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Rabbi Sacks thanks UN Watch

In this recording, Rabbi Sacks shares a message for the UN Watch Summer Gala 2019. This video was shown at the gala held in Geneva on 13 June 2019.

Rabbi Sacks thanked UN Watch and its executive director, Hillel Neuer, for defending Israel against unfair and disproportionate criticism at the United Nations. He argued that Israel, as the Middle East’s only true democracy with a free press and independent judiciary, is often judged more harshly than countries with far worse human rights records.

Rabbi Sacks then connected the modern idea of human rights to biblical values, noting their influence on thinkers such as John Locke and Thomas Jefferson, and on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights after the Holocaust. He described the singling out of Israel as a modern form of libel and praised UN Watch for challenging it.

He then paid tribute to former Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who was honoured at the gala. Rabbi Sacks described him as a moral hero whose unwavering support for Israel showed exceptional courage and clarity. He noted the comfort Harper’s friendship gave Jews who often felt isolated, saying that Harper helped them feel they were not alone.

Let me thank all of you, friends and supporters of UN Watch, because the cause that you are supporting is so important.

Hillel Neuer and UN Watch really are engaged in a daily battle to defend Israel against the most appalling attacks to which it is consistently subjected at the United Nations. It is one of the scandals of our time that the one true democracy with a free press and an independent judiciary in the Middle East, should be accused regularly of offences against human rights, while countries that have the most appalling records are passed over in silence.

The world only has the concept of human rights because, in the seventeenth century, John Locke read the Hebrew Bible; because, in the eighteenth century, Thomas Jefferson said, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.”

This is a Jewish concept.

Indeed, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the United Nations only really came into being after the Second World War to confront the crimes against humanity committed during the Holocaust. That Israel should be singled out as being an offender against human rights is - and I do not say this lightly - the blood libel of our time, and UN Watch is doing sterling work in confronting that.

But let me join you tonight in saluting one of the great moral heroes of our time, the twenty-second Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper.

Stephen, your support for Israel has been unbelievable. It has been so strong, so clear, so consistent, that yours has so often seemed to be a rare and very precious voice of sanity in a world gone completely mad. I confess that I do not often weep, but I have wept several times when I have listened to, or read, what you have said. Thank God for your moral courage and clarity.

You can hardly begin to understand the impact of your words - and your stance - on us as Jews, when we have felt so deeply alone in this world. You have redeemed our solitude. You have proved to be a true and blessed friend. You have told us that we are not alone.

We thank you for all you have done, and we send you our blessings. May God continue to bless you, and may you continue to bless our shared humanity.