December 2, 2024
Rabbi Andrew Baker, Director of International Jewish Affairs for American Jewish Committee, has written a letter to Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu expressing concern about the victory in the first round of the Romanian presidential election by Cailin Georgescu.
In the letter, Baker called Georgescu a “person who fuels the flames of anti-Semitism, who personally promotes Holocaust revisionism, and who, through his political views, defies the essential purpose of NATO."
The full text of the letter is below:
Dear President Iohannis,
Dear Foreign Minister Odobescu,
President Iohannes, I am honored to have received from you recently the National Order for Merit for my work in combating antisemitism and in strengthening US-Romania relations. I had been honored fifteen years ago with a similar award presented to me by President Basescu.
During the span of these fifteen years there has been steady and even remarkable progress in these areas of focus. Romania has implemented the recommendations presented by the Wiesel Commission on which I served. They led to the establishment of a Holocaust research center in Bucharest, the proper memorialization of Holocaust victims in Romania, and the correct and critical teaching of the subject, which is now a required component of every student's school curriculum.
Foreign Minister Odobescu, we had the occasion to be together in Bucharest earlier this fall for the international conference on Holocaust distortion and education. I was pleased to play an organizing role in this important gathering, held in cooperation with the OSCE, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and your Ministry. Academic experts, together with diplomatic and political leaders, focused on the challenges of confronting growing efforts to deny or distort the facts of the Holocaust. Notably, Romania's own programs and policies were recognized to be among the "best practice" examples which were recommended for other states to follow.
Throughout these years, such efforts have enhanced Romania's reputation here in the United States and have reinforced the warm and close bilateral relationship between the two countries. When I and others were calling for Romanian entry into NATO decades ago, critics demanded of us to make the case that the country belonged in both the western military alliance and the community of values that NATO represented. We took up the challenge, and with the passage of time, we have seen this proven true.
But now all this is called into question.
The first round of the Romanian Presidential elections last week has seen the victory of a candidate who is anathema to everything that we have worked for together. He is someone who fans the flames of antisemitism, who personally promotes Holocaust revisionism, and who by his political views challenges the essential purpose of NATO. Surely, this cannot be indicative of Romania today.
Of course, I recognize that the final decision on such a person's fitness for this high office will be made by the Romanian voters in the final round of the election. I very much hope they recognize what is at stake and act with care and responsibility. All I can do with this letter is voice my concerns to you and to others who may hear it.
With sincere regards and the greatest respect,
Andrew Baker
American Jewish Committee Director of International Jewish Affairs
Personal Representative of the OSCE Chair-in-Office on Combating Anti-Semitism
