Israeli ambassador warns against 'unique hatred' on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Diplomacy

Published: 29 Jan. 2024, 18:53

Israeli ambassador warns against 'unique hatred' on Holocaust Remembrance Day

Israeli Ambassador to Korea Akiva Tor, right, speaks to German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt at a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Goethe-Institut in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Israeli Ambassador to Korea Akiva Tor called for continued “caution” and “vigilance” against the “unique hatred” that led to the mass murder of European Jews at a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day in Seoul on Monday.

The ceremony, which was organized by the embassies of Israel and Germany and hosted by the Goethe-Institut Korea, was attended by representatives from 26 diplomatic missions in Seoul and included musical performances by violinist Rinnah Jung, pianist Lynn Kim and cellist Valentin Andert.

While noting that the Holocaust occurred far from Korea, which was not involved in the European theater of World War II, the Israeli ambassador said there are “essential lessons to be learned” from the event, which include “combating hate speech, especially on social media,” as well as “new challenges in the nature of political rhetoric and campus protest” in what he characterized as an “evil wind that is currently blowing in so many high places.”

Front row from left: German Defense Attache Col. Andre Bosing, Israeli Defense Attache Capt. Asaf Livneh, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg, German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt and Israeli Ambassador to Korea Akiva Tor stand during a minute of silence at the beginning of a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Goethe-Institut in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. [PARK SANG-MOON]

Tor’s comments appeared to refer to a rise in antisemitism worldwide amid Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas, the Gaza-based paramilitary organization that launched an assault on Oct. 7 that killed approximately 1,200 Israeli civilians.

Some of the weapons used by Hamas appear to have been manufactured by North Korea, according to photographs released by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and South Korean intelligence.

IDF operations, in turn, have killed over 26,000 Palestinians, according to the Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza, and have been referred by South Africa to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, which on Friday ordered Israel to “take all measures” to limit civilian deaths and punish incitement to genocide, but did not order a suspension of its military campaign.

During his speech, Tor also called on attendees at the ceremony to remember the “wounded and dead” in the current conflict, as well as “people captive below ground in intolerable conditions” and “the great casualties among Palestinian civilians.”

The Israeli ambassador’s call for vigilance against renewed antisemitism was repeated by German Ambassador to Korea Georg Schmidt, who, in his speech, stressed his country’s “enduring responsibility” to “stand up against hatred, antisemitism, and Holocaust distortion and denial.”

The German ambassador also noted the importance of “educating the young about the past,” saying, "Never again is now.”

“Never again” is a slogan referring to the lessons of the deadly events that accompanied the rise of fascism and Nazism across Europe during World War II. The phrase is inscribed on numerous memorials and sites associated with the Holocaust.

Korean youth representative Hanah Grace Kim lights the sixth candle in remembrance of Holocaust victims at a ceremony at the Goethe-Institut in Yongsan District, central Seoul, on Monday. Behind her from the left stand U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg, Israeli Defense Attache Capt. Asaf Livneh, German Defense Attache Col. Andre Bosing (obscured), Israeli youth representative Talia Shoham and German youth representative Emma Lotte Belafi. [PARK SANG-MOON]

After the speeches, U.S. Ambassador to Korea Philip Goldberg — whose great aunt and two first cousins were murdered in Ukraine during the Holocaust — lit the first of six candles laid out on a table in remembrance of the victims.

The other five candles were lit by Israeli Defense Attaché Capt. Asaf Livneh, German Defense Attaché Col. André Bosing, Israeli youth representative Talia Shoham, German youth representative Emma Lotte Bélafi and Korean youth representative Hanah Grace Kim.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]