For the first time ever, Luxembourg was called out today at the United Nations for being the most anti-Israel EU member state. Following is the statement of UN Watch, delivered at the United Nations Human Rights Council during a periodic review of Luxembourg’s human rights record, which all UN member states undergo every five years.
Oral Statement by United Nations Watch
Item 6: Universal Periodic Review of Luxembourg
54th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Delivered by Mr. Michael Kanter
“Mr. President, we welcome Luxembourg’s plan for a national strategy against racism. However, we are alarmed by the increasing levels of antisemitism.
In 2022, the NGO Research and Information on Anti-Semitism in Luxembourg reported that antisemitic incidents had nearly doubled in only two years.
The report found that in Luxembourg, antisemitism frequently manifests itself by statements comparing Israelis to Nazis. Quote: “A particularly painful phenomenon is the trivialization of the Shoah by equating it with a fantasized genocide that would be committed against the Palestinians.”
We are concerned that this narrative is in part fueled by the government itself. As noted in the Luxemburger Wort, on July 31, 2022, Luxembourg has adopted the most extreme position of any EU country when it comes to Israel.
For example, when the breakthrough Abraham Accords were announced between Israel and Arab states, most of Europe welcomed the news of peace. The reaction of Luxembourg’s foreign minister was negative.
Luxembourg officials routinely apply a double standard to Israel, boycotting state events for one minister’s homophobic statement, while at the same time visiting Iran, where gays face execution.
At the UN, out of 138 GA resolutions adopted on Israel since 2015, Luxembourg has not once voted with Israel.
When 38 democracies boycotted the 2021 Durban conference due to serious accusations of antisemitism, Luxembourg attended.
Here at this Council, at the High Level Segment in March 2022, Luxembourg was the only EU state to condemn Israel, using demonizing language that put itself, in that debate, in the same club as Syria and Iran.
While nearly all EU states avoid the Agenda Item 7 debate that singles out Israel, Luxembourg participates, thereby legitimizing a discriminatory institution.
Mr. President, with antisemitism in Luxembourg on the rise, and with the Holocaust being trivialized while Israelis are depicted as Nazis, we call on the government of Luxembourg to reconsider its approach. I thank you.”
