During the ongoing United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) session—and as Jewish citizens continue to be targeted with surging violence, from an attempted FlyDubai hijacking to harassment around the world—B’nai B’rith International has brought messages from survivors of terrorism and antisemitic abuse directly to the body in Geneva.

With Britain, Canada and other democracies seen as inadequately protecting their Jewish communities from “anti-Zionist” extremism—while increasingly escalating rhetoric and policies inimical to the Middle East’s only democracy, Israel—B’nai B’rith is working to force international attention to the consequences of this moral failure.

Today, in a B’nai B’rith video statement at the UNHRC, prominent Australian media personality Sharri Markson spoke about her family’s survival of the 2025 Bondi Beach attack on a Chanukah celebration—which killed 15 people, including local B’nai B’rith leader Edith Brutman, and injured many others.

In a separate video intervention at the Council, Rabbi Joe Kanofsky, spiritual leader of Kehillat Shaarei Torah in Toronto, described his congregation being attacked more than ten times since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas atrocities in Israel—the synagogue’s windows smashed, doors shattered, signs set on fire—even as yet another Canadian synagogue was shot at on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year, last week.

Additionally, B’nai B’rith today posted online an open message to the UNHRC president by Yoni Finlay, who was shot while trying to protect the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation in Manchester, England, when preparing to lead prayers during the lethal 2025 Yom Kippur terrorist attack there.

The UNHRC presidency is currently held by Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, which still does not officially recognize Israel. The B’nai B’rith statements fell under the Council’s item 7—the only agenda item dedicated to censuring a single country, Israel—and item 9, which uniquely promulgates the official declaration of the 2001 U.N. Durban conference on racism. That conference, whose 25th anniversary was marked this week, earned notoriety both for displays of overt antisemitic hate and the Durban Declaration itself, which singled out Israel for implicit branding as racist.

Last month, Britain and Canada were among major democracies announcing a ban solely on goods from Jewish communities in Palestinian-demanded areas of Jews’ historic homeland. Australia has separately introduced other sanctions targeting particular Israeli Jews.

In her statement, Markson, a Sky News Australia host and investigations editor at The Australian, said, “My family was evacuated from a Jewish festival as gunfire erupted here at Bondi Beach in Australia. Since then, I’ve recorded for posterity the stories of those murdered and wounded in a documentary and book. Among them: 10-year-old Matilda, whose parents had brought her to Bondi for face-painting and bubbles. She was gunned down… Holocaust survivor Alex Kleytman was also killed, as well as Rabbi Eli Schlanger and Edith Brutman. A newborn baby was hospitalized with shrapnel wounds, while a couple in their sixties, Boris and Sofia Gurman, sacrificed their lives confronting the shooters.”

“According to court documents, the attackers had condemned the actions of ‘Zionists.’ This shows, clear as night follows day, that hatred against ‘Zionists’ leads to violence against Jews. Anti-Zionism is inextricably linked to antisemitism… I implore the Human Rights Council to wake up to what is happening to Jews around the world—and take action against anti-Zionist hate before more innocent lives are lost.”

In his intervention, Kanofsky said his synagogue “was founded a half century ago by Canadian Jews and Jews from South Africa who left their native country’s turmoil under apartheid. These founders only sought a peaceful place to worship, raise their families, and celebrate life. They enjoyed living out this hope until Hamas’ October 7th attacks.”

“Some elements now take the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as license to attack Jews, harass Jews, and threaten Jews even thousands of miles away from that conflict… We are among Jewish institutions nationwide in Canada that have been harassed, shot at and set afire. No Jewish citizen has felt completely safe… And the world remains silent. Elie Wiesel said, ‘It often begins with the Jews, and it almost never ends with the Jews.’ Darker days are ahead for our society unless we call out Jew-hatred—in Israel and abroad—and cease tolerance and justification for these acts.”

Meanwhile, in his open message, Finlay recounted, “On the holiest day of the year, when Jews were going to synagogue, our community was attacked by someone who had imbibed vile antisemitic and anti-Zionist propaganda. Two special people lost their lives, the first time in centuries that Jews had been killed in the U.K. simply for being Jewish. Three people, including myself, were seriously injured and we are still recovering, both physically and emotionally. On that day, life for British Jewry changed forever, with further appalling incidents [since then], including arson and Jews being hunted and stabbed in London, as well as new foiled plots—among them three in Manchester alone—one around the first anniversary [last week] of the Yom Kippur assault.”

He continued, “These do not come out of nowhere. Lies and misinformation are spread, and the U.N. is obsessed with placing blame on Israel. This Council has adopted over 100 resolutions against Israel, and last year the General Assembly endorsed 15 on Israel and only 11 on the entire rest of the world. This not only affects Israel but feeds a surge in antisemitism worldwide… And so I implore you. What we say and what we do has the power to provide justification to those attacking Jews. Our words have impact and our actions have consequences.”

Earlier this week, in yet another appearance on behalf of B’nai B’rith at the UNHRC, Kobi Farhi, lead singer and founder of the Israeli heavy metal band Orphaned Land, spoke about having been targeted for a boycott in Spain due only to his nationality. This was despite his decades of work bringing Israelis and Arabs, Muslims and Jews, together. More on his statement can be found here.

We salute these individuals who persevered through anti-Jewish hate for their courage in sharing their experiences, and thank B’nai B’rith Australia/New Zealand, the London Bureau of International Affairs of B’nai B’rith United Kingdom and the B’nai B’rith World Center – Jerusalem for their partnership.

B’nai B’rith International, which has led Jewish communal engagement at the world body since the latter’s founding, has just concluded a marathon of yearly advocacy meetings with world leaders on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA).

It also conducted a campaign that encouraged countries not to attend the UNGA’s commemoration this week of the Durban conference’s 25th anniversary. A record 48 countries chose not to participate.