UAE to have first ever official Holocaust Remembrance ceremonies in Arab country

Jews and Muslims in the Gulf will hold ceremonies to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day today and tomorrow, concurrently with Yom Hashoah being held in Israel.

According to Channel 12 news, it will be the first time Yom Hashoah is officially marked in an Arab country.

The network says a ceremony will be held in Dubai tonight with a delegation of Jewish and Arab Israelis. Several dozen social media influencers in the Gulf will join them and organizers hope they will pass on the stories of survival and remembrance.

Tomorrow evening the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities will host a webinar with young Muslims from the UAE and Bahrain “who will discuss their experiences visiting Yad Vashem,” the group says.

Join us for this historic event- the 1st #YomHaShoah commemoration to take place in the Gulf. Featuring @EmilyLJudd, @ThoufeekZakriya, @SamooyHarib, @Fatemaal7rbi and members of the Jewish community. Register: https://t.co/RI4GUPSzHz pic.twitter.com/Jgx7w03zVY

— Houda Nonoo (@hnonoo75) April 6, 2021

And “for the first time ever, the Jewish communities of Bahrain and Dubai will be participating in the Yellow Candle Project, the global communal effort to remember victims of the Holocaust, whereby members from each community will light a yellow candle in memory of the name of Jews who perished during the Holocaust.”