Herzog to address Romanian parliament in state visit focused on Holocaust memory, bilateral ties

President Isaac Herzog will depart for a two-day state visit to Romania on Sunday next week, during which he will speak before the Romanian parliament at the invitation of his counterpart, President Nicusor Dan, his office says in a statement.

The invitation came “against the backdrop of the two countries’ shared commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust and the history of Romanian Jewry,” and the trip is “intended to deepen the longstanding friendship and cooperation between Israel and Romania, a member of the European Union and NATO that maintains cooperation with Israel across a wide range of fields,” according to Herzog’s office.

During the visit, Herzog will attend a state ceremony marking 85 years since the Iasi pogrom during the Holocaust, in which Romanian governmental forces and civilians murdered over 13,000 Romanian Jews, and will take part in a reburial ceremony for 22 victims of the pogrom whose remains were recently identified, the statement says.

He will then travel to Bucharest, where he will be received in a state ceremony and meet with Dan and senior Romanian officials, as well as deliver an address to the Romanian parliament. The last Israeli president to address the Romanian parliament was Reuven Rivlin in 2021, and several other high-ranking Israeli officials have done so since.