UN General Assembly holding first-ever meeting on anti-Semitism

Ben Sales

(JTA) — The United Nations General Assembly will hold its first-ever meeting focused on anti-Semtism.

The meeting, to be held Thursday, was organized in the wake of a series of anti-Semitic incidents, including the hostage crisis at the French Hyper Cacher supermarket this month, and the shooting at a Brussels Jewish museum last year.

The meeting was called by 37 countries, including Israel, the United States, Canada and all of the European Union states, according to a press release from Israel’s Foreign Ministry. French philosopher Bernard Henri-Levy will deliver the meeting’s keynote address.

American U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power will also speak at the event, according to the Associated Press, in addition to representatives of other countries.

“It says a lot that so many countries have partnered with Israel to raise this issue of antisemitism to the top of the UN’s agenda,” Israeli U.N. Ambassador Ron Prosor said in the press release. We have a great deal of work to do to move this issue from the headlines to the history books.”