Germany awards leading rabbi European unity prize

The German city of Aachen said on Friday it would award its 2024 Charlemagne prize to a leading rabbi and Jews in Europe, as debate rages over Israel's war on Hamas.

The prize for efforts to foster European unity will go to rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt and "the Jewish communities of Europe", the board of directors said.

They wanted to "send a signal that... there must be no place for anti-Semitism in Europe", they said.

Jewish life is "an important part of Europe's history and present", they added.

The directors said Goldschmidt had called for peace in Ukraine and Gaza, and had led a delegation of European rabbis to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican in November to discuss both the war between Israel and Hamas, and anti-Semitism in Europe.

Goldschmidt, 60, was chief rabbi of Moscow from 1993 to March 2022, when he went into self-imposed exile after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In Russia, he played a key role in developing social and political structures for the Jewish community after the fall of the Soviet Union.

He has been president of the Conference of European Rabbis (CER) since 2011

Born in Switzerland, Goldschmidt studied and worked in Israel and the United States before moving to Russia in 1989.

 Peace 

After leaving Russia, he was branded a "foreign agent" by Moscow.

Of the conflict in Ukraine, Israeli media quoted him as saying he was "proud to be on the right side of history and to join the list of people who opposed this terrible war that has cost hundreds of thousands of lives".

According to the Charlemagne prize board, he said in November of the war in Gaza that the CER was in favour of peace and the right to self-determination of every people.

It quoted Goldschmidt as saying the CER hoped the civilian population suffered as little as possible from the war, and that Gaza should be administered by a Palestinian leader who had the backing of a community of Arab states.

The Charlemagne prize has been awarded since 1950 to people or institutions for outstanding services to Europe and European unification.

Past recipients include Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron.

Last year, the prize was awarded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and the Ukrainian people.

This year's prize will be awarded at a ceremony in Aachen in May.