Belarusian envoy, Israeli diplomat discuss Holocaust remembrance
Juryj Jaraševič (left) and Yacov Livne
February 12, Pozirk. Belarusian Ambassador Juryj Jaraševič and Yacov Livne, deputy director general for public diplomacy at the Israeli foreign ministry, discussed Holocaust remembrance yesterday, the Belarusian foreign ministry reports.
The diplomats, in particular, talked about the establishment of a Holocaust and Resistance museum in Navahrudak, Hrodna region, it noted. During the Second World War, the area was known as a center of Jewish partisan resistance, with the Bielski brothers’ armed unit operating in the surrounding forests.
Belarusian authorities “pay special attention” to the preservation of sites of historical significance for both countries, the ministry said, citing the recent restoration of the yeshiva building in Vałožyn, Minsk region.
Many prominent Israelis were born in Belarus, including Presidents Chaim Weizmann and Zalman Shazar; Prime Ministers Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Shamir and Shimon Peres as well as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, the father of modern Hebrew.
However, relations between Belarus and Israel have been strained by Alaksandar Łukašenka’s controversial remarks, Minsk’s pro-Palestinian position in the Arab-Israeli conflict and friendly relations with Iran.
Back in 2007, Łukašenka blamed Jews for turning Babrujsk, a Belarusian city with rich Jewish history, into a “pigsty.”
“Never again” – diplomats, politicians mark Holocaust Remembrance Day
January 27, Pozirk. “Never again something similar must happen,” said the German embassy in Belarus on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27. On that day in 1945, the Red Army entered the Auschwitz concentration camp to discover the unthinkable scale …
