A Canadian Jewish advocacy organization is calling on Ukraine to join the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) and to adopt its definition of antisemitism.
As Ukraine continues to defend itself against Russian military aggression, B’nai Brith Canada submitted a request to the Ukrainian Ambassador to Canada, suggesting the war torn nation consider the measure in order to combat antisemitism and fight Holocaust revisionism.
The letter addressed to Ambassador Yuliya Kovaliv asked her to transmit B’nai Brith’s request that Ukraine join IHRA to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian government, according to B’nai Brith.
“We are well aware, as everyone is, that Ukraine is understandably preoccupied with defending itself,” B’nai Brith Canada CEO Michael Mostyn said. “Yet, as its links to the West grow stronger, we feel this moment is an opportune time for Ukraine to join IHRA. It can only help in solidifying what Ukraine stands for as it strives for solidarity and support from the free world.”
Noting that the IHRA definition is the result of an international alliance of 45 nations (35 full members and 10 observer countries), including Canada, the United States, Germany, France and the United Kingdom, B’nai Brith encouraged Ukraine’s membership in the IHRA as a means to expand the preservation of Holocaust remembrance and further the fight against antisemitism
B’nai Brith also said it was “addressing gaps in the IHRA membership by contacting nations whose absence is difficult to fathom.”
“Ukraine remains home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities, with historic roots dating back a millennium,” said Marvin Rotrand, National Director of B’nai Brith’s League for Human Rights. “During the Holocaust, more than a million Ukrainian Jews were brutally murdered by the Nazis and their local Ukrainian collaborators. Joining IHRA at this point strikes us as a sensible move.”
He pointed out that all of Ukraine’s immediate neighbours to its west, including Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, Moldova and Romania, are IHRA members.
“Having Ukraine join would be a strong statement to its commitment to combat antisemitism and it would aid blunt Holocaust revision,” Rotrand said.