A European Union meeting with religious groups on the current economic crisis was dealt a blow on Monday as a leading Jewish organisation boycotted it in protest at the inclusion of allegedly extremist Islamist groups. The London-based Conference of European Rabbis (CER) called for a boycott of the talks in Brussels with Christian and Muslim leaders and EU officials, saying some participants had anti-Semitic links.
"We do not consider it appropriate that organisations such as the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe (FIOE), or individuals who in the past made, or endorsed, anti-Semitic statements and who are clearly linked to the radical Islamist movements such as the Muslim Brotherhood should be present at such gatherings," Rabbi Aba Dunner, CER's director, said in a statement.
The meeting was called by the European Commission to discuss the current economic crisis with Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders. But Jewish groups reacted with dismay at the invitation to the FIOE, which Dunner described as a "very very extreme fundamentalist organisation." "No moderate organisation was invited. We couldn't talk to them - it just wouldn't make sense," he told the German Press Agency dpa.
However, the one Jew who attended the talks - Rabbi Levi Matusof of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe - said that the boycott was aimed at the wrong event. The FIOE is a little-known organisation ostensibly aimed at bringing together Islamic groups in Europe. However, some sources link it to controversial group the Muslim Brotherhood.
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