Israeli delegations will not travel to Poland this year for the annual March of the Living, which takes place on Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) at the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps.
The March of the Living organization in Israel made the difficult decision after assessing serious safety risks for participants, including strict limitations on the number of passengers per flight and a significant reduction in daily departures from Ben-Gurion Airport amid the current security situation.
The planned Israeli group was to include approximately 60 Holocaust survivors, aged 85 to 100, who were intended to lead the march alongside survivors from other countries. Organizers ultimately decided against bringing the elderly participants due to the heightened risks of travel during wartime and the substantial logistical and security resources that would have been required to ensure their safety. The only previous cancellation of Israeli participation occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the entire march was canceled.
Of the roughly 8,800 participants expected from around the world to arrive in Auschwitz on April 14, 2026, about 1,000 were from Israel. Among those who canceled their trips were former Hamas hostages, representatives from the Widows and Orphans of the IDF organization, and hundreds of high-tech workers and content creators.
Ravital Yakhin Krakowski, CEO of March of the Living in Israel, stated: “With a heavy but whole heart, we must announce the cancellation of the Israeli delegations. The current security situation and airspace policies do not allow for a safe departure at this time. The Israeli representation will return next year with heads held high to continue passing the torch of remembrance to future generations. We will continue to march, continue to remember - and we will do so with even greater determination."
The international March of the Living will proceed as planned with approximately 6,500 participants from countries around the world.