Pressed on its silence about Jewish holidays, UN wishes ‘happy, peaceful Yom Kippur’

JNS reported last December that the United Nations appears to see Jewish holidays as less equal than others. Despite issuing regular messages about a variety of non-Jewish religious holidays—Christmas, Orthodox Christmas, Easter, Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Diwali and Vesak—on social media and on the U.N. News Centre, the global body has ignored Jewish ones.

At a United Nations press briefing on Thursday—the day before Yom Kippur—JNS put the question to Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, how it was possible that mum has been the Jewish holiday word from the global body.

“Well, if—I would actually like to, to do that, uh, today in advance, and I’d like to wish all of, uh, all of the—the Jewish communities around the world to have a happy, uh, and peaceful Yom Kippur,” Haq told JNS. “This has been, without a doubt, uh, a difficult year, and—and we’re hoping that, uh, that the promise of the future can be bright for everyone.”

In 2015, the United Nations made Yom Kippur—the most solemn day on the Jewish calendar—a floating holiday at the global body, during which no official meetings are held, and Jewish employees have the option to take the day off.

The United Nations New Centre and its social-media platforms hadn’t issued messages for Yom Kippur at press time. It did acknowledge Thursday as “World Mental Health Day,” as did Guterres and the World Health Organization. Guterres and the WHO haven’t posted about the Jewish High Holidays.

Volker Türk, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, posted a greeting to the Jewish community on Friday. “Wishing all those marking Yom Kippur a meaningful Day of Atonement,” he wrote. “Peace to all during this time of reflection, forgiveness and reconciliation.”

A search of Türk’s social-media revealed no prior mention of “Yom Kippur.”

Update: Three hours after JNS published, the United Nations social media handle posted about the High Holiday to its 16.5 million followers. “We wish all those observing it a blessed and peaceful Yom Kippur,” it wrote.