European Parliament President David Sassoli addresses a Conference of European Rabbis (CER) meeting, held on Zoom, Nov. 18, 2020. Photo: Screenshot.

In remarks to the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) on Wednesday, European Parliament President David Sassoli urged unity in the fight against religious discrimination.

“We need to invest in greater equality and justice. Too many of our cities are stained with blood,” Sassoli said, referring to recent terrorist incidents in France and Austria. “These tragic events remind us once again that the health and economic crisis is not the only crisis that we need to address.”

“Every attack is an attack on our values,” he added. “We need to work more for the safety of our Jewish communities. Feelings of discrimination against the Jewish people continues to linger on and this is totally unacceptable.”

“The European Union must set an example to those who want to defy us. Freedom of religion is a founding value of Europe. The contribution of the Jewish people is the contribution to the greater good of Europe,” Sassoli concluded.

Sassoli’s remarks were made at CER’s winter Standing Committee meeting, held on Zoom due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt — president of CER — commented that the organization was “proud to partner with the EU in ensuring the safety of European Jewry and we look forward to continuing to work closely with President Sassoli and the European Parliament to safeguard the European Union’s intrinsic values of human dignity, equality, freedom and human rights for all.”