New York, September 28th, 2026 – As the United Nations marks the 25th anniversary of the UN World Conference against Racism, which was held in Durban, South Africa just one week before September 11 in 2001, European Coalition for Israel is calling for an end of several decades of UN obsession with Israel.
Speaking at the ECI Young Leaders Academy in New York on Monday, ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell pointed out how the antisemitic conspiracy theories that were presented in Durban 25 years ago were nothing new but simply recycled Soviet propaganda dating back to the Cold War when Soviet intelligence officers introduced a pseudoscience, today referred to as Zionology, that resulted in the 1975 UN resolution “Zionism is racism”. In his new book “The Cauldron” bestselling British author and historian Simon Sebag Montefiore explains how the Soviets drew inspiration from the 1903 forgery “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, to accuse Israel of genocide, racism, aggressions and annexation. More than fifty years later these exact same words are being echoed on leading college campuses around the world as well as in the UN General Assembly in New York where diplomats from seventy-seven nations walked out during the speech of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Debate on Thursday.
– Failing to call out this new form of antisemitism will put to risk our Jewish communities both in the US and in Europe, and could draw a wedge between Israel and the Western world, Sandell warned.
Together with ECI Chairman Peter Fagerholm he is leading a delegation of ECI Young Leaders to New York this week, where they will visit US organisations to present the work of the Young Leaders Academy, a programme that remains unique in its field.
Their message is clear. The young adults of today are bombarded with the same antisemitic and anti-Western propaganda as in the 1970s. We cannot afford to lose this generation to the same lies that brought about so much disaster and suffering in Europe and gave rise to the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979. Friends of our Western civilisation must not remain isolated. In an interdependent world where ideas travel in no time, Jews and Christians in the United States and Europe must stay united. As former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar and other Western leaders have pointed out on numerous occasions; Israel is the frontline, if Israel goes down we all go down.
The first New York based ECI Young Leaders Academy will continue with lectures and visits throughout the week. The next ECI Young Leaders Academy in Brussels will take place between 3rd and 5th November. Those interested in participating can still apply to info@ec4i.org.
