Jerusalem, March 20, 2005...The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) acknowledges the significance and importance that the establishment of the first Holocaust Museum in Arabic can have.

In response to the recent inauguration of the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education in Nazareth, ADL's Israel Office issued the following statement:

The establishment of the first Holocaust museum for the Arabic-speaking public can be an important first step in educating the Arab world on the unique horrors of the destruction of European Jewry.  

Particularly now, at a time when Holocaust denial is rife both within and outside of the Arab world, the attempt to teach young Arabs about the Holocaust and to learn moral and ethical lessons from it is a worthy pursuit.   

If however, the Arab Institute for Holocaust Research and Education is, as noted on its Web site, ideologically grounded in the belief that it was the Palestinian people who paid the price for European guilt over the Holocaust by imposing what they believe is an illegitimate Jewish state in the heart of the Arab world then the institute will merely propagate the classic anti-Israel use of the Holocaust and promote anti-Semitism.

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.