International leaders convened in Jerusalem on Tuesday to address the worldwide increase in antisemitism during International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which is observed each year on the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi death camp.
A kickoff event took place on Monday, where the Prime Minister cautioned that Western democratic civilization faces danger from a harmful ideology that has spread throughout every nation in Western Europe and the United States.
“Their goal is to demolish the West as we know it. And they concur on one issue. What is that issue? A global war against Jews. To wage such a war, initially targeting Jews and the Jewish state,” he stated.
“From the perspective of radical Muslims, they’re correct, because the West would cease to exist if the Jewish state were eliminated. Without the Jewish state, nothing would prevent further incursion into Europe. This also taps into their inherent anti-Jewish sentiment, which shares historical origins with centuries-old antisemitism,” Netanyahu added.
Notable international attendees included Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, ex-Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Hungarian EU Affairs Minister János Bóka, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
“Antisemitism stems from a moral affliction of pure evil,” Huckabee told Digital. “It represents the prejudice of considering oneself superior to others, which forms the core of all irrational hatred and racism. Everyone must voice opposition and take a stand against it,” he remarked.
“Today’s hatred toward Jews becomes tomorrow’s hatred toward Christians and other groups subsequently. It’s a malignant force that won’t stop until it destroys all positive human connections. It has diabolical origins. Any attempt to expose this darkness is beneficial. Silence equals acceptance and agreement,” the ambassador added.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog opened Tuesday’s speeches, cautioning about worsening conditions for Jewish populations globally.
“This ancient scourge has been unleashed on our society once more. The justification might have changed, but it’s the same timeless toxin, manifesting in various ways, yet always bearing the ,” he stated.
Herzog observed that Jewish people now feel forced to conceal their identity on London and Paris streets, and that Jewish congregants require protection on Saturday mornings from Toronto through Boston to Buenos Aires.
He referenced the slaying of Jewish worshippers in Manchester, England, during Yom Kippur, the killing of innocents at a , Australia, and the marginalization and bullying of Jewish students on American and European university campuses.
“When such incidents occur,” Herzog said, “we are breaking our promise. We are neglecting our responsibilities to mankind.”
Herzog also tackled U.S. issues, referencing New York City Mayor . “Refusing the Jewish people alone the right to self-determination in their ancestral homeland constitutes antisemitism – even for the mayor of the city containing the largest Jewish population outside Israel,” he declared.
The event, named Generation Truth and led by Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Antisemitism Combat Amichai Chikli, concentrated on three main forms of contemporary antisemitism: violent Islamist antisemitism, progressive antisemitism aiming to undermine Israel’s legitimacy and exclude Jews from civic participation, and far-right antisemitism that has recently become more prominent.
On Tuesday, Chikli linked Nazi ideology to what he termed “Islamo-Nazism,” asserting that this concept forms the foundation of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood’s belief system.
“Eight decades have elapsed, and the Jewish people remain unhealed from the terrifying extermination campaign perpetrated by . Eight decades later, a threat still hangs over us, aiming to eliminate the small Jewish state and injure Jews worldwide, from the kibbutzim and towns in southern Israel still traumatized by Hamas’s savage Oct. 7 atrocities to Manchester and Sydney,” Chikli stated.
“This gathering aims to eliminate political correctness… and to rally all necessary resources in both ideological and physical combat against the contemporary successors of the Nazis,” he continued.
Sylvan Adams, head of the World Jewish Congress Israel region, also addressed the gathering, informing Digital that on October 8, 2023 — prior to the Gaza war’s onset while Israel was still tallying its casualties — protests erupted worldwide celebrating the Hamas-led slaughter.
He attributed these events to multiple nations involved in what he described as a coordinated operation spearheaded by Qatar, acting as a vanguard for the Muslim Brotherhood, supported by Iran and more recently China — entities he claimed use Israel and Jewish people to threaten and subvert Western civilization.
“Following Israel’s appearance of weakness and vulnerability on October 7, they launched an extensive, carefully planned operation — deploying enormous resources, penetrating organizations, and embedding compensated agents in Western urban centers attempting to strike a final blow. But they’ve proven profoundly wrong,” Adams remarked.
“We must resist and alert , organizational heads along with political figures, that we’re facing assault. Our lifestyle, our liberties are being threatened. This isn’t Israel’s battle alone; it’s a civilizational conflict, we’re defending the entire West,” he added.