Statement

2020

IHRA Executive Secretary statement on knife attack in New York State

Dr Kathrin Meyer, Executive Secretary of the IHRA, expresses deep solidarity with victims of a knife attack in the state of New York and speaks about protecting the victims of hate crimes.

Dr Kathrin Meyer, Executive Secretary of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) said: “It was with deep shock that I learned of the knife attack at a rabbi’s house in New York State on Saturday 28 December, the seventh night of Hannukah. I express my deepest solidarity with those wounded and threatened in the attack and with the whole Jewish community across Rockland County.

We condemn this antisemitic hate crime. A Rockland County legislator said the Jewish community was “scared but not surprised” by this latest abhorrent incident which is a frightening indication of the growing number of antisemitic threats and attacks we are seeing throughout the United States and beyond.

IHRA’s 34 Member Countries work tirelessly to counter antisemitism in all of its forms. We call on political, social and religious leaders to speak out against all hate crimes, acts of violence or incitement, and to support social and educational efforts to address them.

Antisemitism is not a Jewish issue. It is an issue for all societies in which it grows.”

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) unites governments and experts to strengthen, advance and promote Holocaust education, research and remembrance and to uphold the commitments to the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.