What Matters Now to Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan: What to do when ‘friends’ disappoint

Welcome to a bonus episode of What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploring key issues currently shaping Israel and the Jewish World, with host deputy editor Amanda Borschel-Dan speaking with Yad Vashem chairman Dani Dayan for International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Dayan is leading Yad Vashem’s delegation to Auschwitz to observe the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the death camp’s liberation on January 27, 2025, International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Ahead of his trip, Borschel-Dan sat with Dayan in his Jerusalem office to speak about the role of the institution in the past 15 months, following the murderous Hamas onslaught on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Following the massacre of 1,200 people and abduction of another 251, Dayan quickly experienced a betrayal from leaders he once considered “friends,” such as António Guterres, the secretary-general of the United Nations, and Pope Francis, a fellow Argentine, with whom he had previously felt a warm rapport.

This week, Dayan came out against Elon Musk for comments he made to the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in which he said there is “too much focus on past guilt” in Germany. “Contrary to Elon Musk’s advice, the remembrance and acknowledgment of the dark past of the country and its people should be central in shaping the German society,” Dayan wrote on X on Sunday, the day before the world marked the International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In our recent conversation, Dayan explained when he feels it is appropriate to take a public stance, and when there is likely less chance that his message will be heard.

We also speak about new global political realities — especially in Europe — and why Yad Vashem is set on opening its first satellite campus in Berlin.

And so, on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we ask Yad Vashem head Dani Dayan what matters now.

What Matters Now podcasts are available for download on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. This episode was produced by the Pod-Waves. 

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