As of: February 15, 2024, 8:12 p.m
By: Michael Schleicher
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“Bring them Home – now!”: “Bring the hostages home – now!” is written on the necklace that both Charlotte Knobloch and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres wear.
© Marcus Schlaf
Antonio Guterres opens the Munich Security Conference on Friday.
The UN Secretary General was a guest in the city's Jewish community on Thursday and visited the “Ohel Jakob” synagogue.
It was 20 minutes past five on Thursday afternoon (February 15, 2024) in the “Ohel Jakob” synagogue in Munich when UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres reached into the pocket of his suit and pulled out a long, delicate chain with a small plaque hanging on it.
An inconspicuous piece at first glance, but it symbolizes so much suffering, anger, despair and sadness of the people of Israel - and the Jewish community worldwide.
“Bring them Home – now!” is engraved on it, along with the date October 7th, 2023.
The day of Hamas's terrorist act on Israel, the day of the largest massacre of Jewish people since the Shoah.
Guterres reports that he received the necklace from relatives of the hostages.
And he promises: “I will carry them in my coat until all the hostages are free.” The UN is working with Qatar and Egypt and is in contact with Israel to ensure that everything is done to free those kidnapped .
Afterwards, Charlotte Knobloch, the President of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, joins Guterres - she too is wearing this necklace.
Antonio Guterres opens the Munich Security Conference on Friday
This conference before the Security Conference (Siko) is not an easy appointment for Guterres.
The 74-year-old Portuguese caused outrage and lack of understanding with his comments after the Hamas attack - not only in Israel, but among Jews all over the world.
The World Jewish Congress invited him to the Jewish Community of Munich on the day before the Siko - and Guterres emphasized several times during the exchange how “deeply moved” he was.
In the “Aisle of Memory”: Antonio Guterres on the way to the Munich synagogue.
© Marcus Schlaf
First he visits the “Aisle of Remembrance” with the names of more than 4,500 Munich Jews who were murdered during the Nazi era.
We then go past the foundation stone of the synagogue and into the interior of “Ohel Jakob”, where the UN Secretary General has the building explained to him, which reminds him – not wrongly – of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam.
David Botelho, President of the Jewish Community of Lisbon, where Guterres was born in 1949, explains the significance of the Torah shrine and the Torah scrolls.
“Help heal the wounds,” appeals Charlotte Knobloch to Antonio Guterres.
© Marcus Schlaf
Then it gets political.
Knobloch reminds her guest that the UN “was also founded in response to the Holocaust.”
The United Nations “must never be part of the problem;
They must not encourage hatred - especially hatred of Jews.
Unfortunately, with regard to Israel, this is exactly what has happened again and again.
Even at the end." Nevertheless, Guterres' visit was "an important sign," said the president: they wanted to look forward, because the Jewish community must trust "that the United Nations will live up to its mandate."
In his analysis, Guterres argues that “anti-Semitism was not born with the Nazis – nor did it die with them.”
Hatred of Jews has not only spread worldwide since the “terrible attack by Hamas”.
He makes it very clear: “Even if you sometimes disagree with the policies of the Israeli government,” this cannot lead to questioning the right of the people of Israel to live in safety.
“This is necessary!” Just as the fight against anti-Semitism is a “moral obligation” of every person.