Mr. Speaker, today is Yom Hashoah, the day that Jews and Gentiles pause to remember the horror of the Holocaust.
From 1933 to 1945 six million Jews and millions of other innocent victims were burned in the ovens of Auschwitz and other concentration camps. This unparalleled crime against humanity must never happen again.
There is a Hebrew word that I would ask all members of this House to learn. It is “zachor” and it means to remember. We owe it to the dead to never forget their tragedy and we owe it to the living never to allow the Holocaust to happen again.
On behalf of the official opposition I would like to express my personal commitment to ensure that the world learns from the Holocaust. On this the eve of the 50th anniversary of the modern State of Israel, I promise to zachor.