The U.N. General Assembly acknowledged a link between terrorism antisemitism in its recently passed Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy (GCTS) for the first time—a move that has been applauded by pro-Israel and Jewish organizations.
The GCTS, which lays out the world body’s strategy for combating terrorism, is required to be reviewed and passed every two years.
The latest version, passed on June 30, “Recognizes with deep concern the overall rise in instances of discrimination, intolerance and violence, regardless of the actors, directed against members of religious and other communities in various parts of the world, including cases motivated by Islamophobia, antisemitism, Christianophobia and prejudice against persons of any other religion or belief.”
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan pointed out the condemnation of antisemitism in a speech to the General Assembly on July 6.
“For Israel, the adoption of the GCTS is, unfortunately, not a theoretical or academic exercise,” he said. “During the weeks we sat here debating this resolution, Israeli civilians from our capital in Jerusalem to Tel Aviv and Ashkelon, sat in bomb shelters because of Hamas’s relentless terror attacks.”
The addition is the first time that GCTS has officially recognized the existence of anti-Semitic terrorism.
“We welcome the GCTS’ acknowledgment of the upswing in hate speech and terrorist attacks targeting religious and ethnic communities, which included an explicit condemnation of antisemitism, in line with the findings of the Secretary General’s report on global terrorism,” he said. “We have all witnessed anti-Semitic attacks against Jewish communities around the world, including here in the streets of New York, in recent weeks. It is critical that the international community take a clear stance against these attacks and develop additional tools to combat such appalling assaults against Jewish and other groups.”
Read the complete article: Cleveland Jewish News
