UN to designate January 27 as annual Holocaust day
The measure, expected to be approved on Tuesday by consensus, rejects any denial that the Holocaust took place. It also urges members to "inculcate" future generations with the lessons on the genocide so it would not be repeated in the future.
"I feel moved and privileged to present this historic resolution today, as an Israeli, a Jew, a human being and the child of Holocaust victims," Israel's U.N. ambassador, Dan Gillerman, told the 191-member General Assembly.
The General Assembly has often been accused of anti-Semitism and persistent concentration on the plight of Palestinians. The Holocaust was largely ignored until January when the assembly held a session to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the death camps.
U.S. Ambassador John Bolton recalled that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said last week that Israel should be "wiped off the map."
"When a President or a member state can brazenly and hatefully call for a second Holocaust by suggesting that Israel, the Jewish homeland, should be wiped off the map, it is clear that not all have learned the lessons of the Holocaust and that much work remains to be done," Bolton said.
The resolution, first proposed by the United States, Israel, Russia, Australia, and Canada was co-sponsored by nearly 100 nations from every continent.