December 4, 2019
Didier Reynders
Commissioner for Justice
Dear Mr. Reynders
We are writing to you to seek the removal of Mrs. Katharina Von Schnurbein as Coordinator for Combating Antisemitism. The grounds of our submission is that she regularly oversteps the bounds of objectivity in the politically charged area of antisemitism as it relates to criticism of Israel. In so doing, she undermines Commission policy.
Specifically, she undermines Commission policy on BDS and the IHRA definition of antisemitism, undermines European Union law on free speech as it relates to BDS, shows herself woefully lacking in understanding the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land and the Palestinian resistance, adopts partisan pro-Israel positions, and has associated herself with the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy which conducts “black ops” against proponents of BDS.
You will realise from our lobbying over several years and our brief introduction to EJJP, that we strongly advocate for Palestinian rights and against Israeli policies. However, our submission is based strictly on the grounds we set out overleaf.
We appreciate that removing an official from a post is a major decision, not to be taken lightly, but we believe the evidence in this submission demonstrates that Ms. Von Schnurbein has undermined Commission policy on many occasions and accordingly should be judged unsuitable to continue in her current post.
In view of the importance of this issue, we trust you will be able to confirm shortly that you are giving this submission serious consideration. However, if you are unable to do so within one month, we will feel obliged to consider mounting a public and press campaign.
Yours sincerely,
Dror Feiler, Chair, EJJP, member Judar for Israelisk-Palestinsk Fred (Stockholm).
Arthur Goodman, Diplomatic and Parliamentary Liaison officer, JFJFP (London)
c.c.
Josep Borrell, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy
Susanna Terstal, Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process
Neil Mac Call, Head of Division (Israel, occupied Palestinian territories and Middle East peace process (MENA.2)
Vĕra Jourová, Vice President, Values and Transparency
We have not published our 15-page submission