‘Never again’: At Holocaust memorial, UAE foreign minister pays respects to Jewish victims

The Israeli Foreign Ministry says that UAE Foreign Minister Abdulah bin Zayed was “surprised” to hear that Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi was the son of Holocaust survivors and asked to hear more about their stories during a visit together to the Berlin Holocaust memorial.

In a guestbook, bin Zayed writes a handwritten message expressing his respect for the “European Jewish victims of the Holocaust.”

“A whole group of humanity fell victim to those calling for extremism and hatred,” bin Zayed writes.

His visit to the memorial “underscored the importance of human values such as coexistence, tolerance and accepting the other…as well as respect for all creeds and faiths. These are the values upon which my country was founded,” bin Zayed writes.

“I salute the souls of those who fell victim to the Holocaust, ” bin Zayed writes, before quoting from a Jewish prayer translated into Arabic: “May their souls be bound up in the bond of eternal life.”

“Never again,” he concludes, in both English and in Arabic.

Ashkenazi writes in Hebrew that his presence at the site alongside the German and UAE top diplomats “symbolizes the start of a new era, an area of peace between nations.”

“Our joint signature in this memorial book is a cry and a promise in one: to remember and not forget, to be strong and to ensure never again.”

He closes with a Jewish prayer for peace.