by Justine Hemmestad
2-1-24
President Biden’s International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement on January 27 are as follows: “This year, the charge to remember the Holocaust, the evil of the Nazis, and the scourge of antisemitism is more pressing than ever. On October 7 Hamas terrorists unleashed pure, unadulterated evil on the people of Israel, slaughtering approximately 1,200 innocent people and taking hundreds more hostage – including survivors of the Shoah. It was the worst atrocity committed against the Jewish people in a single day since the Holocaust. “In the aftermath of Hamas’s vicious massacre, we have witnessed an alarming rise of despicable antisemitism at home and abroad that has surfaced painful scars from millennia of hate and genocide of Jewish people. It is unacceptable. We cannot remember all that Jewish survivors of the Holocaust experienced and then stand silently by when Jews are attacked and targeted again today. Without equivocation or exception, we must also forcefully push back against attempts to ignore, deny, distort, and revise history. This includes Holocaust denial- ism and efforts to minimize the horrors that Hamas perpetrated on October 7, especially its appalling and unforgiveable use of rape and sexual violence to terrorize victims. “...sadly, these events remind us that hate never goes away. It only hides until it is given a little oxygen. And we must each do our part to ensure that hate in all its forms has no safe harbor anywhere in the world. It is our shared moral responsibility to stand up to antisemitism and hate-fueled violence at home and abroad and to make real the promise of ‘Never Again.’ “….On this somber International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we hold the Jewish community and the people of Israel close in our hearts. We recommit to carrying forward the lessons of the Shoah, to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate-fueled violence, and to bringing the hostages home. And we remember the enduring strength, spirit, and resilience of the Jewish people – even in the darkest of times.” Steffen Seibert, Ger- man Ambassador to Israel, says that International Holocaust day is about, “looking back and knowing the facts of the past, but also applying the lessons to the present and preparing for the future…The events of October 7 make this day even more current for us…” “Preparing for the future,” is similar to the Jewish concept of repairing the world: “tikkun olam.” An initiative in Israel after October 7 is to plant a tree - “For Man is the tree of the field.” With the responsibility of proactively ‘planting’ goodness in the world, actions take root in the mind.
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