UN announces new plan to counter surge in antisemitism
The United Nations has announced new actions to counter a surge in antisemitism, including encouraging governments to enforce laws against hate crimes.

The United Nations building in New York City. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
The United Nations will encourage governments to enforce laws against hate crimes and discrimination as part of new actions to counter the surge in anti-Semitism.
The UN, created in the aftermath of the World War II Holocaust in which six million Jews were killed, has worked to counter anti-Semitism.
But the 193-member global organisation has been accused of being antisemitic, including by US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for UN ambassador, New York representative Elise Stefanik.
Stefanik is pro-Israel and has called the UN a “den of antisemitism” that she intends to confront.
The UN Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism focuses on strengthening and co-ordinating work throughout the United Nations but includes recommendations for governments and organisations.
Miguel Moratinos, the head of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, which developed the plan, said he was alarmed at the surge in antisemitic incidents online and offline, citing attacks on synagogues and religious sites – including after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas and other militants in southern Israel, which resulted in the worst killing of Jews since the Holocaust and set off the war in Gaza.
“Unfortunately, our efforts, like those of national governments, have not been sufficient to curb the drivers of antisemitism,” he said.
Moratinos said new actors involved in social transformations in technology, science and the economy must be mobilised “to address online and offline hate speech while upholding human rights”.
The UN plan calls for establishing a working group to monitor and evaluate the impact of policies and measures to address antisemitism in the United Nations.
It includes training for all UN personnel on antisemitism and Holocaust denial – and how to fight them.
Outside the UN, the plan encourages governments and organisations to denounce antisemitism swiftly and enhance education about the Holocaust and antisemitism.
It also encourages “zero tolerance policies” for antisemitism.
“The challenge now lies in putting the plan into practice,” ambassador Deborah Lipstadt, the US special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism, and US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield said in a joint statement.
“The UN must demonstrate its full commitment to its human rights mandate and take concrete steps that will lead to tangible progress,” the outgoing ambassadors said.
By: Edith M Lederer/AP