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Holocaust Survivor: My eyes saw the horror of women in Auschwitz (2016 Video)
Jerusalem (CNN) - It is a guest list that any host would be proud to gather. The 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp is commemorated this week and more than 40 presidents and prime ministers, kings, princes and dukes will come to Jerusalem to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, entitled “Remembering the Holocaust, fighting the anti-Semitism. "
Concerned about the rise of anti-Semitism worldwide - with attacks from Pittsburgh, San Diego, Monsey and Jersey City, to a declaration by the German city of Dresden of an emergency around the resurgence of Nazi ideology - this problem is frontal and central, so there is a feeling that some concrete measures must be taken.
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Israeli officials say it will be an important step for so many world leaders to speak with one voice in one place denouncing racism and anti-Semitism. And they express the hope that more countries will accept the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Alliance for the Holocaust Remembrance (IHRA), an 11-point definition adopted by 19 countries around the world.
But while Israeli officials say that it will be the largest international political event in the country's history, and signal the assistance of Vladimir Putin, Emmanuel Macron and Prince Charles, among many others, to support that claim, two world leaders in particular, will be notable for its absence.
One is the president of Poland, Andrzej Duda, who declined his invitation after he was told that he could not deliver a speech at the main event of the forum, which will be held on Thursday at Yad Vashem, the national Holocaust remembrance site of Israel . Since Auschwitz was in Nazi-occupied Poland and that more Polish Jews than Jews of any other nation were killed in the Holocaust, Duda felt he should speak.
"The inability to talk about this issue goes against the interests [of Poland]," Duda said in a televised speech earlier this month.
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Andrzej Duda, president of Poland. (Credit: JANEK SKARZYNSKI / AFP / Getty Images)
Event organizers say they only planned to listen to leaders from Israel, Germany and the four allied powers in times of war: the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Russia. Many other world leaders asked to make a speech, but they were also rejected, Israeli officials added.
That Russian President Vladimir Putin can speak, and Duda no, only adds salt to the wounds of the Polish leader, since the two men are locked in a furious dispute over the responsibility of the start of World War II. Doubt has accused Putin of rewriting history by minimizing the full meaning of the Nazi-Soviet pact of 1939, which included an agreement on the division of Poland.
For his part, Putin has said that anti-Semitism in Poland has been overlooked as a cause of war.
The other world leader whose absence he will feel is Donald Trump. On paper, this would be an easy victory for the president of the United States. At a time of growing concern about anti-Semitism in the United States and beyond, Trump could lead the world's most important conference on the subject.
Trump was only here once as a world leader (he visited in May 2017), and this would be the perfect opportunity to increase his pro-Israel credentials already burnished in an election year. All of which makes his absence much more disconcerting. Instead, the US Government representative at the conference will be Vice President Mike Pence. Certainly, Pence is no one to discount, but for Israel, and for Netanyahu, Trump is the real star.
At the top of the list, next to Pence, at least from Israel's point of view, will be Putin. Together with Netanyahu, the Russian leader will reveal a monument to the 800,000 victims of the Leningrad siege. The two men will also hold an important bilateral meeting, with Iran's presence in Syria probably leading the agenda, as usually happens when these two meet. However, this meeting will be the first since the assassination in the United States of the main Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani. Netanyahu will probably choose his words carefully, given the close relations between Moscow and Tehran.
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Far from geopolitics, there will be another important topic under discussion at their meeting. Naama Issachar, an American-Israeli jailed in Russia for having 9.5 grams of marijuana in her checked luggage, has been an important story in Israel. She denies trying to introduce drugs into Russia, but was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. If Netanyahu can obtain the forgiveness of Putin, one of the few options to get her out of jail ahead of time, it would be a great political victory for Israel's oldest leader. Speaking on Sunday, Netanyahu seemed optimistic that his conversations with Putin could lead to his freedom, saying he hoped to "hear good news soon."
An opportunity for Netanyahu
For Netanyahu, the presence of the World Holocaust Forum in Israel offers the opportunity to remind its national audience of their international position, as well as try to convince them of their unique role in maintaining Israel's security.
“In these 75 years, since the liberation of Auschwitz, our people have made a very long trip. We left the wells of death and founded our state. We have taken it to the best decade of its history, and we are taking it to a path of unprecedented achievements. However, of course, on this long journey, we will never forget our brothers and sisters who perished in the Holocaust fires. It is in his name and in his memory we are working to ensure the continuity of Israel, ”he told his cabinet on Sunday.
But lurking at the bottom of each bilateral and public appearance by the Prime Minister of Israel will be the fact that he faces charges of corruption charges in three criminal cases. Not only that, the country has not had a fully functioning government in more than a year and is plunged into its third consecutive election cycle, with little hope that the political stalemate will break in next March.
Unable to form a government in the previous two elections, Netanyahu is looking for any advantage, and organizing the World Holocaust Forum will put him on the international stage. For attendees, it is about defeating anti-Semitism; For Netanyahu, this will be almost as much as defeating his political adversaries.
Day in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust Holocaust
