CAM in response to UN antisemitism plan: IHRA definition essential

Given the UN’s declination to endorse the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, CAM insisted that the definition is central to effectively combating antisemitism.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF JANUARY 19, 2025 21:42

ANTISEMITISM ON display at the UK’s Free Palestine rally. (photo credit: CST)

Combat Antisemitism Movement, a leading NGO working to fight Jew-hatred worldwide, welcomed the United Nations’s recent Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism in a Friday statement.

However, given the UN’s declination to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, CAM insisted that the definition is central to effectively combating antisemitism.

UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Ángel Moratinos announced the launch of the plan, which was developed by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, earlier on Friday.

The UN action plan noted that 45 UN member states have adopted or endorsed the IHRA definition and that no alternative definitions have been adopted by a UN member state.

'The UN does not endorse any definition on antisemitism'

“Nonetheless, the United Nations Secretariat does not endorse any definition on antisemitism,” the plan stated.

Sacha Roytman, the CEO of Combat Antisemitism Movement, at the annual Zionist Council in Israel’s “Heroes of Israeli Society” award ceremony. (credit: CAM)

“The UN was founded on the ashes of the Holocaust to prevent similar atrocities from ever recurring. Yet, over the past eight decades, it has failed its purpose again and again decades when it comes to protecting the Jewish people and state,” CAM CEO Sacha Roytman stated in response to the plan. 

“High Representative Moratinos is a valued partner who we’ve been pleased to work with in recent years, and we welcome his efforts to fight antisemitism, including the building of the plan he presented today. 

“Yet there is rightfully little trust in UN institutions to address and counter Jew-hatred effectively and properly, and adoption and implementation of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Antisemitism must be a central component of any serious initiative to do so.”

In his introduction of the action plan, Moratinos called antisemitism “a global scourge that must be addressed” and stated that the UN’s efforts in fighting it “would benefit from a comprehensive approach that engages all stakeholders including state and non-state actors.”