A ceremony in commemoration of Holocaust Memorial Day took place on Wednesday 23rd January at the Foreign Office. The service was jointly organised by the Embassy of Israel and the Foreign Office, for the annual commemoration of the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust under Nazi persecution and in subsequent genocides. This year’s Memorial Day adopted the theme “Power of Words.”
 

Amongst the guests that participated in the Ceremony was Ambassador Mark Regev,  Rt Hon Sir Eric Pickles MP and the keynote speaker The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP.  Holocaust survivor Mala Tribich shared her family’s story, and Holocaust Educational Trust Youth Ambassadors, Miss Abbie Rawlings and Miss Jaya Pathak, spoke about their .........

 

 

 

Ambassador Mark Regev said -“ Seven decades after Israel’s independence, we say the words ‘never again’ knowing that the Jewish people are free and sovereign in their homeland, able to defend ourselves against those that would do us harm. For that reason, just as Britons should be proud of the generation that bravely ensured their freedom in WWII’s darkest days, I am immensely proud of the young men and women of the IDF who so bravely protect the freedom of Israel’s people every single day.”

 

 

 

The Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt said- “I hope SIS will forgive me if I add that Foley made good use of what is euphemistically called tradecraft. He would direct Jews to reliable suppliers of fake passports.

 

He would place them in touch with SIS contacts who knew exactly how to cross the Swiss frontier. And he kept up a steady barrage of requests to London for more visas and more permits for Jews to settle in Palestine.

 

Yet, as the Ambassador alluded to, the bleak truth is that not everyone in the British Government of the day possessed the same moral clarity or the will to confront the realities of Hitlerism. The policy of appeasement, no matter how well-intentioned, was futile and morally bankrupt.“