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UN adopts historic Israeli-sponsored resolution to combat Holocaust denial

Israeli leaders expressed satisfaction over the UN General Assembly approving an Israeli-initiated resolution against Holocaust denial.
Israel's UN Envoy Gilad Erdan together with Holocaust survivors, after the UN General Assembly adopted an Israel-sponsored resolution against Holocaust denial, New York, Jan. 20, 2022.

The UN General Assembly adopted Jan. 20 a resolution condemning Holocaust denial. It was the second time only since the establishment of the State of Israel that a proposal brought before the international forum by the Israeli diplomatic mission managed to pass. An Israeli-sponsored resolution on agricultural technologies for development was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2019. One hundred and fourteen countries voted in favor of Resolution A/76/L30. Iran expressed its objection, but having failed to pay its UN membership dues, its delegation was banned from certain rights and its opposition voice was not counted in the vote. Thus, the resolution was approved by consensus.

The resolution was adopted on the same date as the 1942 Wannsee Conference, which had laid the groundwork for the systematic murder of Jews throughout Europe. Sponsored jointly by Israel and Germany, it was approved in the presence of a group of Holocaust survivors, invited by the Israeli UN mission for the occasion. Also invited by the Israeli mission was Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, whose parents survived the Holocaust. A day before the resolution, Bourla donated the Genesis Foundation prize he had received to the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki, Greece, in memory of his parents.

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