Dozens of world leaders are to attend what is expected to be the largest-ever gathering focused on combating anti-Semitism in Jerusalem on January 23, 2020.
President Reuven Rivlin said on Wednesday that the fifth World Holocaust Forum - "Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Antisemitism" - will coincide with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp in Poland and International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
1 View gallery
L-R: Avner Shalev, Israel Katz, Reuven Rivlin and Moshe Kantor
(Photo: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)
Speaking Wednesday at a press conference at the president's residence in Jerusalem to mark the official lead-up launch of the event, Rivlin said that some 30 heads of state will attend the forum at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
Rivlin was joined by Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Yad Vashem Chairman Avner Shalev and World Holocaust Forum Foundation President Dr. Moshe Kantor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, French President Emmanuel Macron and the presidents of Germany, Italy and Austria are among those who have already confirmed their participation.
Rivlin called it a "one of a kind" gathering devoted to the threat of anti-Semitism and passing Holocaust remembrance to "generations who will live in a world without survivors."
The conference comes amid a spike in anti-Semitic incidents around the world, including the repeated desecration of Jewish cemeteries and physical attacks on Jews identifiable by their garb.