Discurso (na íntegra) do Embaixador Raphael Gamzou):
Gostaria de começar por agradecer ao Presidente do Parlamento português, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, o seu constante e inestimável apoio a este evento; aqui representado pelo Vice-Presidente, o Deputado Jorge Lacão.
Muito obrigado também aos meus colegas, os Embaixadores da Áustria e da Alemanha, bem como ao artista Manfred Bockelmann e à cineasta Bárbel Jacks, pelos poderosos exposição e documentário, que tiveram e terão, respectivamente, oportunidade de apreciar, e cujos instrumentos artísticos visuais se revelam de uma enorme importância na conservação da memória da Shoah.
In a courageous interview given by Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Israeli public television, on the occasion of the 27th of January, she stressed the importance of memory because, and I quote: «Nazism and the Shoah - its outcome - are part of our History.»
And if this is definitely true for Germany, the fact is that many of the phenomena of evil of that period are valid for the entire Europe.
Chancellor Merkel added that anti-Semitism and racism should be dealt with zero tolerance as well as the dangerous trends of denying or even minimizing the magnitude of the Shoah.
She also stated: «Israel must guarantee its existence», relating to the Iranian aggressions vis-à-vis Israel and asserted its right and even obligation to defend itself.
Mr. Vice-President of the Assembleia, Ladies and Gentlemen, it is of paramount importance, especially in this respected house, that we will not suffice only in ceremonies and cultural events, although, of course, I do not belittle their importance, as I already expressed earlier.
While this shrine of the Portuguese democracy does not hesitate to adopt decisions, motions and declarations of criticism towards Israel, I believe that it would have been as appropriate that it would voice itself when Iranian leaders and chiefs of their armed forces threaten Israel, calling openly - and very frequently - for the obliteration of the State of Israel of the world map.
This kind of statements were heard again and again only in the last few days.
Silence and no reaction of the political institutions of some of the European democracies is interpreted, in Teheran, as passiveness, as weakness, if not even legitimacy to the dangerous regime of the despotic Ayatollahs.
Europe should draw the lesson of a not very remote past – appeasement at any cost does not always pay!
Regarding the memory of the Shoah, the struggle against its denial, the struggle against phenomena of anti-Semitism and other forms of racism, there is a need for deeds, more than just words.
Education, education and more education. Reduction of deep ignorance.
There is a recent survey by the American PEW Research Center (a nonpartisan think tank) on negative stereotypes of minorities in Europe.
On the statement, and I quote:
"Jews always pursue their own interests and not the country they live in”, 36% of the Portuguese respondents didn't agree but, unfortunately, the same number - 36% - did agree with this stereotype.
Surprisingly, this was the highest percentage among the European publics surveyed.
Portugal is again in a high percentage with 33% of positive respondents with the statement, and again I quote:
"Jews always overstate how much they have suffered."
So yes, there is still a lot to do.
I believe much could be done, for instance, by providing a budget to Memoshoá in order to allow every year, and as much as possible, Portuguese teachers, Portuguese educators, to participate in the summer international courses of Yad Vashem - the Holocaust Museum and Research Center, in Jerusalem.
The knowledge accumulated in these courses helps the teachers to disseminate among their students the awareness on the Shoah and the lessons we need to draw from that ultimate human cruelty, while using the most adequate pedagogical tools.
It is an investment in this country's future generations and in our healthier societies;
Much could be done by finally opening the Museum of the History of the Portuguese Jews.
Through such a Museum, the Portuguese will be able to learn that the presence of the Jews in Portugal anticipated its very foundation.
They will be able to grasp the full measure of the contribution of the Jews to science, to medicine, to the Discoveries, to culture and to all that constituted their millenary civilization; as well as the atrocities of the Inquisition, that generated the loss of Portugal’s Jews, all that should be included in such a museum.
This has an enormous importance in dealing with ignorance.
Unfortunately, this project has been dragged for too many years;
And much could be done by turning Casa do Passal, the family house of the "Justo" Aristides de Sousa Mendes, into the Portuguese National Museum of the Holocaust as well as a national education centre against all forms of racism and xenophobia, turning it to an obligatory site of “pilgrimage” for Portuguese and tourist visitors alike.
Obrigado