Pan-European campaign to raise awareness about the Holocaust culminated with Commemoration event in the European Parliament in Brussels

Brussels 30 January 2008 – A pan-European campaign, initiated by the European Coalition for Israel, with the objective of raising awareness about the Holocaust culminated on Monday 28 January with an official commemoration event in the European Parliament in Brussels. At the event European Parliament president Hans-Gert Pöttering spoke alongside deputy foreign minister of Israel Majalli Whbee, the president of the European Jewish Congress Moshe Kantor as well as the chairman of the European Coalition for Israel, Helmut Specht.

The campaign “learn from history” has been mobilizing local churches in Europe to remind about the Holocaust at a time when an increasing number of people are starting to question the historical validity of the greatest crime against mankind. In his speech Pöttering rebuffed Iranian president Ahmadinejad by saying that “Holocaust denial is un-acceptable for the EU as is the hostile rhetoric of threatening Israel with annihilation.” He went on to say that “Holocaust was an anti- thesis of the values which the EU was founded on. It is today our duty to remember and to never let it happen again.”

The president of the European Jewish Congress, Moshe Kantor stressed the importance of education by saying that “we need to prepare the medicine before the patient becomes ill”. He invited the European Parliament to partner with European Jewry in commemorating the 70th anniversary of ‘Kristallnacht’, or Night of Broken Glass, the pogroms against Jews organized by the Nazis through Germany and Austria on November 9-10, 1938. Kantor, who lost half of if his family on the first day of the Nazi-occupation of Ukraine in 1941, reminded the audience that Nazism is not dead.

– “Mein kampf” is still today a very popular book and there are more neo-Nazis in Europe than there are Jews, he said.

Also attending the ceremony, Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Majalli Whbee spoke of a revival of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial and called Ahmadinejad the ‘heir’ of Hitler.

– "As an Israeli Druze, I am shocked to hear people denying the Holocaust and accusing Israeli leaders of being Nazis", he said.

In his speech European Coalition for Israel president Helmut Specht pledged that Christians involved in the Coalition will stand together with the Jewish people in the battle against anti-Semitism in Europe. By mobilizing church communities in Europe to commemorate the Holocaust and promote good relations with European Jewry and the state of Israel, the church can play a crucial role, he said.

During a time of prayer and reflection former ECI president Willem Glashouwer and president Ingolf Ellssel from the Pentecostal European Fellowship stressed the need for Christian repentance but also to show the fruit of repentance which is solidarity with the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

The evening was hosted by MEP Ingo Friedrich and the European Coalition for Israel and was attended by members of European Parliaments, EU-officials, diplomats, local clergy and other invited guests.