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Minister Chikli (L) presents the Annual Award of Honor for the Fight Against Antisemitism to Senior Counsel Leo Terrell

Credit: Eclipse media

The official opening events of the Second International Conference on Combating Antisemitism took place last week at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. The gala was attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism Amichai Chikli, who initiated the event, senior Israeli political figures, and dozens of international guests.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said at the gala: “What we see now is that our common free democratic civilization is under threat. In the past two decades—since radical Muslims have invaded every country in Western Europe and in America. It’s being invaded not by people of a different color or faith—that’s not the point. They are people with a focused ideology, and the ideology is to destroy the West. For this purpose, they have made common cause with the most ultra anti-Western progressives. They have united, and they supposedly should disagree on everything, but they don’t. They agree on one thing: World War Jew. To conduct the war first against the Jews and against the Jewish state. The radical Muslims are right, because there would be no West in the Middle East if the Jewish state is eradicated. There would be no obstacle to the further invasion of Europe if the Jewish state doesn’t exist.”

He added: “Jews in the diaspora were targeted because two qualities combined to make them vulnerable: prominence and weakness. Prominence breeds envy, and when envy is fused with vulnerability—especially during times of societal change—it becomes the deadly formula of antisemitism, leading again and again to attacks preceded by virulent vilification.”

Evening Gala highlights included the presentation of a special government award to Leo Terrell, Special Envoy of the Trump administration for combating antisemitism on college campuses; lighting of a memorial torch in memory of victims of antisemitic attacks worldwide, led by Rabbi Yehoram Ulman of Australia; and presentation of a special Award of Honor in memory of the late Charlie Kirk to his personal pastor, Rob McCoy, in recognition of his principled and courageous stand for truth, Israel, and the fight against antisemitism.

Minister Amichai Chikli said, “We have focused on the victim—on Jews, on antisemitism—as if this were a private Jewish problem. It is not. It is time to shift the focus from the victim to the perpetrator—and to speak clearly about the number one threat facing our societies: radical Islam, from the Iranian regime on one end, to the Muslim Brotherhood on the other. It is a global threat, evident in every country where radical Islam has been allowed to infiltrate. Together, we must build a joint coalition and move to the offensive—confronting antisemitism and fighting radical Islam decisively, relentlessly, and without apology.”

In the morning, a special opening session took place at the Knesset, hosted by Minister Chikli and Speaker of the Knesset Amir Ohana, with approximately 20 members of parliament from countries including Brazil, the Netherlands, France, Finland, Poland, Slovakia, Portugal, Italy, and Cyprus. Participants discussed key challenges in the global fight against antisemitism, including legislation, education, and foreign political interference.Honorable guests at the conference include: Edi Rama, Prime Minister of Albania; Sebastian Kurz, former Chancellor of Austria; Scott Morrison, former Prime Minister of Australia; Mariano Cúneo Libarona, Minister of Justice of Argentina; Flávio Bolsonaro, Brazilian senator and presidential candidate; and Eduardo Bolsonaro, member of Brazil’s Congress. 

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