Gaza: Israeli mayor says 'never again' applies to everyone at Holocaust event
An Israeli mayor has said "never again" applies to everyone at an event commemorating Yom HaShoah - Israel’s day of remembrance for the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany - warning that the destruction of Gaza will not lead to the return of captives.
Amir Kochavi, mayor of the central Israeli city of Hod Hasharon, told attendees that "Jewish morality" dictated that the lesson learned from the genocide against Jews should be that similar atrocities should be condemned regardless of who commits them.
"We must not remain silent in the face of atrocities committed against people of other nationalities in the world, even if they are committed in our name," he said.
"Jewish morality dictates 'never again' not only to us, but to all peoples as a moral and ethical imperative of a just and healthy society... 59 brothers and sisters are still held hostage in Gaza, their 'never again' still continues."
He added that "the lust for revenge, blood and destruction" had failed to return those held by Hamas, whether living or dead.
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Sirens echoed across Israel on Thursday and activity ground to a halt in tribute to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust during the Second World War.
Traffic halted and pedestrians stood still to mark Yom HaShoah, which is separate from International Holocaust Remembrance Day, observed on 27 January.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended a state event at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem, which he used as an opportunity to pledge to continue the assault on the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed more than 51,000 people and left the enclave in ruins.
"Anyone who feared that after the massacre of 7 October we would be facing another Holocaust has seen how we turned the tables," said Netanyahu, referring the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that left 1,139 people dead, mainly civilians.
"On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, I pledge that the military pressure on Hamas will continue."
Israel is home to approximately 120,000 Holocaust survivors, about half of the total number of survivors worldwide.
Many arrived as refugees after the Second World War during the violent events known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or catastrophe, when Zionist militias seized land which became the state of Israel in 1948. Around 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their homes and barred from returning.
Israel is currently accused at the International Court of Justice and by human rights organisations of waging a campaign of genocide in Gaza, a charge that it denies.
Hopes of an end to the conflict after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire were shattered last month when Israel resumed air strikes and ground operations in the enclave.
On Tuesday, the United Nations' humanitarian office, OCHA, said people in Gaza had now gone the longest period without any aid or commercial supplies reaching them since the start of the war and were now facing "probably the worst humanitarian situation" they had endured.
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