Jewish leaders work furiously to preempt European adoption of Goldstone Report

The Goldstone report could next week receive its most meaningful international endorsement yet, according to Jewish leaders who are working to block a possible adoption of the controversial document by the European Parliament.

If the legislative body of the European Union votes Wednesday to adopt the report accusing Israel of war crimes in Gaza last year, it would expose the EU's "two-faced attitude to Israel" and come in "strong contradiction" with statements that the EU is a friend of Israel, according to Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress.

Kantor visited Israel this week to meet Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman and other Israeli officials to discuss the upcoming vote by the plenum of the European Parliament. The Congress - an umbrella body which represents 42 out of Europe's 46 Jewish communities - is "intensively" lobbying with key figures from the Brussels-based parliament to prevent the report's adoption, said Kantor, who lives in Moscow.

The United Nations Human Rights Council, known for its unbridled criticism of Israel, adopted the report by Judge Richard Goldstone in October, followed by the General Assembly in November.

European Union member states, however, have demonstrated a divided approach to the Goldstone report in international forums. Italy and Holland voted against the U.N. General Assembly adopting the report, while France and the U.K. abstained. Separately, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt praised it.

The March 10 vote in the European Parliament will be fundamentally different than previous votes by other international organizations, as it will divide along party lines rather than countries.

The lobbying efforts on the part of the Paris-based European Jewish Congress have included "a very promising meeting" with the leader of the Christian Democratic party, the parliament's largest, according to Arie Zuckerman, Secretary General of the European Jewish Fund, which belongs to the congress.

Zuckerman said that none of the parties have given the European Jewish congress a definite answer, but that the Socialist Party appears to be set to vote in favor of adopting the report, along with additional left-wing movements. The vote will be held at the request of the Green Party. "We will be working to the last minute," Zuckerman said.

Commenting on the decision to openly lobby for Israel ahead of a European Parliament foreign policy debate, Kantor said: "In all European countries, the authorities understand the Jewish communities to be partly Israeli - regardless of their passports. So we shouldn't be ashamed or confused here. We should carry this obligation toward Israel on our shoulders with pride."

This week, the Board of Deputies of British Jews the community's main representative body and a member of the European Jewish congress - sent a delegation to Brussels to meet with British parliamentarians and persuade them to vote Wednesday against adopting the Goldstone report.

Describing the debate on the Goldstone report as part of "a much greater and orchestrated attempt to delegitimize Israel," Kantor said he favored the formation of a new body of experts in public and government relations, which would work together with the Israeli foreign ministry to counter this effort.

Yet, in preparing for the upcoming vote by the European Parliament, Kantor says his organization is not engaging in any special cooperation with the European Parliament's existing pro-Israeli lobby - European Friends of Israel.

"Directly, we have no mutual tools [for cooperating on this issue] but we appreciate their efforts and the efforts of all friendly organizations," Kantor said about European Friends of Israel, whose members include hundreds of MEPs from across the political spectrum. "It needs to be understood that in Europe, there is no AIPAC," Zuckerman said about this issue.