New warnings emerge in remembrance
Israeli leaders spotlight growing anti-semitism
JERUSALEM — 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 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.
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.”
And he urged Israel’s government to rethink its cultivation of alliances with nationalist parties in Europe.
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 and recurring vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. He also castigated a recent political cartoon in the New York Times’ international edition that drew ire for playing on anti-semitic tropes, saying that hatred of Jews has even worked its way into “respected newspapers” and mainstream views.
“We’re not talking about legitimate criticism of Israel,” he said, “but of systematic, poisonous and shallow hatred.”