Israeli ambassador to Ukraine Joel Lyon called on the Cabinet of Ministers to fix in Ukrainian legislation the legal definition of anti-Semitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
According to Ukrinform, the Israeli ambassador said this in a video message on the occasion of Yom Ga-Shoa Memorial Day, posted on the embassy's Facebook page.
"I call on the Ukrainian government to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism. By understanding what anti-Semitism is, you can fight it. But if you don't understand what anti-Semitism is, how can you fight it?" the Israeli ambassador stressed.
Yom Ga-Shoah is a National Memorial Day celebrated in Israel as a day to honor the approximately 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust as a result of the actions of the Third Reich and its allies, as well as to honor the Jewish resistance movement of those times.
The IHRA defines anti-Semitism as a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed as hatred of Jews; rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism aimed at Jews or non-Jews and/or their property, Jewish public institutions and religious buildings.
According to the Alliance, the corresponding definition was fixed by 29 countries. Among them, in particular, are Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, the United States and the United Kingdom.
The last country to implement this definition is Guatemala — January 27, 2021.