Guterres: Solidarity needed to halt global crisis of antisemitic hatred

"We will never forget, We will stand firm every day and everywhere against antisemitism," said UN Secretary-General

By TOVAH LAZAROFF
Antonio Guterres, United Nations (UN) Secretary General (photo credit: REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI)
Antonio Guterres, United Nations (UN) Secretary General
(photo credit: REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI)
Solidarity is need to halt the dangerous rise of global antisemitism, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at a special ceremony in New York to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland.
“As we work to live up to the promise of “Never again”, we need to examine our own prejudices; guard against the misuse of our own technology; and be alert to any signs that hatred is being normalized,” Guterres told the UN General Assembly.
“We need to name this phenomenon for what it is: there is a global crisis of antisemitic hatred; a constant stream of attacks targeting Jews, their institutions and property,” Guterres said.
“Our solidarity in the face of hatred is needed today more than ever, as we see a deeply worrying resurgence in antisemitic attacks around the world, including here in New York,” Guterres said.
The Secretary-General recalled the antisemitic attack during a Hannukah party at a rabbi’s house in Monsey, New York that left five people injured in December. A few weeks earlier, he said, four people were killed at a kosher supermarket in New Jersey.
“New York saw a 21 percent rise in antisemitic hate crimes in 2019, part of a trend in cities across the United States,” said Guterres. In the United Kingdom attacks rose by 16 percent and in France it as as high as 74 percent he said.
“An attack on a synagogue in the German town of Halle during Yom Kippur last October left two people dead. In Italy, an 89-year-old Holocaust survivor was provided with an armed escort after she suffered a torrent of antisemitic abuse,” Guterres recalled.
“Around the world, we have seen Jews murdered in synagogues, their gravestones defaced with swastikas; Christians killed at prayer, their churches torched; and Muslims gunned down in mosques, their religious sites vandalized,” he said.
“Combating prejudice requires leadership at all levels that fosters social cohesion and addresses the root causes of hatred,” Guterres said.
“It requires investment in all parts of society, so that all can contribute in a spirit of mutual respect,” he said.
“Today, as our values come under attack from all sides, we reaffirm them with greater conviction than ever. We will never forget, We will stand firm every day and everywhere against antisemitism, bigotry and hatred of all kinds,” Guterres said.


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