ENDURING SHADOWS | UN'S ANTI JEWISH BIAS

As we reflect on the long arc of history, it's impossible not to feel a profound exasperation at the repeated institutional betrayals that the Jewish people and the State of Israel have endured. From ancient libels to modern diplomatic distortions, these acts have not only undermined justice but have also emboldened hatred. What began as overt discrimination in elite universities and corporate empires has evolved into a sophisticated campaign of disinformation at the United Nations. Yet, amid this storm, Israel's resilience and the enduring spirit of Judaism shine as beacons of hope. Today, we confront these shadows head on, supportive of a nation that has risen from ashes to defend its right to exist, and critical of the egregious failures that continue to plague global institutions.

Resolution 3379

The United Nations, once envisioned as a guardian of peace, has too often become a theatre for anti Jewish measures that echo the darkest chapters of history. Recall Resolution 3379 in 1975, which infamously equated Zionism with racism, a slur revoked only in 1991 after years of diplomatic battles. This was no isolated incident. The UN has established special committees dedicated solely to scrutinising Israeli actions in disputed territories, producing reports laden with bias that are disseminated worldwide, including to schools and universities. Such selective outrage ignores parallel occupations elsewhere, like those in Tibet or Cyprus, while turning a blind eye to atrocities against Israel. Emergency Special Sessions have been convened repeatedly to condemn Israel, even as rockets rain down on its cities, and blood libels persist unchallenged in UN forums, such as the 1997 claim that Israel injected Palestinian children with HIV a fabrication that lingered in official records for years.

This institutional prejudice reached a horrifying nadir on 7 October 2023, when Hamas unleashed barbarity on Israeli soil, murdering over 1,200 innocents in the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Tragically, evidence emerged that staff from the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) were complicit in these horrors. An internal UN investigation confirmed that nine UNRWA employees may have participated in the attacks, leading to their dismissal, while Israel identified even more links, including the use of UNRWA vehicles by militants. A separate USAID probe corroborated connections involving at least three current or former staffers. These revelations were not mere oversights; they exposed a deep rot within an organisation entrusted with humanitarian aid, where employees allegedly aided in the slaughter of civilians. How can the world trust an agency whose members crossed into Israel to commit such crimes? The exasperation is palpable: while UNRWA decries its losses over 200 staff killed in the ensuing conflict it must first reckon with its own enabling of terror.

In the aftermath, the UN and its allies launched a wall to wall offensive to discredit Israel, peddling lie after lie about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Hamas, with the complicity of media outlets and UN members, has fabricated casualty statistics to inflame global opinion, portraying Israel as the aggressor in a war it did not start. Time and again, these figures have been exposed as manipulated: in April 2025, Hamas quietly scrubbed over 3,400 names from its death toll lists, including more than 1,000 children, after researchers highlighted inconsistencies between earlier reports and revised data. A March 2025 list of 50,021 fatalities was deemed "clear disinformation" by experts, riddled with duplicates, impossible ages, and swapped genders to exaggerate civilian suffering. The Gaza Health Ministry, run by Hamas, has a history of such deceit, as detailed in analyses showing how it conflates natural deaths with war casualties and underreports militants killed estimated at nearly 20,000 by the Israel Defence Forces.

These fabrications do not stand alone. Post 7 October, the UN's bias intensified: since the attacks, it has passed over 20 resolutions condemning Israel, none addressing Hamas's terrorism or the use of human shields. Reports from UN agencies have applied double standards, spreading misleading claims about Israel's actions while minimising Hamas's role in prolonging the conflict. A September 2025 UN genocide accusation against Israel marked yet another low, ignoring the context of self defence against a genocidal charter. Media echoes this, with outlets like The Guardian amplifying unverified Hamas claims, only to retract under scrutiny. It is infuriating: Jewish lives are devalued, Israel's every move dissected, while the perpetrators of 7 October atrocities face scant rebuke.

• Ivy League Quotas: From the 1920s to the 1960s, prestigious American universities like Harvard imposed unspoken limits on Jewish admissions, capping them at 10 to 15 per cent to preserve a supposed "gentile character." Harvard's president, A. Lawrence Lowell, openly warned of a "Jewish problem" in 1922. These policies, rooted in prejudice, were dismantled only after the Holocaust's horrors forced a reckoning.

  

• Henry Ford's Venom: In the 1920s, the auto magnate serialised antisemitic screeds in his Dearborn Independent, compiling them into "The International Jew," a tract that peddled Protocols of the Elders of Zion forgeries and influenced even Nazi propagandists. Ford's 1927 apology rang hollow amid the global poison he unleashed.

• Swiss Banks' Greed: After the Second World War, institutions like UBS withheld billions in Holocaust victims' assets, demanding death certificates impossible to obtain from extermination camps. A 1998 settlement of $1.25 billion came only after survivors sued, highlighting decades of moral bankruptcy.

• Vatican's Historical Silence: For centuries, papal edicts confined Jews to ghettos and barred professions; during the Holocaust, Pope Pius XII's reticence on Nazi crimes drew justified criticism. Vatican II's 1965 Nostra Aetate finally renounced such antisemitism, but the scars remain.

These historical outrages pale not in severity, but in their familiarity, against the backdrop of today's digital age, where lies spread virally. Yet, Judaism's teachings of tikkun olam repairing the world endure, and Israel's innovations from Iron Dome to medical breakthroughs save lives globally, even in Gaza's hospitals. We stand with Israel, exasperated by the endurance required, but unbowed. It is time for accountability: defund complicit agencies, demand transparent data, and affirm the Jewish right to sovereignty. Only then can true peace dawn, free from the shadows of prejudice. Let us resolve, as Jews have for millennia, to build light from darkness.

"The United States of America declares that it does not acknowledge, it will not abide by, it will never acquiesce in this infamous act." — Daniel Patrick Moynihan