Ceremony to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day took place in a Muslim country

On Tuesday, January 27, a ceremony was held in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day. It was attended by Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Ermek Kosherbaev, diplomats, high-ranking officials, members of parliament, heads of religious communities and university rectors of Kazakhstan, as well as members of a business delegation who joined Minister Saar’s visit to the country.

The event was organized at the initiative of the Israeli Embassy in Kazakhstan together with the German Embassy and under the leadership of the ICIID organization under the Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan.

From Foreign Minister Gideon Saar’s speech at the event: “Unfortunately, the ancient disease of anti-Semitism is once again showing its ugly face. The “new anti-Semitism” is trying to undermine the right of the Jewish people to self-defense. We have already seen what happens when we do not have the ability to do so. Attacks on Jews in Australia or in England led to mass murders there last year. And today our enemies want to destroy us. They plan for it and act accordingly. They talk about it openly, and we must believe their intentions. This was the goal of the “axis of evil” that acted on October 7: the complete erasure of the Jewish state. Therefore, I say today: “Never again” will the Jewish state defend itself against any threat. We have no other choice.

Foreign Minister Sa’ar concluded his speech by reciting the Kaddish in memory of the victims.