Moshe Kantor reelected European Jewish Congress president

JTA — Moshe Kantor has been reelected president of the European Jewish Congress.

Sixty of the 86 representatives of European Jewish communities voted for Kantor at the EJC General Assembly in Brussels on Wednesday, and 22 tapped Dr. Richard Prasquier, the president of the umbrella group of France’s Jewish communities, CRIF. Four representatives cast blank votes.

Kantor, a Russian space engineer and businessman who resides in London, thanked Prasquier for his candidacy, “which helped strengthen the democracy of the EJC.” He added that “Richard is an outstanding personality, devoted and highly intelligent, and a real asset to our organization.”

The president since 2007, Kantor said he and the organization “cannot afford to rest on any laurels” because of rising anti-Semitism on the continent and greater security threats.

On Tuesday, he announced the initiation of a new fund to accommodate security and crisis-management needs of Jewish communities. The level of funding will be determined later this year, an EJC spokesman said.

Also at the General Assembly, Vivian Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, was voted in as chairman of the EJC Council.

Founded in 1986, EJC began as an offshoot of the World Jewish Congress and has since evolved into an organization with two offices, in Paris and Brussels. It represents 42 Jewish communities from Turkey to Portugal.