‘Tis the season for United Nations to see Jewish holidays as less equal
Leading with a tree emoji, the official United Nations account on X posted on Sunday to its 16.4 million followers: “Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating!”
A JNS review of prior holiday messages on the United Nations account revealed a single instance where the international body—which has long been accused of antisemitism and of unfairly targeting the Jewish state—appeared to celebrate a Jewish holiday.
That lone instance, from last April, came when the United Nations managed to lump a Jewish holiday together with several others.
“‘Peace is needed today more than ever.’ During a special interfaith ‘Prayer for Peace’ moment, António Guterres,” the U.N. secretary-general, “says that even the calendar is sending a message of unity, as Ramadan, Easter, Passover and the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi coincide this month,” the United Nations posted on April 14.
The United Nations shared something similar again on April 14 and on April 6. Those appear to be the only times that the United Nations has posted about a Jewish holiday.
A search of all the handle’s posts on X yielded no other results for “Passover,” and no results for “Pesach,” “Hanukkah,” “Chanukah,” “Shavuot,” “Shavuos,” “Sukkot,” “Sukkos,” “Purim,” “Yom Kippur,” “Rosh Hashanah” nor “High Holidays.” “Jewish holiday” and “Jewish holidays” also returned no results.
“Festival of lights,” returned four results, but none related to the Jewish festival of lights. “During Diwali, the festival of lights—celebrated in India and by followers of many faiths across the world—clay lamps are lit to signify the victory of good over evil,” the United Nations posted on Nov. 11. The U.N. account also mentioned “festival of lights” and wished a happy Diwali in 2022, 2020, 2019 and 2018. (It also wished a happy Diwali in 2021, and two more times in 2020, without mentioning “festival of lights.”)
The United Nations also wished followers a happy Christmas in 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2011, and it mentions the holiday in some half a dozen other posts.
As the international body ignored Passover, it did wish a happy Easter to followers on April 9, and in 2022 and 2020.
On March 22, Guterres shared “his warmest wishes as millions of people around the world begin to observe Ramadan,” in a United Nations post that wished followers Ramadan Kareem. The U.N. handle has wished followers “Ramadan Kareem” or” Ramadan Mubarak” in 2022, 2021, 2020 and 2019. It also posted about Ramadan in 2018, and in 2021, it offered followers tips on how to stay hydrated during Ramadan. It also wished “Eid Mubarak” in 2021 and 2020.
Dozens of other U.N. posts reference Ramadan.
The United Nations has often wished followers a Happy New Year, on or around Jan. 1, and it has posted well wishes for Mother Language Day, Arabic Language Day (twice), World Radio Day, Indigenous Day, Youth Day, Lunar New Year (and twice last year), Jazz Day, International Volunteer Day, Parenting Month, World Book Day, Philosophy Day, International Girls in Information and Communications Technology Day, Spanish Language Day, African Day of School Feeding and International Men’s Day (twice) “to all the male allies around the world who support women, defy gender roles, fight gender-based violence and stand up for equality.”
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