Both current US Ambassador to Israel, Thomas Nides, and the previous US Ambassador, David Friedman, attended this year’s March of the Living from Auschwitz to Birkenau.
They spoke to Israel National News from Auschwitz, speaking in support of Holocaust remembrance and stressing the importance of the fight against antisemitism.
“This is a an unbelievably emotional place to be,” Nides said. “The reality that the American ambassador is here with his friend David Friedman, who was my predecessor. The two of us are representing the most important thing which is to fight antisemitism, to make sure this never happens again, that antisemitism is stopped.”
Nides noted the large number of young people going on the March of the Living.
“But most importantly is look at all these kids, look at what's going on here,” he said. “This is why I was here to represent America, to be in the footsteps of survivors, to be in footsteps of young people, to make sure this never happens again.”
“This is a very powerful place. I led the March of the Living in 2019. That was four years ago and I wanted to come back and do something a little bit different this time” Friedman said.
“I wanted to help make a statement. We're going to walk arm in arm from Auschwitz to Birkenau and we're going to say as powerfully as we can to as many people as we can that when it comes to defending the Jewish people, defending the State of Israel, and fighting against antisemitism there are no Republicans, there's no Democrats. There are Americans, there are Jews. We’re together and we're going to win this fight together and I'm so grateful to Ambassador Nides for joining me on this mission.”