Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day
Israel ushered in its Holocaust Remembrance Day on Wednesday in memory of the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its collaborators in World War II, as leaders voiced concerns about a rising tide of anti-Semitism worldwide.
In moving speeches to hundreds of Israeli politicians and Holocaust survivors at the country’s national Holocaust memorial, Israel’s ceremonial president warned the government against warming up to far-right parties in Europe, while Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pointed to last weekend’s deadly synagogue shooting in San Diego as evidence of growing anti-Semitic hatred.
The 24-hour remembrance period began at sundown with the main ceremony at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, held just hours after Israeli researchers reported that violent attacks against Jews rose significantly last year. This spike was most dramatic in western Europe.
President Reuven Rivlin touched on the surging anti-Semitism in Europe, which he said “is once again rearing its head, fueled by waves of immigration, economic crises, and disillusionment with the political establishment.”
In veiled criticism of Netanyahu, he urged the government to rethink its cultivation of alliances with nationalist parties in Europe.
“Not every right-wing party in Europe that believes in controlling immigration or in protecting its unique character is antiSemitic or xenophobic,” Rivlin said. “But political forces where anti-Semitism and racism are part of their language, their legacy or their ideology can never be our allies.”
He added: “No interest and no consideration of realpolitik can justify a dishonorable alliance with racist groups or elements who do not acknowledge their past and their responsibility for the crimes of the Holocaust.”
Rivlin did not identify any particular countries. But Netanyahu has come under fire for embracing a string of eastern European leaders who have lavished Israel with political support while promoting a distorted image of the Holocaust and stoking anti-Semitism at home.
A slew of former communist nations whose leaders recently paid their respects at Yad Vashem, such as Hungary, Lithuania and Poland, are swept up in a wave of World War II-era revisionism that seeks to diminish their culpability in the Holocaust while making heroes out of anti-Soviet nationalists involved in the mass killing of Jews. Many in Israel have accused Netanyahu of cynically betraying victims’ memories for political gain.
In his remarks, Netanyahu also stressed the continued threat of anti-Semitic extremism. He said that the extreme right, extreme left, and radical Islam agree on “one thing: their hatred of Jews.”
Netanyahu noted the deadly synagogue shootings in San Diego last weekend and Pittsburgh last October, as well as recurring vandalism at Jewish cemeteries.
In an emotional ritual, six survivors lit torches in memory of the 6 million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. The torchlighters’ brutal trials in concentration camps and narratives of endurance reflected this year’s theme at Yad Vashem, “The War Within the War: the Struggle of the Jews to Survive During the Holocaust.”