The United Nations building.

Decades after the Holocaust, the United Nations is acting to deny the right of self-determination to the Jewish people through its support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, prominent Israeli and Jewish leaders said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Ambassadors Against BDS International Summit at the UN in New York, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon and World Jewish Congress (WJC) President Ronald Lauder both called out the international body for its anti-Israel activity.  

“BDS is not about helping the Palestinians or bringing peace. Its only goal is bringing an end to the Jewish state,” Danon said. “We won’t be afraid to say out loud everywhere that BDS is the true face of modern antisemitism.”

The international anti-Israel movement “has already infected the UN,” Danon stated. “Just recently, the UN Human Rights Council voted to blacklist anyone who does business in Judea, Samaria, Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. Can you imagine, 70 years after the Holocaust, the UN is creating lists to encourage the boycott of Jewish companies?”

The ambassador said that while “this is exactly the kind of hatred the UN was founded to eradicate,” the body is actually furthering the delegitimization and demonization of the state of Israel. “When the UN opens its doors to BDS, we have to respond,” Danon said. “This is a battle we must fight, and it is a battle we will win.”

In a message directed towards Israel’s enemies, Danon stated: “To those who boycott Israel, who want to see an end to the Jewish state; to those standing outside the UN right now screaming hateful antisemitic slogans against Israel: you will never win. Our people have overcome every enemy. We stand strong; we stand together; and will will defeat you, once and for all.”

Lauder echoed Danon’s claims, reflecting on the lessons learned by the Jewish people from the Holocaust.

“The UN was created 70 years ago out of the carnage of World War II, on the broken bones of the Jewish people, with the pledge that the Jewish people will never see again the kind of human destruction [of the Holocaust],” he said. “The UN has only singled out the Jewish state in the world with lie after lie after lie. It is no accident to look at equally dishonest campaigns against Jews — the BDS movement right here in the UN.”

Since the end of the Holocaust, “something has changed,” Lauder said, adding — to loud applause — “We have changed. The era of the quiet Jew, the timid Jew, the ghetto Jew is long over. We are no longer victims, we no longer have to rely on others to protect us…Enough is enough.”

The Ambassador Against BDS summit was organized by the Permanent Mission of Israel to the UN. The day-long conference was the first of its kind at the UN aimed at combating the BDS movement, and featured expert panels on the legal aspects of BDS and fighting the movement on college campuses.