Barely a day goes by without a major antisemitic event somewhere around the world. It is now a systemic crisis that requires a systemic response, and the only sustainable way to confront antisemitism is through education, backed by strong institutions willing to act.
Education is where attitudes are formed, normalized and transmitted. That is why the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), as the world’s leading professional authority on education, has a uniquely critical role to play. UNESCO’s engagement in combating Jew-hatred is not merely welcome, but essential if the world is serious about long-term, global change.
Recently, UNESCO released a major new publication examining European teachers’ awareness and understanding of antisemitism, as well as their readiness to address it in the classroom. The survey was released to coincide with the start of the new term of the UNESCO director-general, Khaled El-Enany, which began right around Jan. 27, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, underscoring his commitment to the issue.
The findings are sobering.
According to the survey, antisemitism is present in nearly three-quarters of classrooms in the European Union. As many as 78% of teachers report encountering antisemitic incidents in their professional environments, while over a quarter of them (27%) had witnessed nine or more such incidents.
Some 61% of surveyed teachers reported encountering Holocaust denial and distortion among their students, with 1 in 10 (11%) encountering this frequently. One 1 in 10 reported witnessing physical attacks on Jewish students at least once, while almost half (44%) encountered students doing Nazi gestures or drawing or wearing Nazi symbols. A majority of surveyed teachers (61%) reported that they were unable to answer students’ questions about antisemitism at least once or twice. And 42% of them reported having encountered other teachers being antisemitic.
These figures should end any lingering debate over whether the fight against Jew-hatred belongs in the mainstream education agenda.
It does, and urgently so.
However, education alone cannot operate in a vacuum. To effectively tackle antisemitism, we must adopt a comprehensive, five-pillar framework that is implemented consistently across nations.
The first pillar is definition. Without a clear, shared understanding of what antisemitism is, efforts to combat it will fail. The universal adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism provides the necessary clarity and has already proven effective for hundreds of governments, educational institutions, and civil society organizations around the world.
The second pillar is legislation. Antisemitism must be explicitly recognized in law, with robust statutes that categorize antisemitic acts and provide meaningful penalties. Hate thrives where ambiguity and impunity prevail.
The third pillar is enforcement. Laws are only as strong as their implementation. Police, prosecutors, and judges must be trained to identify Antisemitism accurately and respond decisively. Without enforcement, legislation becomes symbolic rather than protective.
The fourth pillar is social awareness. Societies must actively reject Antisemitism and foster public environments that promote tolerance and responsibility. This includes political leadership that sets clear moral boundaries and refuses to legitimize hate.
The fifth, and most critical, pillar is education. Education must begin in early childhood and continue through university and professional life. The data released by UNESCO makes clear why this pillar is non-negotiable, because teachers themselves are on the front lines, often without adequate training, tools, or institutional support.
In this context, it is essential to recognize the transformative leadership of UNESCO’s outgoing director-general, Audrey Azoulay.
Under her tenure, UNESCO’s dedicated department for Holocaust Remembrance and Antisemitism has become a cornerstone of the global fight against Jew-hatred. Preserving this department is not enough. Its mandate must be expanded, its resources strengthened and its partnerships deepened.
We have seen how this multilayered approach works in practice. A recent initiative in Munich, Germany, developed with the Center for Jewish Impact, and in collaboration with FC Bayern Munich and the local government, which leads the way in this field, brought together international sports clubs including Partizan Belgrade, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Paris Basketball.
Through the “One Team, One People” framework, this project combined education, awareness, institutional commitment and the unifying power of sport to create meaningful encounters with Jewish youth and communities across Europe, working alongside clubs such as Maccabi Tel Aviv B.C.
My own experience reinforces this lesson. As former CEO of World ORT and CEO of the World Jewish Congress, I have seen repeatedly that global crises demand global institutional responses. Antisemitism cannot be countered by statements alone. It requires standards, curricula, enforcement and accountability.
It was in this spirit that, a decade ago, together with UNESCO’s leadership, as then-CEO of the World Jewish Congress, we launched a groundbreaking interactive platform for Holocaust education, designed to counter online denial and distortion with verified facts and accessible learning tools. That initiative continues to serve as a global educational cornerstone precisely because it was anchored in institutional cooperation.
As UNESCO enters a new chapter of leadership, those of us who care deeply about combating antisemitism, like the Center for Jewish Impact, look forward to strengthening this partnership.
The task ahead is clear: to expand educational reach, bridge the worlds of schools, universities and sports and culture, and equip the next generation with knowledge, resilience and moral clarity.
Antisemitism is not inevitable. Nevertheless, defeating it requires more than good intentions; it requires education and institutions courageous enough to lead.
