30th December, 2024,

There are troubling signs of resurgent antisemitism in Europe and around the world, from attacks on Jews and harassment in public spaces to rising online hatred and more. One survey of European Jews [published on July 11 by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights] found almost all those questioned [between January and June 2023] had encountered antisemitism in the past year, while a majority sometimes hid their Jewish identity. We should all be disturbed and horrified by this.

Europeans, above all, know where hate speech and discrimination lead. Antisemitism is real, and it is abhorrent: a poisonous ideology with deep roots in bigotry and racism that still plagues our world. It is manifest in many ways, from prejudice and stigma to pogroms and, ultimately, genocide. Eighty years after the Holocaust, we have a particular responsibility to be vigilant against this deadly scourge, wherever it appears. As Anne Frank wrote, “What is done cannot be undone, but one can prevent it happening again.”

Criticism of human rights violations is an essential part of our vigilance against antisemitism. In itself, such criticism cannot be antisemitic. However, attempts to apply the label of antisemitism to legitimate human rights concerns have increased significantly since the horrific attacks by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups on 7 October 2023.

The scale and brutality of the killings on that day, the accounts of torture and sexual violence, and the taking of hostages – many still held captive – shocked us all. These are all grave breaches of international law that I have repeatedly condemned together with the entire United Nations system and countries across the world, and those responsible need to be held to account.

In the 14 months that have followed, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza, Israeli military operations have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians. My Office has found that a large majority of verified fatalities are children and women, demonstrating an apparent indifference to civilian lives. The Israeli authorities have also failed to fulfil their obligation to meet the massive humanitarian needs in Gaza. As a result, Gaza is suffocated by death and despair, and drowning in raw sewage and disease. Israel’s policies in Gaza have been marked by grave breaches of international law – which I have repeatedly condemned.

I have spent time with Israeli survivors and relatives of the hostages seized on 7 October, and with Palestinians who suffered terrible injuries and trauma in Gaza. In both cases, I wanted to embrace them, to cry with them, and to hold their pain and suffering for them. Such encounters bring us back to our core values as people: empathy, compassion, care for others. These core values are essential if we are to support each other and find a way through these most challenging times.

The Israeli policies that have contributed to the catastrophe in Gaza have been strongly criticised, including by many Israelis and Jews around the world. In some cases, such criticism has crossed a line into antisemitism – for example, by holding all Jews responsible for the actions of the Israeli government. It is not difficult to connect this false narrative with recent attacks on synagogues and other Jewish religious and cultural sites, which have been defaced with messages instilling fear and provoking more discrimination and hate. I condemn this unreservedly.

I also reject attempts to conflate all criticism of Israeli government policies and military operations with antisemitism. It is not antisemitic, for example, to deplore military operations that raise grave concerns over violations of international humanitarian and human rights law. Nor is it antisemitic to condemn those violations and urge respect for the law – including the decisions of international courts. Nor is it antisemitic to call Israel to account for the tens of thousands of people in Gaza, including more than 250 of our own UN staff, who have been killed since 7 October 2023.

My Office stands for the human rights and dignity of each and every person. We document human rights violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in Israel, and in many other places, regardless of the identity of perpetrators and victims. We are not pro- or anti- anyone; rather, we are pro-everyone. That is the radical truth of human rights.

The United Nations will continue to do everything in our power to prevent and end antisemitism and to remind people everywhere of the lessons of the Holocaust. It is unacceptable that new forms of this hatred are adding to centuries of discrimination, repression and targeted violence. We will also continue to resist the instrumentalization of the fight against antisemitism. Together, we must work for a world in which we see each other in all our humanity; recognize the pain and suffering of others – including historic trauma; and strive to end that pain without discrimination, without dehumanization, and with compassion.