“Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a conference in Jerusalem on fighting anti-Semitism Thursday that "the fate of free societies" is linked to the fight.

 

"The fate of free societies is tied to their willingness to fight the scourge of anti-Semitism," Netanyahu told the audience, who included “Israeli” and European far-right politicians.

 

“Israel” kicked off Thursday a conference on fighting anti-Semitism, with the attendance of politicians from Europe's far right driving division within the international Jewish community.

 

Guests at the symposium on combating anti-Semitism included the leader of France's far right National Rally (RN), a party whose cofounder Jean-Marie Le Pen was known for his anti-Semitic comments.

 

Also in attendance were a representative from Hungary's ruling Fidesz party, and Bosnian Serb leader Milorad Dodik, a Kremlin ally for whom Bosnia on Thursday issued an arrest warrant.

 

In a keynote speech, Netanyahu warned that "the fate of free societies is tied to their willingness to fight the scourge of anti-Semitism".

 

"Eighty years ago this deadly virus destroyed a third of the Jewish people," he said.

 

"Now this hatred has re-emerged... through radical Islamist carriers in Yemen, Lebanon, Gaza, and elsewhere.

 

"These anti-Semites wish to destroy not only the Jewish state. They seek to destroy the forces of modernity in the Arab and Muslim world," he claimed.