Last Monday, January 27, marked the fourth time in two years that I attended an event at the United Nations commemorating murdered Jews. Two events memorialized Holocaust victims on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and two events remembered the victims of October 7.
Speaking at the Holocaust Remembrance commemoration in front of the UN exhibition, “Auschwitz, A Place on Earth”, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon linked the atrocities in his remarks. “The lessons of the Holocaust are not confined to history,” Ambassador Danon said. “We have families of hostages here with us.”
It was an obvious theme that somehow wasn’t so obvious to other speakers, who spoke in the UN General Assembly Hall. While UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres mentioned October 7 in his remarks, he steered clear of any outright mention, let alone condemnation, of Hamas.
This blaring omission was even more conspicuous, considering the public revelation that released hostages were held in UN shelters in Gaza, shelters that were intended for civilians. Rather than denounce this outrage, Guterres stuck to safe ground, recounting Nazi atrocities committed eighty years ago.
Philemon Yang, President of the 79th Session of the UN General Assembly, warned of rising antisemitism and Holocaust denial and correctly stated that “the Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers”. But he avoided the context that makes such exhortations concrete or prompts pragmatic precautionary steps. Vague talk of a resurgence of antisemitism without pointing a finger at the perpetrators – Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and their growing number of anti-Israel cohorts worldwide – intensifies the consequences of empty platitudes.
Case in point: While UN officials commemorated the Holocaust from the UN podium, Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli was forced to cancel his planned visit to Brussels to participate in the International Holocaust Remembrance Day events at the European Parliament. This was prompted by a warning from Israeli intelligence.
Chikli apparently canceled the trip over viable fears that anti-Israel groups would seek a warrant for his arrest and that he would not be granted diplomatic immunity. The event at the European Parliament was titled “Never Again? Indoctrinating hatred of Jews: What has changed in 80 years?”.
It doesn’t get more ironic than that. It doesn’t get more dangerous either.
This example of normalizing Jew hatred is not confined to Europe. The day after Holocaust Remembrance was observed, Senate Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, voted to filibuster a Republican-led bill aimed at sanctioning officials from the International Criminal Court. With the exception of Senator John Fetterman, the Democrats essentially equated Israeli leaders with Hamas. Schumer justified the move by claiming that the legislation needed minor changes.
The vote seems in keeping with an alarming Harvard CAPS/Harris poll, which last week revealed that twenty-one percent of American voters say they support Hamas over Israel. Support for Hamas was higher among Democrats and highest among the 25 to 34 age group, where almost one-third said they favored the terrorists over Israel.
Officials at the UN and elsewhere manifest this frightening trend by paying lip service to murdered Jews, killed during the Holocaust or October 7, and pledging to prevent future atrocities without any concrete intentions to do so. UN officials on Monday repeatedly recognized the Holocaust as being the worst crime against humanity and the impetus for the founding of the UN itself. However, parroting “Never Again” is purposeful only if it spurs practical implementation.
Indeed, Guterres claimed to be “deeply concerned” and called on Israel’s security forces to exercise “maximum restraint” during a recent Israeli military operation in Jenin, where the IDF sought to rout out terrorists. And Philippe Lazzarini, the Commissioner-General of UNRWA, slammed “the relentless attack on UNWRA” and Israel’s ban on the organization, whose employees were proven to have participated in the October 7 massacre. This, knowing full well that UNWRA was complicit in keeping hostages in its facilities.
This type of rhetoric, which has become the norm at the UN, especially after October 7, makes utterances about the Holocaust a sham. Especially by Guterres, who infamously said of October 7 that “It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum”, implying that Israel had it coming.
This is why Israel eagerly awaits the coming of Rep. Elise Stefanik, President Trump’s pick to serve as UN Ambassador. There is no empty talk about Stefanik, who led the charge during congressional hearings on antisemitism last year that forced the ouster of university heads. When questioned at her confirmation hearings about Israel, she said, “If you look at the antisemitic rot within the United Nations, there are more resolutions targeting Israel than any other country, any other crisis combined.”
Stefanik recalled UN Ambassador Daniel Patrick Moynihan, who condemned the “disgraceful” 1975 UN resolution defining Zionism as racism, and declared, “This is the type of leadership that I hope to bring if confirmed to the United Nations.”
Ditto Secretary of State Marco Rubio; Governor Mike Huckabee, tapped to be America’s Ambassador to Israel; and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. In his confirmation hearings, Hegseth emphatically said, “I support Israel destroying and killing every last member of Hamas.”
President Trump himself issued an Executive Order withdrawing from UNWRA and another one focusing on countering antisemitism in a meaningful way by seeking to “marshal all federal resources”. This puts teeth in the fight to “combat the explosion of antisemitism on our campuses and in our streets since Oct.7, 2023.” To fulfill that mission, the U.S. Justice Department has formed a multi-agency Task Force to combat antisemitism, with its first priority addressing antisemitism in schools and college campuses.
In our current world, where pro-Hamas protestors accuse Israel of “genocide” while tearing down American flags, these leaders understand how crucial it is not to mince words. President Trump, whose bluntness was long lambasted as a liability, is now being hearkened to by world leaders.
In last week’s speech, Ambassador Danon said, “Memory is not self-sustaining.” He’s right. In order to sustain memories, their truth must be pronounced. Only then can their lessons be applied.
