Israel stands still to honour Holocaust victims
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Israel observed a two-minute silence on April 14, with traffic coming to a halt and the rhythm of everyday life suspended in a symbolic act of remembrance.
PHOTO: EPA
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JERUSALEM - Israel came to a standstill on April 14 as sirens sounded across the country in a tribute to the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis during World War II.
At 10am local time, Israel observed a two-minute silence, with traffic coming to a halt and the rhythm of everyday life suspended in a symbolic act of remembrance for those who perished.
The commemoration, held each year in April or May in accordance with the Hebrew calendar, is separate from International Holocaust Remembrance Day which is marked on Jan 27.
This year’s commemoration comes amid a fragile two-week ceasefire with Iran after a deadly war that began on Feb 28, when a joint US-Israeli air attack killed Iran’s then supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Despite the ceasefire, Israel remains engaged in deadly combat with Iran-backed Lebanese Hezbollah militants in south Lebanon, even as separate talks are scheduled to take place between Israeli and Lebanese officials later on April 14 in Washington.
Official ceremonies began on the evening of April 13 with a state event at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, attended by senior officials.
“We delivered the heaviest blow in that (Iran) regime’s history. It stands weaker than ever before,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the Yad Vashem ceremony.
“For 2½ years, we have been systematically crushing the Iranian axis of evil... in Gaza... in Lebanon, Syria, Judea and Samaria and Yemen,” he said, using the biblical term for the occupied West Bank.
“Had we not acted, names like Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Parchin might have become synonymous with horror – like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor,” Mr Netanyahu said, comparing Iran’s nuclear sites to Nazi-era extermination camps.
In a separate statement on April 13 marking the occasion, Israeli military chief Lieutenant-General Eyal Zamir also vowed to thwart any threat facing the country.
“On the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day the message from here is clear and unequivocal: We will not be deterred! We will look every threat in the eye and eliminate it in advance,” Mr Zamir said.
Memorial events will take place across the country on April 14.
Officials say that around 111,000 survivors of Nazi persecution still live in Israel, down from the recorded number of 120,507 in 2025. AFP
