Majority vote expected at UN. General Assembly
צילום: איי אף פי
U.N. to vote on official Holocaust Day
For first time in history, General Assembly will vote on Israeli proposal to mark official U.N. Holocaust Remembrance Day
History in the making: For the first time ever, the U.N. General Assembly will vote Monday to approve an official worldwide Holocaust Remembrance Day.
The Israeli proposal, expected to pass with a majority vote, will be celebrated on January 27 - the anniversary marking the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp.
During the official Holocaust Day, the U.N. plans to initiate seminars and classes throughout the world, in a bid to preserve the memory of the Holocaust for future generations and to prevent future genocide.
The General Assembly is expected Monday to praise countries that preserve the existing concentration camps and condemn those that deny the existence of the Holocaust.
'Scheduling conflicts'
The Holocaust Day proposal was presented to the General Assembly by Israel more than two months ago and was initially supported by the U.S, Russia, Canada and Australia. Since then, more than 90 countries have expressed their support.
At present, 110 out of the 191 member countries intend to vote in favor of the proposal, including Jordan and Oman.
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was expected to talk before the General Assembly, but had to cancel at the last minute upon his arrival in New York citing "scheduling conflicts."
Eitan Amit contributed to the report
