The Global Imams Council (GIC), the largest NGO of imams in the world, has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
The GIC and advisory committee unanimously voted on Monday to embrace the IHRA definition that came into effect on Thursday, according to i24NEWS.
In a statement posted on its website, the GIC said, “Today, we add our council’s name alongside 34 countries that have adopted this working definition. We live in a time of rising anti-Semitism and terrorist attacks, which makes our responsibility as faith leaders greater, and even greater as Imams.”
GIC President Imam al-Budairi was “pleased to announce that our Council [adopted the definition] through a successful and democratic referendum.”
According to the GIC website, the council is a “body of Muslim religious leaders from all Islamic denominations and schools of thought,” which consists of more than 1,000 members worldwide.
The IHRA working definition offers a comprehensive description of anti-Semitism in its various forms, including hatred and discrimination against Jews, Holocaust denial and, sometimes controversially, the way anti-Semitism relates to the ways criticism of Israel is expressed.
The GIC’s move to adopt the IHRA definition followed Albania, which has become the first Muslim-majority country in the world to endorse the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism on October 22.
Other countries to have adopted the definition include Germany, Britain, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, France, Canada, Cyprus and Argentina.
Earlier this week, the Canadian province of Ontario also adopted the IHRA definition, becoming the first Canadian province to do so.
(Arutz Sheva’s North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Arutz Sheva articles, however, is Israeli time.)