Last night (Thursday), the UN General Assembly adopted a decision with historical significance to combat Holocaust denial. This is the second time that an Israeli decision regarding the Holocaust has been made at the General Assembly.
The decision was initiated by Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gilad Ardan, in cooperation with the Foreign Ministry, against the background of the dramatic rise in anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial in recent years, especially on social media.
At Arden's request, the vote symbolically took place 80 years exactly after the convening of the Wannsee Conference, at which the Nazis formulated the plan of the final solution to the extermination of European Jewry.
The background to the decision is an increase in the spread of Holocaust denial content around the world, especially in the digital arena and social networks.
The main implication of the decision is that for the first time there is a binding international determination, which defines exactly what Holocaust denial is, and imposes on the countries of the world responsibility to act against Holocaust denial and to carry out educational programs for the younger generation.
In addition, the UN calls on international internet giants to remove content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.
The decision was passed by consensus and without a vote, after 114 countries joined it.
The wording is the result of in-depth work and intensive international political negotiations held in recent months by Ambassador Arden and the Israeli delegation to the UN in coordination with the Foreign Ministry in front of the foreign ministries of many countries around the world to support the decision.
Ambassador Arden was accompanied during the debate and the vote by five Holocaust survivors, as well as Albert Burla, CEO of Pfizer, as the son of Holocaust survivors and as a pioneering Jew among the leaders of the global epidemic. Arden also attacked Iran for openly promoting Holocaust denial. Seats in this hall openly deny the Holocaust.
In fact, those who most blatantly deny that Jews have been genocide are the ones who are now threatening Jews with another genocide. "
An Iranian representative said for his part that his country did not join the decision and called Israel an apartheid state.
However, he did not demand a vote because the Iranians are temporarily without the right to vote due to non-payment for their membership in the UN and their understanding that the decision has a large majority among the countries.
Arden sharply attacked the Internet giants' disregard for the denial content that is common on the networks.
"While the internet is becoming a breeding ground for fraud and deception, social media platforms are shirking their responsibilities. Despite their importance, these platforms are doing very little to combat this sick phenomenon. Service "We hear from the CEOs of the Internet giants.
He added: "We know these words. We've heard them before. As you shirk responsibility, evil grows; when there is no responsibility, evil wins. Social media giants can no longer remain complacent about the hatred spread on their platforms."
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid and German Foreign Minister Analena Barbuk issued a joint statement following the decision. "This resolution calls on UN member states, its agencies, as well as private sector entities such as technology companies, to take active steps against the disturbing trend of Holocaust denial and distortion, to encourage education and research and to cultivate the memory of the Holocaust. This decision is an important contribution and at the right time to oppose anti-Semitism, and constitutes for us a common moral duty. We have a duty to all victims and survivors, never to forget. "
Robert Singer, chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact and former director general of the Jewish Congress, added: "80 years after senior members of the German Nazi Party decided to deport and murder millions of Jews on European soil, the UN Council convenes today, in an unprecedented move, to adopt One of the most significant decisions for the Jewish people against Holocaust denial and all this with the support of 70 countries from around the world. National education systems. '
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Holocaust survivor and one of the founders of the March of Life, congratulated the Israeli Ambassador to the UN, the UN Secretary-General and the member states on the historic decision made at the UN General Assembly today (Thursday) to establish a UN constitutional ban on Holocaust denial. "Holocaust denial is the denial of the truth, and without the truth there is no basis for the United Nations."
The chairman of the parade, Haim Dr. Shmuel Rosenman, said: This is a historic and important decision, especially at this time, because the fact that Ambassador Arden is a grandson of Holocaust survivors led the symbolic decision and it will excite hundreds of thousands of Holocaust survivors who still live with us. "I promise that the historical truth will be preserved."
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