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Israeli President Isaac Herzog urges global action against antisemitism at United Nations Holocaust commemoration
Summary
President Isaac Herzog told a United Nations Holocaust remembrance event that the world must act against rising antisemitism, welcomed recent ceasefire and hostage-release agreements tied to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack and called for education and human-rights protections to prevent future atrocities.
President Isaac Herzog, speaking at a United Nations Holocaust remembrance event, urged nations and institutions to counter rising antisemitism and to uphold human rights, and he welcomed recent ceasefire and hostage-release agreements tied to the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Herzog said the commemoration marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau and recalled the 6,000,000 Jews murdered in the Holocaust. He also named other victim groups — Roma and Sinti, people with disabilities and LGBTQI+ people — and said remembrance requires action: “Remembrance is not only a moral act.”
Herzog highlighted what he described as international responses after World War II, saying countries formed the United Nations and adopted instruments such as the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to bind the world to common protections. He credited Polish Jewish lawyer Rafael Lemkin for the Genocide Convention and cited Lebanese diplomat Charles Malik as a drafter of the declaration.
He warned that antisemitism is increasing and that denial and distortion of Holocaust history are spreading. He said undisputed historical facts are being “distorted, diminished, and dismissed,” and called for education and truth-telling to counter those efforts. Herzog said the United Nations has long worked on Holocaust outreach and that the U.N. system has recently put forward an action plan on antisemitism to strengthen those efforts.
On current events, Herzog said he welcomed recent ceasefire and hostage-release deals connected to the Oct. 7 attack, describing the agreements as offering “hope as well as much needed relief.” He also said Israel has pressed from the start for the “unconditional and the immediate release” of hostages and for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
He closed by repeating the duty of individuals and institutions to oppose hatred and to preserve human dignity: “We will never forget, and we will never waver in that fight.”
