International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed today, offers a moment to reflect on the trends of the past year, which have unfolded amid growing challenges to Holocaust memory. These include the natural passing of Holocaust survivors, alongside other, less natural and more dangerous phenomena. Efforts to distort Holocaust memory in Europe and Holocaust denial in the Middle East, respectively, remain significant. Although some governments, including Canada, have sought to counter these trends and have increased funding for Holocaust education, the overall picture is mixed. In the United Kingdom, for example, the number of schools that marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2025 dropped sharply on the pretext that it is a “politically sensitive” topic—as though the Holocaust were a matter of controversy.
In the broader context, and contrary to what many predicted, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza also failed to reduce levels of antisemitism worldwide. A 7.5% increase in antisemitic incidents was recorded, with more than 6,300 incidents occurring between January and December 2025.
This year, the antisemitism experienced by Australian Jews more acutely since the war began—and which had not previously characterized the continent—reached its peak with an antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, where fifteen celebrants were murdered at a community Hanukkah event. In response, several countries advised against holding public Hanukkah celebrations, causing Jewish communities to retreat inward and fear for their lives even more. This attack joins other deadly incidents—the murder of two worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester, England, and the killing of two employees of the Israeli embassy in the United States in an attack at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
These trends should be of foremost concern to the State of Israel, one of whose central responsibilities is to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and combat antisemitism. They should, however, be no less alarming to the countries in which these developments are taking place. Not only are Jews citizens of those countries and entitled to protection, but Holocaust memory and its lessons regarding contemporary antisemitism are universal lessons that all nations must remember and internalize.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed today, offers a moment to reflect on the trends of the past year, which have unfolded amid growing challenges to Holocaust memory. These include the natural passing of Holocaust survivors, alongside other, less natural and more dangerous phenomena. Efforts to distort Holocaust memory in Europe and Holocaust denial in the Middle East, respectively, remain significant. Although some governments, including Canada, have sought to counter these trends and have increased funding for Holocaust education, the overall picture is mixed. In the United Kingdom, for example, the number of schools that marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day in 2025 dropped sharply on the pretext that it is a “politically sensitive” topic—as though the Holocaust were a matter of controversy.
In the broader context, and contrary to what many predicted, the ceasefire agreement in Gaza also failed to reduce levels of antisemitism worldwide. A 7.5% increase in antisemitic incidents was recorded, with more than 6,300 incidents occurring between January and December 2025.
This year, the antisemitism experienced by Australian Jews more acutely since the war began—and which had not previously characterized the continent—reached its peak with an antisemitic attack at Bondi Beach in Sydney, where fifteen celebrants were murdered at a community Hanukkah event. In response, several countries advised against holding public Hanukkah celebrations, causing Jewish communities to retreat inward and fear for their lives even more. This attack joins other deadly incidents—the murder of two worshippers at a synagogue in Manchester, England, and the killing of two employees of the Israeli embassy in the United States in an attack at the Jewish Museum in Washington, DC.
These trends should be of foremost concern to the State of Israel, one of whose central responsibilities is to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and combat antisemitism. They should, however, be no less alarming to the countries in which these developments are taking place. Not only are Jews citizens of those countries and entitled to protection, but Holocaust memory and its lessons regarding contemporary antisemitism are universal lessons that all nations must remember and internalize.