.bmp)
.bmp)
For the first time ever, German soldiers were among the thousands of young people who were participating in the March of the Living on Tuesday at the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau.Among those attending were Holocaust survivors and representatives of various European countries, as well as some 7,000 Israeli and Diaspora youth - many of the latter being non-Jews.The marchers set out from the infamous iron gate of the camp - crowned with the words "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Sets You Free" - and began walking 3 kilometers to the sister camp of Birkenau, the site of wooden barracks and the ruins of the gas chambers.Addressing the assembled crowd, Vice Premier Silvan Shalom compared Nazi Germany to the dangers posed to Israel today. The world, he warned, must internalize the lessons of the Holocaust and awaken to the truth of the Iranian threat."Sadly, today we are again facing an existential threat just like that of sixty-four years ago, and I wonder if we have learned anything since then?" Shalom said, citing the Durban Review Conference in Geneva as evidence of the urgency of the modern anti-Semitism issue."The Durban Review Conference is living proof, a wake-up call for us all - the world has not yet learned the lesson, has not yet truly assimilated what happened 64 years ago," he said."The Durban Conference proves to us that remembrance and commemoration of the events and the horrors of the Shoah are not sufficient. We must continue to study these lessons and to take determined action to ensure that the lessons of the Shoah are really remembered."Turning to the Islamic republic, Shalom continued, "For many years, the world has believed that terrorism and Iran were Israel's problems… Since then, the world has begun to take more serious action… Iran represents a threat to the very existence of Israel, but not only of Israel! Iran represents a threat to the existence of the entire free world, and it is vitally important that we realize this soon."Iran will only relinquish its nuclear weapons program, he said,"if the world stops hesitating, and begins taking determined international action, intensifying sanctions."Earlier, Shalom called Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's vicious anti-Israel speech at the UN racism conference on Monday "shameful."Shalom said Iran "is trying to do everything they can in order to wipe Israel off the map and at the same time to undermine the moderate Arab Muslim regimes in the Middle East," but he insisted that "Israel will continue to exist."Elie Leshem and AP contributed to this report
As in the days of Noah...
