EPNA-Workshop in Rome: “Strengthening Cooperation – Between Governments, Institutions, and Civil Society Against Antisemitism” (22-24 October 2025)

The three-day workshop in Rome marked an essential step toward our mission: creating lasting solutions against antisemitism across Europe. It requires partnerships built on mutual trust, to critically examine existing relationships, and to create new ones. The workshop provided a unique platform for participants to share resources and knowledge from various fields and set the stage for collective action.

Rome, October 2025. Without a doubt, there is hardly any way around the Italian capital when exploring historical precedents of multi-ethnic democracy and the coexistence of religions. Together with being the home to the oldest Jewish community in Europe, Rome provided an impressive location for the EPNA autumn workshop. Almost forty organisations combatting antisemitism across Europe sent representatives to Rome to examine how successful, cross-sector collaboration between governments, institutions, and civil society can be achieved and how such cooperation can lead to sustainable outcomes.

Keynote speaker Melissa Sonnino (CEJI) delivered a lecture on the Antisemitism Response System in Italy. She serves as Director of the Facing Facts Network at CEJI – A Jewish Contribution to an Inclusive Europe and as a Senior Researcher for the Italian National Report Card within the EU-funded NOA – Networks Overcoming Antisemitism project. Drawing upon her comprehensive background in training, research, and policy, she argued for a multistakeholder approach and shared her experience from the Italian context with the audience.

A workshop led by Silvia Guetta (University of Florence) offered an interactive training experience within the European Deconstruct project, utilizing the IWitness platform and digital testimonies of Holocaust survivors to demonstrate how peace education and historical memory can contribute to the prevention of antisemitism and discrimination and foster inclusive learning environments.

The panel discussion “From Policy to Practice: Building Trust Across Sectors in Combating Antisemitism”, moderated by Amy Rosenthal (Professor & Journalist), featured opening remarks from Andreas Krüger (Head of Cultural and Scientific Affairs of the German Embassy), David Jona Falco (UCEI), and Alessandro Luzon (Jewish Community of Rome), as well as closing remarks by His Excellency Ambassador Yaron Sideman (Embassy of Israel to the Holy See). The panel provided a stage to Lisa Palmieri-Billig (AJC Italy), Luigi Maccotta (Ministry of Foreign Affairs; IHRA Italy), and Stefano Parisi (SetteOttobre Association) to discuss current questions of the combat against antisemitism from a cross-sector perspective.

The workshop concluded with an exchange with representatives of three Italian civil society organisations: Luigi De Salvia (President of Religions for Peace), Micol Di Gioacchino (Italian Union of Jewish Youth – UGEI Italia), and Murilo Cambruzzi (Observatory on Antisemitism – CDEC). Sharing strategies and methodologies and finding partners to collaborate with in the future is of immense value for the network.

The three intensive days contributed to an urgent discussion on how to establish response systems to antisemitism across Europe. This included not only the expertise of scientific experts and the resources of political stakeholders, but also the crucial perspective of practitioners. As our members continue to integrate solutions against antisemitism into their national and local agendas, we now look forward to future opportunities to meet, learn from each other’s projects, and advance our shared mission.

The event took place in cooperation with EPNA members representing the Italian Institute of Educational Technology, Italian National Research Council and Memoria e Verità per le vittime del terrorismo.

For more information reach out to us:

Florian Eisheuer, EPNA programme lead

Email: practitionersnetwork@dialogueperspectives.org https://against–antisemitism.eu