U.N. General Assembly agrees on Holocaust denial definition

The United Nations headquarters building is pictured from a window with the UN logo in the foreground in the Manhattan borough of New York August 15, 2014. REUTERS Carlo Allegri REUTERS

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 20, Reuters - The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday agreed on a definition of denial of the Holocaust, when the Nazis killed 6 million Jews during World War Two, and urged social media companies to take active measures to combat anti-Semitism.

Germany's U.N. said the General Assembly is sending a strong and unambiguous message against the denial or distortion of these historical facts. Ignoring historical facts increases the risk that they will be repeated. The resolution drafted by Israel and Germany was not adopted by the 193-member General Assembly without a vote. Israel's U.N. spoke to the General Assembly. Ambassador Gilad Erdan made a veiled reference to Iran.

He said that nations with seats in this hall openly deny the Holocaust, casting doubt on its occurrence and praising its perpetrators. The ones that most blatantly deny that Jews suffered a genocide are the ones that are now threatening Jews with another genocide. An Iranian diplomat who Iran's U.N. mission did not identify accused Israel of exploiting the sufferings of the Jewish people in the past as a cover for crimes it has perpetrated, and questioning the resolution for an awkward approach to historical studies. Israel's U.N. mission did not respond immediately to a request for comment on Iran's statement to the General Assembly.

The resolution of the General Assembly spelled out that the distortion and denial of the Holocaust refers to

Intentional efforts to minimize or excuse the impact of the Holocaust or its principal elements, including collaborators and allies of Nazi Germany.

There is a gross minimisation of the number of victims of the Holocaust in contradiction to reliable sources.

Attempts to blame the Jews for their own genocide are made.

Statements that cast the Holocaust as a positive historical event were made by the Holocaust.

Attempts to put blame on other nations or ethnic groups for the establishment of concentration and death camps devised and operated by Nazi Germany.

It urges member states and social media companies to take action to combat antisemitism and Holocaust denial or distortion by means of information and communication technologies and to allow reporting of such content. The General Assembly meeting on Thursday coincided with the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference, when the Nazis met to coordinate the final solution -- their plan to exterminate the Jews.