Standing at the site of the Nazi death camp where more than a million Jews were murdered, a senior Jewish leader told an international gathering of law enforcement officials Tuesday that the post-Holocaust promise of “Never Again” had failed, warning that the forces driving modern antisemitism were organized, well-funded, and accelerating.

“I believed that the post-Holocaust slogan of ‘Never Again’ truly meant never again,” Sylvan Adams, President of the World Jewish Congress – Israel Region, told a delegation of more than 130 senior law enforcement leaders from the United States, Europe, and beyond. “Well, I was wrong.”

Adams addressed the gathering on Holocaust Remembrance Day at Auschwitz, drawing on the latest ADL figures to frame the scope of the crisis. Antisemitic incidents in the United States reached 9,354 in 2024 — the highest number ever recorded, nearly nine times higher than a decade ago. In Canada, 6,219 incidents were reported last year, roughly 17 every single day. Globally, 46% of adults — approximately 2.2 billion people — hold antisemitic views, according to ADL data.

“Standing here, in Auschwitz,” Adams said, “we can all learn what happens when we ignore the early warning signs of hatred and how it can erode, and eventually break down, the norms of democratic societies.”

Adams argued that the current wave of antisemitism was not spontaneous but driven by coordinated external forces. He pointed to Iran’s longstanding genocidal rhetoric against Jews and its use of proxy networks, decades of Qatari investment in Islamist infrastructure and academic influence across Europe and the United States, and digital platforms linked to Chinese influence that he said were amplifying antisemitic narratives and accelerating their spread among younger audiences. These forces, he said, operate across mosques, university campuses, and social media ecosystems, creating what he described as a sustained environment of incitement that lowers the threshold for radicalization and violence.

He drew a stark historical parallel in addressing the Iranian nuclear threat. “With the push of a button, Ayatollah Khamenei could have done what it took Hitler many years to accomplish,” Adams said.

In his closing appeal, Adams directed the assembled law enforcement leaders to the Holocaust survivors seated among them.

“Look them in the eyes,” he said. “See what was taken from them when hatred was ignored, when it was rationalized, when it was allowed to grow. We stand here in Auschwitz, where the unthinkable became reality… because too many people saw the signs and did not act.”

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)