New York, NY, February 6, 2008 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) urged a Spanish regional parliament to adopt a resolution to commemorate victims of the Holocaust.  Previously, a minority party within the parliament said it would not support the resolution unless it included language critical of Israel, leading to the resolution's withdrawal from consideration.

Glen S. Lewy, ADL National Chairman, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, urged the President of the Galician Parliament, Dolores Villarino Santiago, to introduce a new Holocaust resolution and bring the issue to a vote.

In a letter to Mrs. Santiago, the ADL leaders cited progress in national and regional parliaments in passing long overdue resolutions on the victims of the Holocaust.  "However," they wrote, "what occurred in the Parliament of Galicia is unprecedented and was not an act of omission.  A resolution to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust was defeated, and that result cannot be allowed to stand."

According to ADL, the attempt to include criticism of Israel in the resolution "denigrates the memory of the victims of the Holocaust."  The League said the approval of a new Holocaust resolution "will bring two appropriate results: honoring the victims and shaming those deputies who publicly oppose it."

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.