UN General Assembly adopts Israeli resolution on holocaust denial

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a non-binding resolution Thursday that condemns the denial of the Holocaust and calls for greater international efforts to combat anti-Semitism worldwide.

The resolution that was introduced by Israel and Germany and approved by consensus, condemns the denial of the mass murder of 6 million Jews who were killed indiscriminately under Germany's Nazi regime during World War II and calls on both nation states and social media companies to make greater efforts to combat anti-Semitism.

Iran was the sole nation to voice opposition.

Speaking before the vote, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan said anti-Semitism has "spread like cancer" across the globe.

The passage happened on the 80th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference when senior Nazi officials formally agreed on what they called the "Final Solution of the Jewish Question," or the systemic mass extermination of European Jews in what marked one of the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

The General Assembly designated Jan. 27 -- the date on which the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp was liberated by the Soviet army -- as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

*Betul Yuruk contributed to this report from the United Nations