Moshe Kantor has been the president of the European Jewish Congress (EJC) since 2007, having been re-elected to the position in 2008, in 2012 and in 2016. The EJC was established in 1986 to give a unified voice to Jewish communities around Europe, representing their common interests and concerns, but at the same time allowing smaller Jewish communities a wider platform to express their specific needs. The EJC acts as a forum between communities, where ideas can be exchanged easily, and internal elections and referenda decide future leadership, projects and goals. Since its establishment, the EJC has developed and expanded in order to meet the constantly changing and enlarging European Union (EU).
Kantor’s involvement in promoting Jewish life also extends to being the key founder and Chairman of the European Jewish Fund (EJF), which focuses on promoting Jewish life throughout Europe by supporting programmes that reinforce Jewish identity and Jewish pride, especially by re-connecting young people with their rich and vital Jewish heritage.
In 2010, Yad Vashem nominated Moshe Kantor as Member of the Directorate and in 2018 he became Chancellor of Yad Vashem Council.
In light of rising antisemitism worldwide, he initiated in 2010 the creation of the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry in Tel Aviv University and the Moshe Kantor database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism. The Kantor Center’s team, headed by Prof. Dina Porat since its inception, provides an academic framework for research and awareness raising in three main directions: the monitoring and analysis of antisemitism worldwide; domestic and international legislation for equality; and the evolving developments in contemporary Jewish European demography and culture – all areas in which Kantor has been investing remarkable efforts, and reached notable achievements, on the national and international levels. The Kantor Center publishes annually the ‘Antisemitism Worldwide Report’ recognised internationally and used by European Union institutions and international organisations as one of the main sources of information and reliable research on the trends, sources and manifestations of antisemitism in the world.
In 2012, Moshe Kantor launched the Security and Crisis Center (SACC) programme, which deals with the security and crisis management of European Jewish communities. Due to the aggravation of the threat, the programme expanded into a new entity ‘SACC by EJC’, with the headquarters in Brussels.
During the 14th Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress (WJC) that took place in Budapest in 2013, Kantor was elected Chairman of the WJC Policy Council. He was re-elected in the same capacity at the 15th WJC Plenary Assembly that was held in New York in April 2017.
