of the Jewish community.”
Speaker of Parliament Gramoz Ruci said:
“It is good news that we, the Albanians and the peoples of the Western Balkans, a region that has suffered more than any other part of the world, the consequences of ethno-centrist and religious-centrist views and attitudes, join this emancipatory action of contemporary civilization: the fight against anti-Semitism,” s
