WJC President Ronald Lauder Urges Jewish Leaders to Shift Antisemitism Spending to Education

World Jewish Congress President Ronald S. Lauder called on Jewish organizations to stop spending vast sums trying to persuade antisemites and instead invest heavily in Jewish education, warning that global Jewry is facing “another dark hour.”

Speaking to the WJC Governing Board in Geneva as the organization marked 90 years since its founding in the city in 1936, Lauder drew a direct comparison between the Jewish leaders who gathered before World War II to warn about Nazi Germany and the threats facing Jewish communities today.

“Ninety years ago, one of the darkest hours for the Jewish people was coming, and it is no accident that we are back here exactly 90 years later,” Lauder said. “Because today, in 2026, we face another dark hour.”

Lauder said Jewish communities around the world are facing surging antisemitism, citing Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the United States. He warned that it has become dangerous to be visibly Jewish in major Western capitals.

“We either move forward as one people ready to fight the fight of our lives, or suffer consequences that I don’t even want to contemplate,” he said.

Lauder said Jewish organizations in the US had spent more than $600 million since the October 7 massacre on advertisements, media campaigns and public messaging against antisemitism. He questioned whether those efforts had slowed anti-Jewish hatred.

“Has it helped?” he asked. “Has all that money stopped, or even slowed down, the hatred against us? The answer is ‘No.’”

He argued that antisemites are not lacking information, but are committed to narratives blaming Jews and Israel for global problems.

“You are wasting your breath trying to reason with them,” Lauder said. “You can’t educate an antisemite.”

Instead, he called for Jewish institutions to redirect resources toward children and identity-building.

“We stop concentrating on the antisemites, and we start focusing on our children,” he said. “Take all the money that’s been spent on this media circus and spend it on Jewish education.”

Lauder pointed to Jewish schools he helped establish in Eastern Europe nearly 40 years ago, saying they helped revive communities and produced more than 50,000 graduates.

He also urged governments, especially in Europe, to confront antisemitism and extremism more directly, accusing political leaders of lacking courage.

“We are facing the greatest crisis since World War II,” he said. “And all we see in government after government is Neville Chamberlains and no Winston Churchills.”

Lauder also called for stronger Jewish-Christian alliances and warned that threats beginning with Jews often spread more widely. He said his current term as WJC president, with three years remaining, would be his last.