The United Nations Security Council held a moment of silence on Monday for the victims of Saturday’s shooting attack in the Chabad synagogue in Poway California.
Members of the synagogue buried on Monday Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, who died in the attack six months to the day after 11 worshipers were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest attack on American Jewry. Three other Jewish worshipers were wounded Saturday. The alleged gunman, identified by police as John Earnest, is being held without bail.
Earnest appears to have authored an online manifesto in which he claimed responsibility for a pre-dawn arson fire at a nearby mosque last month and drew inspiration from the mass shooting at two mosques in New Zealand that killed 50 people in March.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the international community to do more to combat hate crimes.
“The world must step up to stamp out anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim hatred, persecution of Christians and all other forms of racism, xenophobia, discrimination and incitement,” he said in a statement his office issued in New York. “Around the world, we are seeing a disturbing groundswell of intolerance and hate-based violence targeting worshipers of many faiths. Such incidents have become all-too-familiar: Muslims gunned down in mosques, their religious sites vandalized; Jews murdered in synagogues, their gravestones defaced with swastikas; Christians killed at prayer, their churches often torched."He explained that houses of worship have become targets instead of safe havens and told UNSC members that he is "profoundly concerned that we are nearing a pivotal moment in battling hatred and extremism."
Migrants, minorities and refugees are also at risk from white supremacy and the resurgence of neo-Nazi ideology, Guterres said.
To help combat this phenomenon, Guterres said he has mobilized a UN system’s response to tackling hate speech led by the Special Representative on Genocide Prevention.
"Hatred is a threat to everyone – and so this is a job for everyone," he continued. "Political and religious leaders have a special responsibility to promote peaceful coexistence."
Reuters contributed to this report.