André Lajst, executive president of StandWithUs Brasil (left) ; Flavio Valle, deputy mayor of the South Zone of Rio;(middle) Eduardo Paes, mayor of Rio de Janeiro (right). Photo by StandWithUs
(Rio de Janeiro -- November 3, 2023) -- Through the technical/educational collaboration of StandWithUs Brasil, the capital of Rio de Janeiro joined hundreds of other cities, states and organizations who adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's Working Definition of Anti-Semitism (IHRA).
On Friday, November 3, in a ceremony at the City Palace, Rio de Janeiro become the first city in Brazil to sign the declaration.
The ceremony was attended by the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes; the deputy mayor of the South Zone, Flávio Valle; André Lajst, executive president of StandWithUs Brasil; Claudio Lottenberg, president of CONIB; Alberto Klein, president of the Israeli Federation of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Shay Salamon, representative of the Combat Anti Semitism Movement. Eduardo Paes and André Lajst signed the declaration.
According to the deputy mayor of the South Zone, Flávio Valle, who is Jewish and has collaborated in the fight against anti-Semitism in the city, stated that by "adopting the declaration, Rio recognizes our place of speech. It is an important step to accept the self-designation coming from us, Jews. This understanding will favor future arguments if there is any episode of prejudice against a person, institution or collective memory of our community."
After Hamas' attacks on Israel, provocations and hate speech against the Jewish community intensified in Rio de Janeiro, on social media and in the streets. Last week, posters offensive to the Jewish people were pasted on posts in Praça Nossa Senhora da Paz, in Ipanema, and graffiti was painted along the entire length of a wall near the Synagogue Associação Religiosa Israelita (ARI) and the Memorial to the Victims of the Holocaust, in Botafogo. , were carried out in the early hours of the morning. In the last case, there are images from security cameras that are being analyzed by the police with a view to identifying and punishing those responsible.
With this, the city of Rio, through the technical/educational collaboration of StandWithUs Brasil, will join hundreds of other cities, states and organizations, in adopting the IHRA definition defined by the organization:
“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed as hatred towards Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed against Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or against their property, against community institutions and facilities Jewish religious.”
IHRA brings together governments and experts to strengthen, advance and foster Holocaust education, remembrance and research around the world, and to fulfill the commitments of the 2000 Stockholm Declaration.
