Netanyahu Warns of Rising Antisemitism During Holocaust Remembrance Day Event

Global Leaders Address Surging Antisemitism at Jerusalem Holocaust Remembrance Conference

World leaders gathered in Jerusalem on Tuesday to address the alarming global rise in antisemitism during the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremonies, which coincide with the anniversary of the 1945 liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

The conference, titled “Generation Truth,” brought together high-profile international figures including Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, former Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Hungarian Minister for European Union Affairs János Bóka, and U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.

During Monday’s opening gala, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stark warning about threats facing Western democracies, pointing to what he described as a destructive ideology infiltrating Western Europe and the United States.

“They want to destroy the West as we know it. And they agree on one thing. What is the thing that they agree on? World War Jew. To conduct a world war, first against the Jews and against the Jewish state,” Netanyahu told attendees.

The prime minister emphasized the strategic importance of Israel to Western security, arguing that “for the radical Muslims, they are right, because there would be no West in the Middle East if the Jewish state is eradicated. There would be no obstacle for the further invasion of Europe if the Jewish state doesn’t exist.”

U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee characterized antisemitism as a “spiritual disease of raw evil” in comments to Fox News Digital. “It’s the bigotry of believing oneself to be superior to another, which is the essence of all forms of irrational hate and racism,” he said, adding that silence about such hatred amounts to acceptance.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog opened Tuesday’s proceedings with a somber assessment of the deteriorating conditions for Jewish communities worldwide. “The same old plague has been let loose on our society once again. The rationale may be different, but it is the same ancient poison,” Herzog said.

He cited numerous recent incidents, including the killing of Jewish worshippers in Manchester, England, during Yom Kippur, the murder of people at a Chanukah celebration in Sydney, Australia, and the widespread harassment of Jewish students on university campuses across the United States and Europe.

“Jews now feel compelled to hide their identities on the streets of London and Paris,” Herzog noted, adding that Jewish worshippers require security protection “from Toronto to Boston to Buenos Aires.”

The conference, hosted by Israel’s Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli, focused on three primary manifestations of modern antisemitism: violent Islamist antisemitism, progressive antisemitism that seeks to delegitimize Israel, and far-right antisemitism that has gained renewed visibility in recent years.

Chikli drew direct connections between Nazi ideology and what he termed “Islamo-Nazism,” which he said underpins the worldview of Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood. “Eighty-one years have passed, and the Jewish people have still not fully recovered from the horrific campaign of annihilation carried out by Nazi Germany,” he said, adding that threats continue against Jews worldwide.

The event comes against the backdrop of several deadly attacks targeting Jewish communities around the world over the past year. In his remarks, World Jewish Congress regional president Sylvan Adams pointed to what he described as an organized campaign led by Qatar with backing from Iran and China that he claims exploits Israel and the Jewish people to undermine Western society.

Adams noted that demonstrations celebrating the Hamas-led attacks occurred across the globe on October 8, 2023—just one day after the assault and before Israel had launched military operations in Gaza. “We need to push back and remind leaders in the West, institutional leaders as well as political leaders, that we are under attack. Our way of life, our freedoms are under attack,” Adams stated.

The conference reflects growing international concern about rising antisemitism globally, with participants calling for stronger responses from governments and institutions to combat hate crimes and discrimination against Jewish communities. As Herzog emphasized in his address, the persistence of antisemitism represents “a failure to meet our duties to humanity.”