Today, to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, took part in a Congressional memorial ceremony. His speech is below:

Mr. President, Madam Speaker, Senators, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and dear, dear Survivors,

Three weeks ago “Yurek”, the “cigarette boy” from Warsaw, passed away. He was “my witness” when I went to Poland. In Warsaw he showed me the place from which the Jews were transported to the gas chambers and the sewer systems in which he survived when his entire family was murdered. At the sites where Jews fought to die with dignity, he did not even mention his own role in the uprising or that only three years after he survived, he fought again, this time to save the survival of Israel. One evening he told me quietly that his son, Eitan, fell in the defense of Israel in 1973. Between Auschwitz, Majdank and Treblinka, he shared with me his dream for peace.
Many of us in Israel are personally connected to the Holocaust. My mother’s grandparents were murdered by the Germans. Their son was beaten to death in front of his young daughters, who tried not to look but could not escape the noise of his cracking bones.
However, for Israel the Holocaust is more than a collection of heartbreaking personal experiences. The Holocaust is at the heart of our national identity. “Never Again” is at the center of our raison d’etre. And like Yurek and Tom Lantos, we refuse to lose faith in the human spirit, to give up hope, or to forsake our passion for peace. As I was told only this week by an Israeli survivor, an eye doctor: My “revenge” he said are the families of my children, curing Israelis and Palestinians in Jerusalem and volunteering in Africa , saving the sight of thousands of people.
When Yurek and Tom Lantos and other survivors cannot any more tell the story, the work of Holocaust museums will become even more vital. At these institutions young people worldwide will be able to learn how “the writing was on the wall” years before the destruction started. There they will feel the human cost of indifference. In the US Holocaust Museum they will read on the wall the authentic document explaining why Auschwitz was not bombed; because it would divert necessary assets, because of doubtful efficacy, and because it might provoke even more vindictive actions by the Germans.
At the same time, they will also learn the stories of the righteous amongst nations, who in their great courage saved human lives and the dignity of humanity. They will see how America and its allies defeated evil and that from destruction hope may rise again.
Honoring the dead should not be the sole purpose of remembrance. It must serve us to shape a better future. It must make us think not only what would we have done, but what will we do in similar situations. How will we act when we see racism against others? When genocide occurs far from our borders, how will we try to stop it? When a regime is again endangering world peace, terrorizing its neighbors and threatening to destroy the Jewish people, how will we meet this challenge before it is too late?
We are honored today by the presence of the righteous amongst the nations and salute the brave Americans who saved the world only 65 years ago.
Their spirit is the spirit of America which continues to serve so many around the world as a source of hope and as a living example that all are created equal with the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
In the name of the Jewish state, I express our deepest gratitude to America for its unwavering friendship towards Israel and for standing on behalf of dignity, freedom, security and peace for all humanity.

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