March 2025, Dr. Susanna Kokkonen
Holocaust Remembrance Association strongly condemns all antisemitic incidents taking place daily all over the world. Some may have expected that 2025 would turn out to be better than the two previous years. Sadly, we are witnessing evidence of antisemitic everywhere in the western world. As we are still at the beginning of the year, let us understand what antisemitic means.
Antisemitic is not a single event or a singular phenomenon, but it is a continuum of deep hatred. Antisemitic extends itself from the anti-Judaism of the Middle Ages through different forms of hatred until the anti-Zionist and anti-Israel hatred of today.
To an individual, it is important to report and to react to antisemitic events wherever and whenever they take place. But what we really need to understand is the pattern we see in everything that is happening around this theme. In order for us to understand this, we only need to see how many different nations, religions and cultures share this ideology. The ideology is evident right now in events taking place as seemingly diverse nations are experiencing the same kind of phenomena.
Examples:
-In the nation of Brazil at the end of 2024 an Israeli soldier was accused of war crimes. He was ordered to be arrested and is under investigation. CNN recently reported an increased risk Israeli soldiers face when traveling abroad;
-In Australia there has been an increase of 738% of antisemitic incidents since October 7th 2023;
-In Denmark there has been an increase of 1244% in antisemitic incidents since October 2023.
-In Orleans, France the chief rabbi Ariel Engelberg was recently attacked whilst walking with his son. He suffered head injuries. The authorities have condemned the attack as antisemitic hate crime.
-Having allowed hateful anti-Israel demonstrations on the campus, Columbia University is now going to implement changes demanded by US administration. The Education Secretary Lisa McMahon has confirmed that the university is now on the right track.
It is particularly important to understand that this anti-Semitism targets not only the state of Israel but individual Israelis, individual Jews, and Jewish institutions worldwide.
Depending on the country it is possible to report anti-Semitic incidents to the police or special officers dealing with hate crime. But what is so important to understand is that no one ever reports most of these incidents to anyone. The meaning of this should not be lost on us. This means that whatever increase we see in statistics in terms of anti-Semitic incidents, this would only be the beginning.
In 2025 Holocaust Remembrance Association will continue bringing these worrying current trends to public attention.
It is time to say Never Again!
The Holocaust Remembrance Association exists to remember, reconcile, and take a stand against antisemitism in all its forms.
