Israeli PM Naftali Bennett: Holocaust a Part of Jews’ DNA

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett marked Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on Thursday in the presence of the head of Germany’s parliament, saying the memories of Nazi atrocities were part of the Jewish people’s genetic makeup.

“The memory of the Holocaust is not just a memory but a layer, part of the DNA that is passed down from generation to generation,” Bennett said according to the Times of Israel.

Bundestag President Barbel Bas Israeli President Isaac Herzog and other Israeli officials lit a candle in the victims’ memory.

“I bow my head with humility and shame in face of the Holocaust victims,” Bas  said.

“It is forbidden for us to forget and we will not forget,” she said. “From our historical guilt stems a commitment. It is upon us to fight resolutely against antisemitism in all of its forms, and it is upon us to preserve the [victims’] memory, and to pass on their memory to the younger generations.”

Likud MK Ophir Akunis addressed Bas in English, but then continued in Hebrew and said he could never forgive the Germans for the Holocaust.

“Others may be able to forgive the Germans,” he said, noting that 97 percent of the Jewish community in Thessaloniki, where his family hails from, was wiped out in the Holocaust. “I do not forget or forgive, nor will I forgive this act of pure evil, ever.”

Israel’s Knesset Speaker Mickey Levy took a different tune, saying that Bas’s participation in the ceremonies marked “a significant and important expression of the special connection that exists between the countries, for the historical responsibility that Germany took for the war crimes, and Germany’s commitment to Israel’s security.”

Bennett shared with the audience the story of his wife’s grandfather who survived the war but lost his mother and two brothers, who were murdered by Poles.