The Simon Wiesenthal Center(SWC), an NGOat the UN,praised the release of the UN’s first report onanti-Semitism.
“This landmark reporthas the potential to be a gamechanger. For the first time,the United Nations, whichfor decades hasbeen a major source and legitimator of Jew-hatred,is seriously dealing with many of the sources of today’santi-Semitism. The report acknowledges the rise of anti-Semitism today from radical Islamists who would delegitimize Israel and White Nationalists, as well asthe anti-Semitism that is present on college campuses and political discourse in the West. The report does not shy away from also acknowledging how pervasivehistory’s oldest hate has become, and the impact it has on Jewsthroughout the world.”
L-R: Karel Fracapane, UNESCO; Kenote speaker, Professor Irwin Cotler, former Justice Minister of Canada; Ahmed Shaheed, UNSpecial Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief and author of the report on anti-semitism; and Mark Weitzman, SWC Director for Government AffairsRabbi Abraham Cooper, the Center’s Associate Dean and Director of theGlobal Social Agenda of the leading Jewish Human Rights NGO added: “We are very gratified to see that many practical recommendations on combatting anti-Semitismthat SWC Founder and Dean, Rabbi Marvin Hier madeduring a 2017 SWC meeting with UN Secretary-General Guterres, are included in the report.
In addition, the report urges increased use of the International Holocaust Alliance’s (IHRA) Working Definition ofAnti-Semitism both in the UN and among member states. Mr. Mark Weitzman who was involved in helping draft the IHRA definition, increasingly used by nations and organizationsworldwide to deal with anti-Semitism commended the author of the report, Professor Ahmed Shaheed, the UN’sSpecial Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion and Belief for, "Listening so closely to the voice of the Jewish community and for combining his exhaustive research into this issue with a moralvision.”
“This is a landmark report that represents the first time that the U.N., a body that has too often in the past beenidentified as a source of Jew hatred has seriously grappled with the stark reality of current antisemitism,” Mark Weitzman, director of government affairs at the Simon Wiesenthal Center,tells JI. “In reading it we get a sense that the author of the report, Prof. Shaheed, is morally outraged not only by the surge in antisemitism but also by many governments lack ofrecognition and commitment to fighting antisemitism,” Mark Weitzman to The Jewish Insider.
SWC officials noted that the report also urges an appointment of a senior UN official in the Office of the UN Secretary-Generalto engage with Jewish communitiesworldwide and to monitor anti-Semitism. “An earlylitmus test of this proposal is whether the office of the Secretary General will now move to eliminate serial anti-Israel/anti-Semitic resolutions at UN agencies including the UN HumanRights Council, UNESCO and UNWRA,” Rabbi Cooper concluded.
For more information, please contact the Center's Communications Department, 310-553-9036. join the Center on Facebook, www.facebook.com/simonwiesenthalcenter, orfollow @simonwiesenthal for news updates sent direct to your Twitter feed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the UnitedStates. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).
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