News Brief

The European Jewish Congress is mulling a response to the World Jewish Congress firing of Rabbi Israel Singer. Singer, the longtime chairman of the WJC policy council, was dismissed last week by the organization’s president, Edgar Bronfman. The EJC is holding a Tuesday conference call for its executive board members, as well as heads of Jewish communities from various European countries, to discuss how to respond to the WJC handling of Singer’s firing. EJC President Pierre Besnainou already has written to Bronfman complaining that the decision to dismiss Singer was not consulted with affiliates on the organization’s steering committee, including the EJC. The EJC is heavily dependent on the World Jewish Congress and is unlikely to support an immediate withdrawal from the organization, but Serge Cwajgenbaum, the secretary general of the European Jewish Congress, told JTA that its members were shocked by what they perceived as the abrupt and disrespectful manner in which Singer was let go.