Israel’s Ambassador to the United States and the United Nations Gilad Erdan observed Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) at a virtual event hosted by the United States Department of State’s Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues Cherrie Daniels on Tuesday, April 6.
The event’s theme this year was “Protecting the History of the Holocaust: Combating Holocaust Distortion and Denial” and featured special remarks from Ambassador Erdan. Other speakers included Ambassador Philip T. Reeker, Acting Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs; Ambassador Michaela Kuchler, President of IHRA and Special Representative for Relations with Jewish Organizations at the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany; and U.S. Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Jackie Rosen (D-NV).
Ambassador Erdan highlighted the importance of fighting Holocaust denial in his remarks: “By trying to distort the consequences of anti-Semitism, Holocaust deniers not only disgrace the memories of the victims, they also threaten us all. As we have all learned, anti-Semitism, like every form of hate, is a danger to everyone.”
Ambassador Erdan also emphasized that he was honored to participate in the State Department’s ceremony as both sets of his grandparents survived the Holocaust and moved to Israel following the war. The Ambassador spoke of his close relationship with his grandparents, saying: “It was they who instilled in me the importance of fighting against anti-Semitism. They taught me that we cannot afford to wait for anti-Semitic rhetoric to turn into physical violence before taking action, because if we do, it could be too late.”
The event also featured distinguished guests and leaders from the Jewish community and from Israel, including Dr. Yehuda Bauer, Honorary Chair of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), Professor Emeritus of History and Holocaust Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and Academic Advisor to Yad Vashem; Dr. Robert Williams, Deputy Director for International Programs at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Chair of IHRA’s Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial; Irene Weiss, a survivor of the Nazi extermination camp Auschwitz- Birkenau and Survivor-Volunteer at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; and Chief Rabbi of Poland Michael Schudrich, who recited the mourner’s kaddish, a traditional Jewish prayer, in memory of those murdered in the Holocaust.