Merkel At Yad Vashem” Holocaust Was “A Crime That Has No Equal”

The Holocaust was a crime that “has no equal” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Thursday morning as she visited the Yad Vashem -World Holocaust Remembrance Center.

After touring the Hall of Names, she placed a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance, in memory of the six million Jews that perished in the Holocaust. Before leaving, Merkel wrote in the Yad Vashem guestbook: “80 years ago, on Kristallnacht, the Jews in Germany suffered from hatred and violence that the world did not know was possible. What came later is a crime that has no equal – the teardown of civilization – the Holocaust. Since then, Germany has the responsibility to remember that crime, and to combat Anti-Semitism, Xenophobia, violence and hatred,” she wrote.

After arriving in Israel Wedesday night, Merkel had dinner with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s residence in Jerusalem.

The chancellor will also visit the Israel Museum, where she will be awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Haifa, and where she will review an exhibition of innovation at the museum, where a “roundtable” will be held with Israeli businessmen and Prime Minister Netanyahu.

At 12:30, Merkel will arrive for lunch at the residence of President Reuven Rivlin, and at 14:00 she will meet again with Netanyahu. After the meeting, the two will hold a joint press conference, and at 19:00 Merkel will leave for Germany.

During the visit, the chancellor and 13 German government ministers will hold an intergovernmental meeting (G2G) with their Israeli counterparts. This will be the seventh such meeting in the last decade.

The intergovernmental consultations will focus on cultural, economic, security, scientific, and cyber cooperation. There will be signed a series of MOUs with the goal to strengthen bilateral relations.