Sylvan Adams: rising antisemitism signals risk of a second Holocaust

World Jewish Congress Israel President Sylvan Adams has issued a stark warning that rising antisemitism around the world risks paving the way for a “second Holocaust”, telling senior law enforcement leaders at Auschwitz that hatred is again being normalised in democratic societies.

Addressing more than 130 top policing officials from the United States, Europe and other countries on Holocaust Remembrance Day, Adams said the global surge in antisemitism was organised, well-funded and increasingly violent, not a spontaneous reaction to events in the Middle East. The delegation, which is participating in the March of the Living, also includes Holocaust survivors and victims of recent antisemitic terror attacks from the United States, United Kingdom and Australia, who have travelled to Poland to underscore the human cost of unchecked hate.

“Standing here, in Auschwitz, we can all learn what happens when we ignore the early warning signs of hatred and how it can erode, and eventually break down the norms of democratic societies,” Adams said, reflecting on how he once believed the post-war vow of “Never Again” would hold. He described the global response to the October 7 attacks as a turning point, recalling that by the very next day “large protests” were already “celebrating, justifying and sickly glorifying the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust”, with antisemitism “brazenly paraded in our downtown streets”.

Adams linked the new wave of antisemitism to coordinated external forces, citing Iran’s genocidal rhetoric and proxy networks, decades of Qatari investment in Islamist infrastructure, media and academia, and the role of digital platforms, including those tied to Chinese influence, in spreading antisemitic narratives among younger audiences. These forces, he warned, operate across mosques, campuses and social media to create a sustained climate of incitement that lowers the threshold for radicalisation and violence. He also stressed the existential danger posed by Iran’s nuclear capabilities, saying that “with the push of a button, Ayatollah Khamenei could have done what it took Hitler many years to accomplish”.

Quoting the latest ADL figures, Adams noted that 46 per cent of adults globally – about 2.2 billion people – now hold antisemitic views, while antisemitic incidents have hit record or sharply elevated levels in the United States, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Australia. He closed with a direct appeal to the assembled law enforcement leaders to “act early, act clearly and act without hesitation”, reminding them that what began at Auschwitz “did not begin with gas chambers” but “with words, with permission and with silence”.