Evelyn Sommer and WJC American Section
chair Rabbi Marc Schneier (center) and WJC
staff members with the 200,000 signed
petitions
In New York, the World Jewish Congress has delivered a petition with 200,000 signatures of concerned citizens from all over the world in support of a UN General Assembly resolution explicitly condemning anti-Semitism. Ronald S. Lauder, president of the WJC, said in a statement: "With these petitions, we are urging the UN to reaffirm the commitment made by then-secretary-general Kofi Annan in 2004 to fighting anti-Semitism and all forms of discrimination. We hope these petitions will reinforce that commitment and prepare the ground for an eventual UN General Assembly resolution."
Evelyn Sommer, chairwoman of the North American Jewish Congress, cited a recent seminar on anti-Semitism attended by leading human rights activists. "Within three minutes of the discussion, 1,300 delegates stood up and signed the WJC petition. It signifies our hope and belief in the power of the UN that, as an organization born in the wake of the Holocaust to defend human rights, it can and will stand up to anti-Semitism. It is in that spirit that WJC presents these petitions."
Rabbi Marc Schneier, chairman of the WJC American Section, underscored the importance of delivering the petition to the UN. “It is significant that we are presenting the petition in a week when a French Jewish teenager wearing a kippah was severely beaten on the streets of Paris in a vicious anti-Semitic attack. The safety and security of Jewish communities everywhere is paramount – it is not only a question of religious freedom but of basic civil rights as well,” Schneider said.
