 |
 |
 |
|
|
Israelis observing the two-minute silence on Holocaust Memorial Day
|
|
|
|
|
|
| By israelinsider staff and partners April 16, 2007 |
|
| |
 Bookmark to del.icio.us |
| |
Israel observed the annual two-minute silence in honor of the victims of the Nazis as a siren wailed across the country at 10 am Monday morning.
Memorial services for the Holocaust will take place all day long in Israel and there will be a special service in honor of the Jewish volunteers who died fighting in World War II at Israel's National Military Cemetery at Mt. Herzl in Jerusalem.
Also this morning, following the siren, high-ranking government, military, and security officials took part in a reading of the names of the Holocaust victims at Knesset. In attendance were Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Acting President and Knesset Speaker Dalia Itzik, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, and resigning Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi.
On Sunday evening hundreds of people, including Israeli leaders, foreign leaders, and Holocaust survivors gathered at Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum for the annual Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony.
Acting President Dalia Itzik opened the ceremony by saying that "the Holocaust is not only a stain on the history of Germany, not only on the history of European peoples, but a mark of Cain on all of humanity."
She continued, "We must never accept a reality in which even one of the Holocaust survivors in Israel is living without dignity," referring to recent reports that a third of the Holocaust survivors in Israel are living in poverty.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke, warning that "there are many, gathered in prestigious academic institutions, whose eyes are blinded and hearts are closed by hatred for Israel. They deny the right of the Jewish people to exist in a sovereign state. They are the first to find justification for any atrocious act against the residents of Israel and to vehemently condemn any defensive action taken by the State of Israel."
Olmert noted that Israel will mark its 59th independence day next week. "The renewal of the Jewish people, its shaking off the ashes of the Holocaust for a new life and national rebirth in its historic birthplace, is the pinnacle of its victory," he said.
Yad Vashem Committee Chairman and former MK Joseph (Tommy) Lapid said that the world is again ignoring genocide, now in Darfur.
Lapid, himself a Holocaust survivor, said that while the Holocaust was a unique event, "even after the Holocaust we witnessed genocide in Biafra, Cambodia, Rwanda, and we must cry out against the genocide currently being committed in Darfur in Sudan -- and the world is sitting on its hands and send a few sacks of flour, not so much in order to feed the hungry, but rather to calm its conscience."
Lapid then warned of dangers to the Jewish people today, noting that "[Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad thinks six million Jews are not enough."
Regarding Iran's nuclear program, Lapid said "Ahmadinejad is planning to have means of destruction compared to which the gas chambers at Auschwitz were just the beginning."
Lapid added, "6 million who were murdered say to us, 'We thought it could not happen, we relied on the goodness of others, and when we awoke from our illusions it was too late,'" said Lapid.
"The world advises us to be compromising, to take risks for peace. What will they do if the other side doesn't behave as they desire? Will they say, sorry, we were wrong?" Lapid continued. "Our message to the world is: Think about the Holocaust, because we think of it every day."
In addition to the ceremonies in Israel, about 6,000 Israeli youths and Jews from all over the world are participating in the March of the Living in Poland, in which they will walk in silence from Auschwitz to the Birkenau camp, retracing the path of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death marches. Over one million predominantly Jewish prisoners were murdered at Birkenau, which was the biggest Nazi death camp. |
|
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
