‘We are all Jews,’ Obama declares as world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day

US President Barack Obama on Wednesday warned of the growing threat of anti-Semitism, declaring that “any attack on any faith is an attack on all our faiths.”

 

Speaking at the Israeli embassy in Washington to honor non-Jews who saved Jewish lives during the Holocaust, the president declared: “We are all indeed Jews.”

 

“Anti-Semitism is on the rise, we cannot deny it,” the president said.

 

“When we see Jews leaving Europe… and attacks on Jewish centers from Mumbai to Kansas; when we see swastikas appear on college campuses, we must not stay silent,” Obama said.

 

“When any Jew anywhere is targeted, we must all respond as if we are all Jewish… we must all do what we can… we have a responsibility, and as president I will make sure the US is leading the fight against anti-Semitism,” the president said.

 

Obama’s participation at the event is considered noteworthy particularly due to his historically tense relationship with the Israeli government and its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

 

Netanyahu’s hand-picked envoy to Washington, Ron Dermer, warmly welcomed the president during his opening remarks.

 

“This is the first time a sitting president has ever spoken to our embassy,” Dermer said, calling the event a “message of friendship.”

 

Read More: ‘We are all Jews,’ Obama declares as world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day – Israel News – Jerusalem Post