Israel will fight antisemitism wherever it rears its ugly head, because “we have a state, we have an army and are capable of standing against anyone who seeks to harm us,” Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch told JNS on Tuesday, speaking ahead of the International March of the Living in Poland.
“We stand together with the entire Jewish world, and it’s clear to us that in the Diaspora and in the State of Israel alike, there is a difficult period with rising antisemitism and a lot of hatred toward Jews,” said Kisch. “Wherever this happens, both in Israel and beyond, we as Jews will fight it,” he vowed.
The International March of the Living, now in its 38th year, is being led by some 50 Holocaust survivors from around the world, alongside a limited delegation of Israeli survivors who were able to fly in despite the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire. The march, which spans some two miles between the former Auschwitz and Birkenau death camps, has become one of the largest international Holocaust remembrance events, aiming to educate younger generations and preserve the memory of the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and its allies during World War II.
Tuesday’s event is being held under the theme of combating antisemitism, following the sharp global rise in anti-Jewish incidents since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel. Participants also include survivors of recent antisemitic violence in countries such as the United States, Britain and Australia.
During the closing ceremony, several torches will be lit to symbolize remembrance and resilience, including one dedicated to the State of Israel.
The torch dedicated to the Jewish state will be lit by Holocaust survivor Irene Shashar; former Hamas hostages Agam Berger and Omri Miran; and bereaved father Shmuel Slotki, who lost his two sons, Noam and Yishai, in the battle for Kibbutz Alumim on Oct. 7.
Israeli schools teach that “every one of those young people” who meet with Holocaust survivors should “carry the torch of remembrance for future generations,” according to Kisch.
“I think the most important thing is really the delegations that come here, see with their own eyes, hear and meet Holocaust survivors, which is something we truly value while they are among us,” said the education minister.
“We also have the [school] trips to Poland, with tens of thousands of teenagers coming here every year,” he explained. “These last about a week—the journey itself is a very, very formative event that deeply shapes identity and awareness of what happened here.”
Beyond that, he continued, “There’s also Yom Hashoah [Holocaust Remembrance Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day]. Within history curricula, all the events surrounding the establishment of the state and World War II, with an emphasis on the Holocaust, are naturally part of the study material.”
Established in 1951, Israel’s Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day is observed annually on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nissan. The national day of remembrance started at sundown on Monday with a television broadcast of a prerecorded state ceremony.
Schools on Tuesday held Yom Hashoah ceremonies, observed a two-minute nationwide siren and conducted age-appropriate educational activities.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a prerecorded address due to the tensions with Iran, told the official state ceremony on Monday night that “Operation Roaring Lion” against Tehran’s nuclear sites fulfilled the Jewish state’s promise to prevent a second Holocaust.
Had the Israeli and U.S. militaries failed to act, “the names Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Parchin might have been remembered eternally in infamy, just like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor,” the prime minister said.
While the establishment of the State of Israel “did not end the aggression against us, nor the antisemitism that is surging once again everywhere,” said Netanyahu, “unlike the past, whoever seeks to destroy us now, brings upon themselves destruction on a scale they never could imagine.”
