Translated automatically by AI from the Italian original.
Shock testimony at the UN by Yemeni journalist Luai Ahmed, with his strong report of racism in the Middle East
The testimony of Yemeni journalist Luai Ahmed has again left the UN Human Rights Council stunned. Invited for the second time during the same session by the organisation UN Watch, Ahmed spoke during the debate on racism, racial discrimination and xenophobia.
In his speech, the journalist strongly reported the widespread racism and antisemitism in the Yemen where he grew up. He said that in his home country, Black people are commonly called “abid” (literally “slaves”), but he stressed that the most deep‑seated hatred he was taught from childhood was that directed at the Jewish people.
“The first time I heard the word ‘Jew’ I was nine years old, in the mosque in my neighbourhood,” Ahmed recalled. “At the end of the prayer, the imam shouted: ‘May Allah kill the Jews and the Zionists,’ and I replied ‘amen’ along with thousands of other worshippers. I had been taught that Zionism meant killing Arabs and destroying Islam.”
Ahmed then explained how his perspective changed completely after his visit to Israel following the 7 October attacks, where he was able to see daily life in the Jewish state for himself, dismantling the prejudices and lies with which he had been raised.
