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B’nai B’rith President Rob Spitzer and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin have issued the following statement:

At a time of surging anti-Jewish hate globally, B’nai B’rith International notes the long-awaited release of a United Nations “action plan to enhance” its “monitoring and response” to anti-Semitism. B’nai B’rith appreciates the efforts that went into, and that its own input was taken into account in the preparation of, the document.

Developed by the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations—led by U.N. Under-Secretary General Miguel Ángel Moratinos, who serves as the high representative for the UNAOC and as U.N. focal point to monitor anti-Semitism and enhance a system-wide response to it—the publication underlines the importance of grappling with anti-Semitism as a human rights challenge, and of the need to “mainstream” efforts against the scourge.

It recommends, among other points, the establishment of a U.N. “working group” to assess “the impact of policies and measures” to address anti-Semitism. However, emphasizing the U.N.’s own existing activities and relevant resolutions, it affirms that the U.N. has not endorsed the key inter-governmental International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism even as it notes its increasingly widespread adoption and use.

Moving forward, it will be essential that the U.N. confront expressions of anti-Semitism also within its own system—the focus of the action plan—and that it treat virulent anti-Zionism as the modern manifestation of anti-Semitism that it frequently represents.

We welcome the plan’s commendation of B’nai B’rith’s “Online antisemitism: A toolkit for civil society,” published with UNESCO and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, and our Office of United Nations Affairs looks forward to working on further building U.N. action on the global affront that is anti-Jewish bigotry.