Israeli UN Ambassador Gilad Erdan. Photo: Gali Tibbon / Pool via Reuters.

JNS.org – Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan is promoting an initiative that would see the international body adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism.

“Rising antisemitism around the world demands we act with additional tools and increase cooperation with the international community to create tools for enforcement against displays of antisemitic hatred in the field,” said Erdan. “The UN’s adoption of the official definition can limit some of the incitement against Israel at the UN that some of the member states have grown accustomed to, and will also better equip the whole UN to fight antisemitism.”

To enlist the UN to the effort, Erdan recently met over the weekend with UN Under-Secretary-General Miguel Moratinos, the body’s “point man” on antisemitism. The two discussed options for fighting antisemitism, as well as the possibility of the UN’s adopting of the IHRA definition of the term in such a way that obligates all of its organizations.

Such a move, which would likely take a few months, would find officials of countries such as Iran in violation of the UN’s position when they engage in Holocaust denial.

So far, 35 countries have adopted the IHRA definition, according to which anti-Zionism is antisemitism.