Fighting Against the UN’s Pervasive Hypocritical Antisemitic Racism

As antisemitism rises around the world with discrimination against Jewish students at university campuses, government leaders openly equating Israel with Nazi Germany, social media influencers using their platforms to stoke public hatred against Jews, and U.N. officials making false accusations of war crimes against Israel, we have submitted a report to the U.N. Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance.

Responding to a call for input by Special Rapporteur Ashwini K.P., our report addresses the way in which “political figures, social media influencers, and UN officials have used their platforms to promote antisemitic rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and influence government action.”

Our report, for example, “presents events and data underscoring the global rise in antisemitic hate crimes. Since Hamas’s attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, the global Jewish community has faced a surge of online antisemitism and physical violence.”

Our report provides information about how even U.N. officials have used their positions to spread antisemitic hatred in violation of the U.N.’s purposes, which include promoting international peace and security and human rights for all.

For example, Francesca Albanese (the U.N. Special Rapporteur recently sanctioned by the United States) and Miloon Kothari, Navi Pillay, and Chris Sidoti (Commissioners on the U.N. Commission of Inquiry that is investigating Israel) have falsely accused Israeli forces of committing war crimes without any evidence supporting their absurd accusations.

Most recently, as we explained in our response to the U.N. Commission of Inquiry’s false allegations, the Commission outrageously:

accused the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) of committing sexual and reproductive violence in Gaza. Some of the examples of the alleged sexual and reproductive violence the Commission provided included the lack of sanitary pads for women, baby formula, healthy diet for pregnant women, and attacks on hospitals being used by Hamas for military purposes—all of which are sad and unfortunate consequences of war but do not constitute crimes, let alone sexual crimes.

In addition to U.N. officials’ erroneous accusations against Israel, we also highlighted how government officials and prominent media personalities around the world are spreading hatred against Jews and the State of Israel. Note, for example, the following statements:

• On February 16, 2024, Brazilian President Lula compared Israel’s military actions in Gaza to the atrocities Adolf Hitler committed during the Holocaust.
• On October 9, 2023, Colombian President Gustavo Petro equated Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza with Germany’s actions in the notorious Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz.
• Hasan Piker, who has approximately 8.9 million social media followers, described the sexual violence of the October 7, 2023, attack as “rape fantasies” or “rape hallucinations.”

Highlighting that such statements “have contributed significantly to the alarming global rise in antisemitic incidents and physical violence since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack on innocent people in Israel,” our report includes examples of antisemitic violence around the world as well. For more information about those instances, see our report here.

In light of the grave danger to the global Jewish community presented by increasingly uncontrolled antisemitism, we made several recommendations to be adopted by the U.N. For example, we recommended that, in order to truly eradicate racism and abide by the principles promoting fundamental human rights mentioned in numerous international treaties, U.N. bodies must begin with fighting antisemitism within the U.N. We also recommended that the U.N. combat online antisemitism, hold Member States accountable for antisemitic conduct, promote education regarding antisemitism, and establish an official U.N. mechanism to address antisemitism and other forms of contemporary racism.

The ACLJ will continue to call out international bodies, political figures, and even social media influencers who continue to put Jews worldwide at risk.