"Anti-Semitism is not the problem of the Jews, it is the problem of the other," French President Emmanuel Macron said Thursday in his speech in Jerusalem, explaining in one sentence why they are here. Forty-nine leaders, heads of state and representatives of the royal houses came to Yad Vashem to promise to remember, and to pledge on behalf of their country and in the name of morality – never again. They did it not just for us, but for them as well.
This is perhaps the most important achievement of the historic event held at Yad Vashem to mark the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp. Representatives of the nations of the world gathered in Jerusalem, not just to identify with us, the survivors and their descendants, or with the Jewish people. They came to Jerusalem to search the depths of their souls for that inkling of morality that could have, eight decades ago, prevented the loss of everything humane and decent; that inkling of morality that, if found, would be able to validate the promise of "never again."
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We saw it on Thursday and cried, alongside today's heroes, the survivors. Together with them, we looked straight into yesterday's world. And yesterday's world was looking back at us.
Old anti-Semitism is going nowhere. It is still here, showing up in its old form as well as taking on new ones. The Holocaust must never be forgotten, the speakers vowed. But we do not have the privilege of being naive. Holocaust survivors still live among us, while Holocaust deniers wait for no one to spread their malicious teachings like toxic viruses. These messages are drenched with anti-Semitic venom and the decades since the camp's liberation have known thousands of anti-Semitic incidents.
This, too, cannot be forgotten. Anti-Semitism is all around – from the extreme Right or radical Left, Western or Arab, Christian or Muslim, anti-Semitism of the ignorant and anti-Semitism of the educated. It is everywhere.
It was the direct and clear message that German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier conveyed when he confessed that Germany understands the past, but not necessarily the present. His opening remarks in Hebrew with the Shehecheyanu blessing ("who has granted us life, sustained us, and enabled us to reach this time"), one could sense that something deep was internalized.
"I cannot say that the Germans have learned from history as hatred spreads," he said with rare courage, turning the imperative more concrete than ever when he spoke of "anti-Semitism under the guise of criticism of Israel" or of "evil ghosts in new forms."
"When anti-Semitism rears its head, all kinds of racism and hatred flourish," said the French president, adding that "indifference to anti-Semitism in akin to cooperating with it."
I admit that I did not like Macron's visit to Ramallah, where he met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a Holocaust denier. But in his speech, I heard the echoes of the French Resistance – not the voices of those who collaborated with the Nazis.
That is the imperative: Do not cooperate with hatred and let the memory lead to action. Recognize the changing nature of anti-Semitism and its new forms, exacerbate punishment, and bolster deterrence. The concern is not unfounded, it is tangible. In historical terms, Nazi Germany took hold of an enlightened, educated and cultured nation very rapidly and the Holocaust happened only yesterday.
But alongside this concern, there is one thing that differentiates yesterday's world from today's world: Rabbi Lau said it best when he proclaimed, "My parents don't expect us to remember, but to continue on."
Just minutes before Lau's speech, one of the Holocaust survivors who attended the event stumbled and fell. He got up to his feet with a little help, and insisted on walking back to his seat on his own. That is exactly the message: Not only to remember, but to keep going, to continue the great historical movement of Zionism, which was not born in response to the Holocaust, but wad lent prominence in its wake.
I was born Jewish and Israeli. My children are the second generation in the country. At Yad Vashem on Thursday, it suddenly became clear that none of this is obvious, that the fight is not over.
It is precisely for this reason that we have to acknowledge the nations of the world who sent their sons to fight evil and rescue others from certain death, and to cherish without cynicism the guests who arrived in Jerusalem to help us, at the height of winter storms and political upheaval, to put things in proportion, and remember where we came from and where – and more importantly, why – we must forge ahead.
Boaz Bismuth is the editor-in-chief of Israel Hayom
