For the first time, an official representative of the United Arab Emirates participated in the International March of the Living alongside the Ambassador and Founder of March of the Living UAE.

Entrepreneur and philanthropist Eitan Neishlos, newly appointed Founder and Ambassador of March of the Living in the Gulf states, and H.E. Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, Founder of Dubai’s Crossroads of Civilizations Museum and the first Holocaust Gallery in the Arabic and Islamic world, walked side-by-side in the first physical March of the Living since the signing of the Abraham Accords.

Together, they lit the Torch of Remembrance – a powerful symbol of coexistence, tolerance, and united condemnation of modern antisemitism and racism in all its forms.

“I’m very proud to have co-founded and to accept the ambassadorial appointment in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and by extension in the Gulf Region,” Neishlos, the President and Founder of the Neishlos Foundation, tells Israel National News. “This is on the back of the Abraham Accords, a great gift from the leaders of the United Arab Emirates, from the leaders of the State of Israel, and it's incumbent on our generation to adopt, inherit and pursue.”

“I was so proud today to lead the March on behalf of the third generation and to inspire a generation of upstanders,” adds Neishlos, who is the grandchild of a Holocaust survivor.

Neishlos has joined the March of the Living as a strategic partner to lead the “third-generation campaign” – a call to action for the next generation to carry the responsibility of telling the stories of the survivors who are slowly and sadly dwindling in number.

“We will be identifying young leaders, bringing them every year to the March and returning as change agents to their respective homelands so that never means never,” he says.

“What’s remarkable for me is that the United Arab Emirates has over 200 cultures inside it and the leaders of the Emirates understand coexistence. It was so appropriate that the Abraham Accords were signed in the United Arab Emirates and for that reason I have relocated myself to Dubai and I’m integrating myself as a proud Jew and I’m sending a message of tolerance and coexistence among our nations.”

Al Mansoori, a former Member of the UAE Federal National Council, describes the experience of being on the March to Israel National News: “It was as very remarkable experience in all aspects, emotionally, intellectually, culturally.”

“Today was the highlight of learning about what happened in the Holocaust, learning about everybody’s experiences and life stories,” he explains. “We were very touched by profound speeches that touched our hearts, and added value to our understand about the Holocaust. So when we educate about it we know how to really talk from experience and it’s very important that everyone at least one time comes [to see the death camps], especially on the March of the Living.”

In the wake of the historic tensions between Jews and Arabs, what are Al Mansoori’s feelings as he visits the death camps?

“The key message I learned from the Holocaust survivors is that hate is not a solution. Avoid hate," he says.

Neishlos adds: “Today I stepped in through the gates of hell but I walk out with a friend and a brother. Those are the steps that we need to take. It was a very emotional day. It was a very profound day. It was very helpful to have [Al Mansoori] side by side with me.”

He explains that "this is the new Middle East."

“This is a warm place. For me, Ahmed is a symbol of coexistence and I pray that I hope what we did today which was a historic moment in lighting the torch or remembrance together will resonate with my generation, the third generation, and inspire us all to be upstanders," Neishlos says.