Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar used his keynote address at Israel’s International Conference on Combating Antisemitism to warn that a “radical alliance” between Islamist groups and far-left ideologies is threatening not only Israel but the broader Western world.
“Today, Jews are attacked because of the existence of their nation-state, Israel. Denying Israel’s right to exist is the new antisemitism,” Sa’ar said, quoting the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks. He described antisemitism as “the world’s oldest hatred,” evolving over time from religious persecution to racial hatred and now to political delegitimization of the Jewish state.
Sa’ar pointed to Hamas’s October 7 attack as an example of how antisemitism now targets Jews through Israel. He accused Iran and allied groups of shifting from military aggression to “legal warfare,” using bodies like the International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice, and the United Nations Human Rights Council to undermine Israel’s ability to defend itself.
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“These institutions … have become tools for those wishing to erase the Jewish state,” Sa’ar said, accusing the UN of spreading a “modern-day antisemitic blood libel” in its reports on the Gaza war.
He also decried what he described as the far left’s complicity in antisemitism, saying that progressive institutions and leaders have become “captive to those seeking the destruction of the Jewish people.”
“The new antisemitism represents the threat to Western values and global order,” Sa’ar said. “What starts with Jews never ends with Jews.”
Sa’ar praised US President Donald Trump for executive actions against campus antisemitism and the deportation of Hamas supporters. He called on European countries to act with greater resolve, especially given the continent’s Holocaust legacy.
He closed by tying the Jewish struggle against antisemitism to the broader defense of freedom and Western civilization. “Just as then, freedom will prevail against an enemy seeking to destroy the Jewish people,” he said.