GENEVA - World Jewish Congress Jewish Diplomat Terry Newman (Israel) delivered a statement on the floor of the United Nations Human Rights Council on July 8 on behalf of the WJC, calling on the members of the Council “to protect their Jewish communities from violent hate groups throughout the world.”
“The World Jewish Congress welcomes the report of the Special Rapporteur on combating glorification of Nazism and other racist practices. Neo-Nazism and Islamist extremism both promote ideologies of group superiority - using violence and intimidation to achieve domination.
“Our impressionable, lonely and disenfranchised youth are fertile breeding ground for these extremist ideas. Social media accentuates these feelings of social inadequacy. And, our troubled youth search for direction from supremacist ideologies via the web – through games, YouTube channels and chatgroups.
“The World Jewish Congress invests major efforts to combat hatred and violence. For example, we have reached over a billion people through online educational campaigns, coalition building and counter marches. We join the call for Member States to engage and empower our youth, to support deradicalization programs, and to closely monitor social media platforms.
“Whilst we continue the efforts to combat extremism; we must remember that the right to freedom from discrimination, and the right to freedom of expression, must be mutually supportive human rights. The measures to combat racism must never be used to silence legitimate expressions of protest. How does the Special Rapporteur think we can achieve this?
“Neo-Nazism and Islamist extremism have a shared enemy – the Jewish People. With 3,500 years of history, we know the dangers of ignoring extremists. The World Jewish Congress calls on the members of the Council to protect their Jewish communities from violent hate groups throughout the world.”
The WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps is the diplomatic flagship program of the WJC, and a worldwide network of 300 Jewish professionals from 50 countries acting in the fields of diplomacy and public policy on behalf of world Jewry. Members of the WJC Jewish Diplomatic Corps have delivered over 80 statements on behalf of the WJC over the past five years at the UNHRC.
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