Today, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, The Global Imams Council joins the global community in honoring the memory of the six million Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. During this era in which our Jewish brethren have become subject to the most venomous antisemitic attacks at rallies, on campuses and on social media, the GIC remains steadfast in its determination to fight antisemitism in all its forms.

The GIC remains unwavering in its 2020 commitment to the GIC’s adoption of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, which includes “denying the fact, scope, mechanisms or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II”, and to the GIC’s public endorsement of the UN resolution on February 3, 2022, condemning Holocaust Denial.

Antisemitism is a uniquely pervasive, enduring and lethal form of globalized prejudice that has become a driving and binding force for extremists and terrorists across the globe. We therefore reiterate our categorical condemnation of the genocidal antisemitism promoted by Islamist extremist and terrorist groups such as Hamas, ISIS, Hezbollah, Hizb-ut-Tahrir, and the Muslim Brotherhood who have misused the name of Islam to sow violence and hatred against Jews across the globe.

In particular, the GIC condemns all forms of Holocaust Denial and Distortion as one of the most widespread, malevolent, and egregious of the antisemitic narratives promulgated by these groups seeking to denigrate and demonize the religious and national identity of our Jewish brethren. We view this particularly perverse calumny as unmatched in its virulence in legitimizing hatred, violence and genocide against the Jewish people.

To mark this occasion, 600 of our senior Imams have signed this statement below to emphasize our unequivocal condemnation of antisemitism and all forms of intolerance and extremism and stand united in remembering the victims of the Holocaust while working toward a future where such atrocities are never repeated.

As Muslim leaders, we recognize that Islamist antisemitism has tarnished the name of our religion, and we affirm that a pious Muslim follows the Abrahamic teachings of brotherhood and coexistence, standing resolutely against hatred, extremism, and terrorism.