Israel’s President Isaac Herzog address MEPs during the plenary session in Brussels to commemorate International Holocaust Remembrance Day (27 January). EP President Roberta Metsola opens the solemn sitting and after the ceremony, Presidents Metsola and Herzog inaugurate the Holocaust Memorial in front of Parliament’s plenary chamber. The transcription is a result of an automatic process. Please chack against delivery.

Brussels

statement

plenary session

EU - Israel (T)

speech

METSOLA, Roberta (EPP, MT, EP President)

fight against antisemitism (T)

Holocaust remembrance (T)

International Holocaust Remembrance Day: introductory speech by Roberta METSOLA, EP President

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, President Herzog, distinguished guests, dear colleagues. Every year around the 27th of January, the world remembers the millions of innocent men, women and children who were murdered in history's greatest crimes a crime intended to wipe off a people from the Earth. A crime designed to inflict horror on generations. A crime that has shaped our modern European project into an embodiment of the timeless promise. Never again.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, It was a crime that saw 6 million Jewish people murdered for being Jewish, that saw Roma and Sinti people targeted, that saw LGBTI communities eradicated, and so many others humiliated and killed because of their ethnicity, disability, identity or race or beliefs. It is difficult to imagine the horrors of the Holocaust and the actions that led up to it. The fear of mothers and fathers, the quiet suffering of so many. The little children forced to hide in holes in basements and attics.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, The rabbis who remained dignified as they were forced to scrub pavements while crowds laughed and mocked. The impossible choice faced by so many every day in so many Member States. The Holocaust did not happen overnight. Auschwitz did not fall from the sky. As Survivor Marian Tours, she said three years ago, the alarm bells should have rung before. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks gave a lecture in 2012 where he said one of the things that haunted him about the Holocaust was the horror of the silence. Where were the voices? Where were the protests? He asked.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, This was done in living memory in the Age of Enlightenment, rationalism, science and arts and culture. This did not happen in a frenzy of hate. It took time. It was built up. The dehumanisation process started before the camps, and what was truly horrifying, he said, is the almost total absence of horror. At the time, his appeal was for us to resolve that. If the moment comes, we will stand up and speak out. So, that no one will have reason to say when we cried, you were not listening. When we suffered, you were silent.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, This is why, even if it is hard to describe these crimes, we must keep speaking. Why we must never forget. We must speak because ours is the last generation to receive first hand accounts from survivors of the Holocaust. Our duty becomes even greater when the voices of those survivors cannot be heard any longer. It is our responsibility to remember and pass down testimonies to future generations to educate. We must speak because despite decades of effort, anti-Semitism still exists. Hate still finds too many voices excusing it.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Too many families in Europe and around the world live with packed suitcases by their door. We cannot allow anyone to find comfort in ignorance. Let me repeat what I said in the Knesset. To be anti-Semitic is to be anti European. Our first woman president, Simone Veil, was herself a survivor who grew up to change the face of Europe. And her legacy is present in these halls and buildings. She understood that neutrality only helps the oppressor, and the European Parliament will always take a side, the side of respect, the side of human dignity, the sides of equality, the side of hope.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, This Parliament is proud that we have not been silent, not when it comes to fighting hate and discrimination. Not when it comes to anti-Semitism and religious freedom. And we will keep acting to ensure that our communities are not marginalised by exclusion, hatred or indifference. We have not been silent when it came to standing up for our values, nor when it comes to Russia's aggression in Ukraine and the rhetoric used to try to justify it. Neither have we been silent when it comes to the regime in Iran who execute young people standing up for women, life and liberty.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, Ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow marks 78 years since the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. A liberation from evil that proved that despite everything, hope endures, even when all around is hopelessness. The same hope that led to the declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel 75 years ago. This year, a nation that has endured, flourished and sustained a democracy despite all odds.

SOUNDBITE (English), Roberta METSOLA, President of the European Parliament, President Herzog, as I said in Israel, the bond between the people of Europe and the people of Israel has been forged in the horror of our common history. A bond whose strength lies in its openness, honesty and straightforwardness, even criticism, but a bond that has and will withstand the test of time. And yet our people share more than history and a promise to remember. We also share a common destiny and a future that will endure. Thank you.