Secretary General Kofi Annan opens the first United Nations conference on Monday dedicated entirely to anti-Semitism, a scourge Jewish leaders say has deliberately been neglected by the world body.
Author Elie Wiesel, the Nobel laureate and Holocaust survivor, gives the keynote speech in the all-day seminar, marked by three separate panels.
The discussions are expected to be tough on the world body, which has adopted countless resolutions condemning Israeli actions against the Palestinians. But several Jewish leaders say criticism of Israel is not the problem by itself.
"The situation in Middle East has been imported into Europe, for example, and the Jewish communities there have been made the innocent victims," said Elon Steinberg, executive vice president of the World Jewish Congress.
"We are seeing the most severe level of anti-Semitism around the globe since the Holocaust," he said. "The UN has multitudes of annual reports on various racist situations but an obvious neglect of anti-Semitism."
Another panelist, Felice Gaer, director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, said the "spike in anti-Semitic incidents in recent years is not hooliganism, it's human rights abuse."
The Jewish leaders point to criticism of Israel in the Arab world they say is descending into expressions of extreme anti-Semitism. In Europe, many nations, including France which has had a flurry of incidents against Jews, resisted for some time treating them as anti-Semitic acts.
And in some countries, the violence has been justified as reactions against Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policies.
"There is nothing wrong with criticising policies of State of Israel. Israelis do it all the time," Steinberg said. "The problem is when it degenerates into an anti-Semitic screed. And it does not give you the right to act violently.