The Latin American Parliament, which represents 23 Latin American and Caribbean countries, adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s working definition of antisemitism last week. It also urged each member state’s parliament to use the IHRA definition “as an active way of combating hate speech and as a tribute to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is a nongovernmental partner of the parliament, officially requested that it adopt the definition “a few months ago,” according to a Wiesenthal Center release.
“This adoption has a high value because it does not come from an organization that represents governments but from their Congresses, where there are pro-government and opposition delegates from an entire continent,” stated Ariel Gelblung, director of the center’s Center for Latin America.
“In this way, the entire ideological spectrum agrees to understand that antisemitism is not a Jewish problem but just one of the societies that tolerate it,” he added.
“This is a significant step in the fight against global Jew-hatred,” the Combat Antisemitism Movement tweeted.