Israel was elected today to preside the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) for the year 2025. The election process took place at the IHRA’s annual plenary session, which is currently taking place in Stockholm, under Sweden’s current presidency.

The Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem and Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center had jointly campaigned for the past few years, for Israel to serve as president precisely in 2025, as this year will mark 80 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and end of World War II, as well as the 25th anniversary of the IHRA’s establishment. Since his arrival to Stockholm last fall, this issue, as well as other forums related to Holocaust remembrance and teaching, had become a priority for Israel’s ambassador to Sweden Ziv Nevo Kulman.

The IHRA is an intergovernmental body aiming at placing political and social leaders’ support behind the need for Holocaust education, remembrance and research both nationally and internationally. The nonlegally binding definition proposed by the IHRA of antisemitism has been adopted over the past decade by a great number of countries, and is globally used for political, diplomatic and educational purposes. Israel’s Foreign Ministry campaigns for the definition to be adopted as widely as possible globally.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Yair Lapid said in a video message to the conference attendants, “The State of Israel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yad Vashem are committed to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and to the fight against antisemitism. We thank the IHRA for the work it has carried out since its founding in the fight against antisemitism and are thankful for our election as President of the IHRA. As the son of a Holocaust survivor, I see it as a personal privilege and duty to continue the preservation of the memory of the Holocaust and the constant fight against antisemitism wherever it rears its head.”