I will never forget the moments of oppressive silence, the screaming silence and the shock that gripped me the first time I became acquainted with the horrors of the Holocaust of the Jewish people.
I will never forget the first night after meeting the Holocaust survivors, my head bows, my ears are covered for every word and my heart cries with them.
And alongside all this - the anger raged over the distortion and the terrible injustice, in the absence of the discourse on the Holocaust among significant sections of the Arab citizens of Israel.
International Holocaust Remembrance Day is a fitting occasion to mention what already among the few who raise their heads was nothing more than a folk tale, those who march through city streets with Nazi flags and shout "Death to the Jews."
This day is an unfortunate and disturbing reminder of the reality in which we live, while anti-Semites in various forms, shades and languages express a longing to complete the "Final Solution".
Ten years ago, as a school principal and educator, I was invited by my friend Roni Dotan - a son of Holocaust survivors - to attend a memorial service for the first time.
Roni managed to bring to Israel, to his city Netanya, the caravan number 12-246 from the Auschwitz death camp, where Jews were transported on their last journey.
My wife and children, who came with me to the ceremony, got into the death wagon with me, and the shocking hard feelings hit us like lightning.
Ronny explained, told, shared, and my family and I were upset, my heart refusing to contain such a cruel reality.
We got out of the caravan stunned by the intensity of the inconceivable moment.
As I ascended to speak in a ceremony my tongue clung to my palate, facing the plowed wrinkles of the survivors, whose every wrinkle conceals miraculous stories of heroism, loss, anguish and endless pain.
I promised never again, and got off the stage walking towards them, to the real heroes.
That same night, I made an unequivocal decision regarding the Holocaust studies at the school under my management, with preliminary and thorough training of the school's teaching and education staff.
I have mobilized all my strength to mediate Holocaust studies for students, to hold a Holocaust and heroism memorial service every year, to instill fundamental values such as the sanctity of life, human dignity and freedom, the essence of human mutual guarantee, justice, equality, human rights - every person - and tolerance.
I decided to meet throughout the year survivors, witnesses, to hear, listen, embrace and pass on their heritage.
For ten years now, I have been attending the main ceremony at the Death Crown Monument in Netanya, reading the names of those who perished.
This year, too, I will attend the ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
My vocal cords will tremble when I meet the survivors, and my eyes will wander after the survivors I met last year and they are no more.
Anti-Semitism is raising its head all over the world.
The attacks on Jews have tripled this year.
World leaders must stop in their countries the fire of hatred for Jews, which has never been extinguished.
As a proud Israeli Arab, I demand from the national leadership and the educational leadership to increase the study of the subject of the Holocaust in Arab schools dozens of times, to increase visits to museums and testimonies, to introduce Arab-Israeli youth to fire-shaded Udim, to survivors.
On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, I bow my head upright in front of the survivors, saluting with reverence and promise for generations - never again.
The writer is an educator
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