World Jewish Congress Israel representative Adams warns of second Holocaust amid rising antisemitism

Sylvan Adams, Israel’s representative to the World Jewish Congress, warned at a Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Auschwitz that current levels of Jew-hatred could lead to a second Holocaust.

“Standing here, in Auschwitz, 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,” he warned in his address to over 130 senior law enforcement leaders from the United States, European nations and other countries. 

Adams admitted that he once believed that dangerous antisemitism was a thing of the past. “I believed that the post-Holocaust slogan of ‘Never Again’ truly meant never again,” he argued. “Well, I was wrong."

I stand here in Auschwitz as the son of Marcel and Annie Adams, two Romanian Jews whose lives were shaped by the shadow of this place. My father survived slave labor and later fought for the State of Israel, while my mother survived the war in hiding. I carry their stories with… pic.twitter.com/BcdEZgkr5J

— Sylvan Adams (@SylvanAdams_) April 15, 2026

Referring to the latest Anti-Defamation League (ADL) antisemitism report, Adams said that 46% of adults – about 2.2 billion people worldwide – hold antisemitic views. In 2024, a record 9,354 anti-Jewish incidents were recorded in the United States alone, nearly nine times higher than a decade ago.

Adams, who is from Canada, added that antisemitism has also surged there, in what was until recently considered a safe haven for Jews, with 6,219 incidents reported in 2024, roughly 17 per day.

Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiments have increased dramatically worldwide since the Hamas Oct. 7, 2023, massacre. Adams stressed that the current global wave of antisemitism was, to a high degree, coordinated by forces that seek to undermine Western democratic societies.

He specifically mentioned Qatar’s extensive investments in academic, mosques, cultural and media institutions in the U.S. and across the Western world. Adams also warned that the Islamic Republic of Iran and its terrorist networks have played a leading role in the global rise of antisemitic incidents. 

A European report in 2024 found that the ayatollah regime has increasingly employed local criminal gangs to carry out attacks on Jews and Israelis across the continent. It has also used these networks to target Iranian dissidents living in Western countries.

The ayatollah regime is ideologically opposed to Israel’s existence and has repeatedly threatened to wipe the Jewish state off the map. At the same time, it has spent years pursuing nuclear weapons.

“With the push of a button, Ayatollah Khamenei could have done what it took Hitler many years to accomplish,” he warned, referring to a scenario in which the ayatollahs could threaten Israel with a nuclear bomb.

On Feb. 28, Israeli fighter jets eliminated Iran’s leader, Ali Khamenei, and dozens of senior Iranian regime and military officials in the opening strike of Operation Roaring Lion. The U.S. and Israeli militaries have assessed that much of Iran’s military capability has been degraded during the five weeks of war. However, the regime in Tehran still retains military assets, including missiles and drones.

Adams also urged international law enforcement officials to take note of the presence of Holocaust survivors.

“The Holocaust survivors are here. They are sitting beside us. Look them in the eyes. 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,” he warned.