Published: 30 September 2019
Last updated: 4 March 2024
HIAS, THE JEWISH-AMERICAN AGENCY assisting immigrants, opened an office last month in the European Union’s capital. The office has three employees and is geared toward empowering European Jewish communities to work with asylum-seekers.
Melanie Nezer, the group’s senior vice president for public affairs, says the Brussels office will be geared toward becoming “the go-to address of Jewish communities in Europe when they want to make their voice heard about immigration or need guidance” on how to carry out activities on the ground.
She said it would also be a vehicle for cooperation with the EU on the issue of assistance to asylum seekers.
While HIAS is helping thousands of asylum seekers elsewhere apply for residence in their countries of destinations, and also assists them with job training and integration activities, the Brussels office will not help them on an individual basis.
The Brussels office is planning on hosting joint activities that bring Jews and non-Jewish asylum seekers together. One such event is planned for Passover and will feature a Seder attended by Jews and asylum seekers.
At least two million asylum seekers have entered Europe since 2014, constituting one of the largest waves of arrival by outsiders to the continent. The issue further divided European societies, which had already seen considerable discontent over the effects of the arrival of millions of Muslims into Europe since the 1950s.
FULL STORY HIAS opens Brussels office to bring Jews and non-Jewish asylum seekers together (JTA)
Photo: HIAS Greece translator Jalal Barezkai, right, assists a Syrian refugee in an encampment near the Moria refugee camp on the island of Lesbos, Greece, May 9, 2018 (Bill Swersey/HIAS)
