Jardena Lande

Jardena Lande is the London based, Swiss born, director of the Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism. According to one report 'an unsung heroine' in the 'fight against online antisemitism'.

Background

Lande was born and raised in Zurich, Switzerland, and, according to a 2006/7 biographical note: 'moved in 2002 to the UK where she finished her MA in International Studies and Diplomacy at SOAS, University of London in 2006, after having completed her BA in International Relations at the University of Leeds. Since 2005 Jardena has been a member of the presidium of the European Union of Jewish Students, participating in European Youth Forum conferences, the OSCE conferences on Antisemitism, and a fact-finding mission to Rwanda. Jardena is a fellow at the American Jewish Committee in Berlin.'

In 2004 while a 21 year old student at the University of Leeds, Lande travelled to Berlin for a meeting organised by the 'Jerusalem-based World Union of Jewish Students and held at the Jewish Museum of Berlin' which 'brought together about 50 young Jews from 23 countries to share their frustrations and hopes about the anti-Semitism they face in their communities and educational institutions'. The event was supported in part by the World Jewish Congress. At the Berlin event, which preceded the aforementioned AJC meeting, Leeds students ‘said Palestinian students make sure there is a one-sided portrayal of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’ and described how they had organised ‘pro-Israel activities’ on campus in response. The JTA quoted Lande as follows:

Jardena Lande, 21,... from Britain, said the anti-Israel atmosphere at Leeds University had grown worse over the past year. In response, Jewish students organized events using slogans like “More humus and less Hamas,” to draw students into learning more about Israel.

In August 2004 Lande gave evidence on behalf of pro-Israel lobby group UN Watch before the United Nations. In 2005 Lande was listed as providing research assistance on a report by UN Watch the Geneva based group which is a subsidiary of the American Jewish Committee.

In 2006–7, she was selected to undertake a year-long placement at the AJC in Berlin as part of the Legacy Heritage Fellowship Program, which trains fellows to ‘serve as articulate proponents of pro-Israel policy’. She remained co-director of the PCAA until relocating to Berlin in 2015.

ICCA

The ICCA 'grew out of the work done by Britain’s All-Party Parliamentary Group Against Antisemitism, led by MP John Mann. Together with Canadian politician Irwin Cotler, Mr Mann laid the groundwork for a major international conference on tackling antisemitism in London in 2009. A subsequent declaration signed by hundreds of parliamentarians followed similar sessions in Ottawa the following year.'

According to Lande:

“Often, something is happening in a country and I will get in touch with one of our MPs and say ‘we need to do something about this’,” she said.

“I get information sent in from countries by members of human-rights groups, Jewish communities and the MPs themselves. There’s a very big network of people.

“The beauty of the ICCA is that it is mainly non-Jewish MPs, taking on the fight against antisemitism from within their parliament. It is them doing the fighting and not an NGO or a Jewish organisation.

“The majority of them strongly believe in learning lessons from the past. They realise antisemitism is an illness of society that does not just affect the Jews.”

The ICCA has 'enjoyed notable success' Lande has 'kick-started the process of helping Silicon Valley executives force racist abuse off the internet.' According to the Jewish Chronicle, 'the ICCA created an Internet Hate Task Force three years ago, the first of its kind to unite parliamentarians, governments, NGOs, lawyers, academics and — most importantly — the global super-sites themselves. Ms Lande, 31, travelled to Facebook’s headquarters in California to begin negotiations... “There is now a permanent working group meeting three or four times a year with our MPs and representatives from Facebook, Google, YouTube, PayPal, Amazon and others."'

Career

• 2002-5 Leeds University including a spell as 'JSoc campaigns officer'.

• 2004-5 - UN Watch - Delivered testimony to the UN on behalf of UN Watch in 2004 and Research assistant on report on Jean Ziegler in 2005.

• 2005-6 SOAS, University of London.

• 2006-7 - Fellow at the American Jewish Committee Berlin.