Dozens of world leaders yesterday convened in Jerusalem to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, amid a backdrop of rising anti-Semitism in Europe and the US.
However, the president of Poland, where the Nazi concentration camp was built during the German occupation of World War II, was to stay away due to rankling disputes with both Russia and Israel.
Israel has hailed the World Holocaust Forum as the biggest international gathering in its history. Russian President Vladimir Putin and US Vice President Mike Pence are among the attendees.
Poland is to host its own event at the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum on Monday next week.
More than 1 million people, most of them Jews, were killed at the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. Six million Jews died in the Holocaust.
Speeches at the Jerusalem event were likely to focus on the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust, as well as a more recent rise in anti-Semitism rhetoric and attacks worldwide.
A global survey released in November by the US-based Anti-Defamation League found that global anti-Semitic attitudes had increased, and significantly in Eastern and Central Europe. It found that large percentages of people in many European countries think Jews talk too much about the Holocaust.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday addressed this at a reception he hosted for the visiting leaders.
“I hope and pray ... that the leaders of the world will stand united in the fight against racism, anti-Semitism and extremism, in defending democracy and democratic values,” he said.
In Jerusalem, the high-profile guest list includes French President Emmanuel Macron, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Britain’s Prince Charles.
Polish President Andrzej Duda turned down an invitation to the conference, expressing dissatisfaction that representatives of Russia, France, Britain, the US and Germany would speak, while Poland was told it would not be allowed to.
Israeli organizers said only the four World War II allies, and Germany, would address the gathering.
Polish leaders have also been angered by comments made by Putin last month suggesting that Poland shared responsibility for the war.
Warsaw would be scrutinizing speeches by Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Israel’s Channel 12 TV reported might echo some of the Russian leader’s accusations against Poland in return for the pardon of an Israeli woman imprisoned in Russia on drug charges.
“Above all, we are asking that the memory of the Holocaust, that terrible crime, the memory of its victims, is not exploited for political reasons. That would be vile,” Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Szymon Szynkowski vel Sek said on Tuesday.
The international gathering could burnish Netanyahu’s domestic image as an international statesman. The veteran right-wing leader faces his third election in less than a year on March 2, amid legal woes and political deadlock.
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