JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel and UNESCO have signed an agreement to promote Holocaust education and combat its denial.
The agreement signed Monday in Paris between Israel and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization commits to the establishment of a center within the organization devoted entirely to developing and promoting Holocaust education and combating its denial worldwide. The center will function in accordance with resolutions adopted at the U.N. General Assembly in New York and UNESCO, according to Israel’s Foreign Ministry.
Israel will fund part of the project "after reaching understandings with UNESCO regarding its treatment of political issues on the agenda," according to the Foreign Ministry.
UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova and Nimrod Barkan, Israel’s permanent delegate to UNESCO, signed the agreement.
B’nai B’rith International praised the agreement reached between Israel and UNESCO.
The agreement "will provide the important framework needed for UNESCO to implement the teaching of Holocaust awareness and remembrance while strengthening the relationship between Israel and UNESCO through a cooperative partnership," the organization said in a statement issued Tuesday. "Increased attention to Holocaust education is essential to combating anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiments, as well as the Holocaust denial and glorification recently experiencing an alarming resurgence
worldwide."
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