Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
The head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organization evoked the Holocaust and Passover at a UN ceremony marking the 22nd anniversary of the Rwandan genocide.
Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman and CEO of the umbrella group, spoke Monday in General Assembly Hall in New York on the International Day of Reflection on the Genocide in Rwanda.
“We remember the lessons of 22 years ago, as we do the Holocaust of seventy years ago, not just for us, but for future generations,” Hoenlein said. “Twenty-two years ago, more than 800,000 Tutsi were killed in 100 days with little reaction from the international community.
“We now live in an age of indifference where the deaths of tens of thousands of innocent children, women and men hardly even has a response. Those responsible act with impunity with little fear of consequences for their evil acts,” he said.
Churches, like this one in Rwanda, could have been safe havens for the Tutsi people who sought shelter, but in the weeks leading up to the 1994 genocide, in which 800,000 people were killed, the international peacekeepers were withdrawn (Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/ CC-BY)
Looking slightly ahead on the Jewish calendar, Hoenlein said: “We are about to celebrate Passover, which recounts the exodus of the Jews from years of slavery in Egypt. The central theme, as with most Jewish holidays, is remembrance. For us, history is about the future. We look back in order to look forward to learn the lessons of the past to spare future generations those trials and tribulations.”
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
Other speakers included UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as the president of the General Assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, and Frida Umuhoza, a survivor of the massacre.
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
