OSWIECIM, POLAND — Sylvan Adams, Israel president of the World Jewish Congress, delivered remarks at the Auschwitz concentration camp on Holocaust Remembrance Day, April 14, 2026, warning that rising antisemitism risks creating a second Holocaust. Adams said the increase in antisemitism around the globe was heavily funded and organized by Qatar and promoted on social-media platforms.

"I believed that the post-Holocaust slogan of 'Never Again' truly meant never again. Well, I was wrong," Adams said at the site where more than one million Jews were murdered during World War II.

"Qatar, and the Emir of Qatar, while pretending to be a benefactor of the hostages, is playing a double game and fomenting the worst antisemitism since the Holocaust," he said. Adams also warned that what he described as a campaign against Jews extended beyond the Jewish community. "Their campaign against the Jews is just the appetizer dish. The main course is the entire West that they wish to convert and subjugate," he said.

Adams drew a connection between the current period and the conditions that preceded the Holocaust. "It began with words, with permission and with silence," he said.

The remarks were delivered at an educational program held at Auschwitz. According to figures released by the Anti-Defamation League, 46% of adults worldwide — around 2.2 billion people — hold antisemitic views. The ADL figures also indicated that one in five adults worldwide has never heard of the Holocaust.

Adams's allegations against Qatar were made without a response from the Qatari government being available. Qatar has not publicly responded to the characterization.