In a historical speech to the German Parliament (Bundestag), Yitzhak Herzog, the President of Israel spoke about the Holocaust, Israel-Germany relations, and blasted attempts by the United States to return to the nuclear agreement with Iran: "Whoever threatens the right of the State of Israel to exist - is not entitled to concessions or to signing agreements that only strengthen it."
Herzog spoke in the German Bundestag, a day after the ceremony in which the German President acknowledged his country's responsibility for the massacre of the 11 Munich martyrs. Herzog opened his speech by mentioning the Holocaust and placed the responsibility on the Palestinians for the massacre of the 11 Israeli athletes in Munich, an operation that was coordinated and funded with the help of the current Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
In addition, Herzog touted the Abraham accords as the defining moment when the geopolitical structure of the Middle East shifted, and blasted efforts to give in to Iran just to get a new nuclear deal, "I call on the world not to stand by" he said.
Germany's new chance: 'Don't stand idly by' as Iran threatens Israel, Herzog tells Bundestag | World Israel News https://t.co/hC2Cug3qoQ
ā YaakovBenMosheHaCohen (@ani_bencohen) September 6, 2022
In a first, since world leaders do not typically mention the Nazi party in the halls of the German government, Herzog went on about the crimes of the Nazis, pointing out that very little time has passed since the horrors they inflicted on the Jewish people. Herzog invoked the names of leading figures in the Jewish community who grew up in Germany - and said that "this country, your country, is present in the most intimate and deepest DNA of my people. But, and it's no secret, this country - Germany, was home to the greatest horrors that befell the Jewish people and humanity as a whole throughout the ages."
Israeli President @Isaac_Herzog gave a heartfelt speech at a ceremony in Germany commemorating 50 years since the Munich Olympics massacre of 1972, in which #Palestinian terrorists murdered 11 #Israeli athletes.
ā StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) September 6, 2022
We remember. šÆļø#StandUpToHatred #StandAgainstTerror #BreakTheHate pic.twitter.com/lDn3hjqfbf
The President continued, "It began with pogroms, riots, and brutal massacres, the destruction of entire Jewish communities, which has occurred time and time again in the last thousand years; And ended in the darkest abyss in the history of humankind - the Holocaust. There was nothing in the annals of history like the campaign carried out by the Nazis and their assistants to destroy the Jewish people. There has never been a country that was responsible, as Nazi Germany is responsible - for the loss of a human image.ā
"During his visit he said, and I quote: 'I bring with me neither forgiveness nor forgetfulness. The only ones who can forgive are the dead; the living have no right to forget,ā."
ā Samuel Sabbah (@Samuel_Sabbah) September 6, 2022
- Pres. Herzog
Isaac Herzog about the trip of his father, Pres. Chaim Herzog, in Germany
š Yizkor pic.twitter.com/ph8VNEiMQJ
"My blessed father - the sixth president of the State of Israel - Chaim Herzog, was one of the first commanders who liberated the death camps in Germany from the jaws of the Nazi beast. I will never forget how he described to me the horrors that unfolded before his eyes. The stench, the human skeletons in striped pajamas, The piles of corpses, the destruction, the hell on earth.ā Chaim Herzog was serving in the British army at the time of the liberation.
"In 1987, he made the first visit of an Israeli president to Germany and chose to open his visit to the Bergen-Belsen camp, four decades after he walked there - in the heart of discrimination - for the last time. During his visit, he said, and I quote: 'No forgiveness with me - and no forgetting. Only the dead have the right to forgive, and the living have no permission to forget'. So he said, in his will, which I carry on the tablet of my heart here today. 35 years have passed, and I, who in a few hours will conclude my state visit to Germany in Bergen-Belsen, would like to repeat his words here before you - The representatives of the German people, from all factions of the House, and to say: The Jewish people do not forget. And not only because of our duty to past generations, but because of our duty to future generations."
In the spirit of our commitment to Holocaust victims and survivors, we shall keep working to commemorate the Holocaust and, no less importantly, Holocaust-era heroism; we shall fight with determination and without compromise against all forms of antisemitism, racism & xenophobia.
ā ×צ×ק ××Øצ×× Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) September 6, 2022
Critics and supporters alike were stunned by the speech, as the word Nazi is simply not spoken in Germany and it was unusual for a foreign leader to deliver such as harsh, albeit true, speech to the German nation. Herzog's blunt and frank words were received well by the Bundestag members, however, the discomfort as he was speaking was visible on the faces of many who were in attendance.
