IN a show of solidarity with world Jewry, Prime Minister Julia Gillard on Tuesday became the first Australian politician to sign the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism on Tuesday.

Gillard, flanked by Attorney General Mark Dreyfus and Australian Jewish communal leaders at the offices of Investec in Sydney, said: “It is with a sense of history that we do the signing.”

The London Declaration, drawn up at an international conference on anti-Semitism in 2009 involving politicians and experts from 35 countries. calls on governments, international institutions, as well as political and civic leaders to combat any manifestation of anti-Semitism and discrimination.

Noting “the dramatic increase in recorded anti-Semitic hate crimes” and expressing alarm over “the resurrection of the old language of prejudice” and “government-backed anti-Semitism”, the declaration commits signatories to challenge “hate against Jews” to legislate against hate crimes, to identify where the threat comes from and implement policies to tackle it, to promote education, awareness and training against anti-Semitism and to take “appropriate and necessary action” to prevent the airing and dissemination of anti-Semitic material via broadcast and online media.

It also requires signatories to challenge any foreign leader, politician or public figure that denies, denigrates or trivialises the Holocaust.