BICOM

Around 60 Members of Knesset, half the entire legislature, will travel to Poland today at the head of an Israeli delegation marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The delegation headed by Coalition Chair Yariv Levin MK and Opposition and Labour Party leader Isaac Herzog MK includes four government ministers, four deputy ministers, Knesset members, 24 Holocaust survivors and their families, in addition to 250 prominent public figures, including State Comptroller Joseph Shapira and Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein.

The delegation will arrive at Auschwitz before marching to the Birkenau death camp, where a memorial ceremony will be held on behalf of the Polish government. Around 1,000 other dignitaries will join the ceremony, including Polish MPs and parliamentarians from a variety of additional European countries. A US delegation led by House of Representatives Majority Leader Eric Cantor will also be in attendance while Canadian Minister for Multiculturalism Jason Kenney is also set to attend.

Yariv Levin commented, “Seven decades after millions of members of our nation were cruelly murdered by the Nazis, it is my privilege and responsibility to lead the largest delegation of the Knesset, the parliament of the independent Jewish state, to the valley of death of Auschwitz-Birkenau.” Meanwhile, Isaac Herzog said “there are no words to describe the powerful feelings we have in expressing the spirit and opinions of our democracy. We are going to remember, to remind, to learn and teach, to light a candle in memory and say a prayer.”

Later in the day, an inter-parliamentary event will take place in Krakow, where addresses will be given by Levin and Deputy Polish Parliamentary Speaker Cezary Grabarczyk. Parliamentarians from other countries will also be invited to deliver speeches. The delegation will return to Israel late tonight.