I join people here at home, in Israel, and around the world in observing Holocaust Remembrance Day. This year, on the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps, we must recommit ourselves to honoring the memories of all the victims and ensuring that they remain a part of our collective memory. On my visit to Buchenwald last year – and during my visit to Yad Vashem in 2008 – I bore witness to the horrors of anti-Semitism and the capacity for evil represented by the Nazis’ campaign to annihilate the Jewish people and so many others. But even at places like Buchenwald, the dignity and courage of those who endured the horrors of the Holocaust remind us of humanity’s capacity for decency and compassion.
The memories of the victims serve as a constant reminder to honor their legacy by renewing our commitment to prevent genocide, and to confront anti-Semitism and prejudice in all of its forms. We must never tolerate the hateful stereotypes and prejudice against the Jewish people that tragically continues to this day. We must work, instead, on behalf of a world of justice and peace, in which all nations and peoples value the humanity that we share, and the dignity inherent in every human being.
(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)
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24 Responses
Huh? Was this speech made today? Yom Hashoa commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, not the liberation of the camps, and if Obama’s speechwriter didn’t know that, that tells you an awful lot about him and his team.
#1 – Maybe you weren’t able to read a newpaper or watch the news today?
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2010/04/11/4144770-survivors-veterans-mark-buchenwald-liberation
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100411/pl_afp/uspoliticsreligionholocaustobama_20100411195444
This is what the President said, by the way. Is any part of this problematic for you? Had it been said by a different president, say a Republican one, would it have been better?
Blah, blah, blah.
So when are you gonna do your job and prevent the Iranian mullacracy from finishing the Nazis’ work, President Obama?
sickandtired – the part that bothers us is that if he cared enough he (or his speech writer) would check his history.
I don’t understand. Yesterday was the big celebration of the liberation of Buchenwald, wasn’t it?
I’m sick of his fakery. We aren’t being fooled. He has done nothing to stop Iran and is legitimizing the Palestinians and emboldening all of our enemies in the Middle East. Now Syria and Jordan can start talking big. Thanks Osama oops I mean Hussein Obama.
Go back to Kenya.
I don’t see why YWN even posts any articles about the president. The replies are all the same.
President Obama makes speech for Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Response: Go back to Kenya, Hussein.
President Obama supports equal pay for equal work.
Response: Get lost, you Commie America-hater.
President Obama has Special K for breakfast.
Response: Another reason to hate the terrorist-loving Communist.
I mean, if the responses have absolutely nothing to do with the article, why respond? Frankly, I’m surprised that on a day that honors those that died in the Holocaust, it’s being turned into another partisan issue. Even G-d thinks people need to give it a rest sometimes.
Sick and tired thereis an old saying “Practice what you Preach.”
I think that is the frustration that people have with our wonderful prseident!
#4, #7 – And what did Bush do to stop Iran? Both Obama and Bush tried to put sanctions on Iran via the UN, and both Obama and Bush were stopped by Russia and China. What do you want them to do, blow up the country?
You show great disrespect for those that perished in the Holocaust by turning this into another partisan discussion. But carry on.
#11 – I believe that you contributed more to making this a “partisan discussion” than anyone else did. You wrote 5/11 comments so far, and your comments were the most strongly written with the exception of #7. You made some good points, but you did not make them too nicely. So please do not accuse us of showing “great disrespect for those that perished in the Holocaust by turning this into another partisan discussion” if you can’t practice what you preach.
Sickandtired, I believe Yom Hashoah commemorates the Warsaw Ghetto uprising not the liberation of Buchenwald. i suppose i could be wrong about that, but i don’t think so.
#12, I have looked on three Jewish websites, and the only comments about Yom HaShoah were Obama-bashing. It’s bizarre to me. What does he even have to do with the Holocaust? He’s just a US president making a perfectly appropriate speech, as does every president.
#13, My point is it is the anniversary of the liberation of Buchenwald, and almost the anniversary of the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. So it’s not weird to mention it, and doesn’t show any ignorance or indifference, as #1 implied.
Whoops — hit submit before I finished typing. I was going to say I fail to see how comments #4 and 7 have anything at all to do with the Holocaust.
Yom HaShoah is the ANNIVERSARY of the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, but it is a commemoration of the Holocaust. (Wikipedia)
Sick and tired,
I’m also sick and tired.
I’m sick and tired of Obama’s proclamations that he is some kind of a friend to Israel, when his positions and conduct consistently put him at odds with Israel’s popularly elected leadership on such fundamental matters as territorial sovereignty and national security.
I’m sick and tired of Obama, Clinton, Mitchell, Petraeus, et al’s insinuation that Israeli apartment construction somehow endangers American interests, and their corollary lie that an Israeli relinquishment of Jerusalem would magically appease the world’s suicide fanatics who are so openly devoted to imposing radical Islam on the whole world.
And I’m sick and tired of Obama’s steadfast refusal to take any action to prevent Iran from visiting a promised nuclear holocaust first on Israel and second on America. There are some who would like to distract us by trying to hang that on Bush, but unfortunately he’s just not in office anymore. So we in the pragmatic camp stick to prodding the incumbent, who is currently presiding fecklessly over Iran’s doomsday project, to act; excusing Obama’s monumental failure by diverting our attention to a recounting of the presently irrelevant shortcomings of historical administrations is obviously deeply counterproductive to the mission at hand of ensuring that our civilization actually survives Ahmadinejad’s schemes.
But whining that you’re too sick and too tired to acknowledge Obama’s profound shortcomings on existential challenges isn’t pragmatic, impressive or effective. So I recommend you bestir yourself to join in the effort to ignite a national dialogue about what needs to be done to stop Iran. Lethargy and complaint just won’t do.
Gee, person who is fun being BT, would you have been happy if he hadn’t made a speech on Yom HaShoah? I can only imagine the cries from the Jewish community about how this anti-Semite refuses to acknowledge the Holocaust.
By the way, in case you don’t know this, Holocaust Remembrance day is about the HOLOCAUST. Not Iran.
I’m not whining, by the way. I couldn’t care less what you think of Obama. I would like you to acknowledge that Holocaust Remembrance Day is about the Holocaust. Mourn the 6 million, ‘kay?
And next year, I hope he doesn’t utter a word on Yom HaShoah. I’m going to save this page and then share it when everybody screams that he doesn’t care about the 6 million.
#14 – It is true that many of the comments have nothing to with the Holocaust, and would not have been made if Bush gave the same exact speech. But that was not my point – my point was that if you truly believe that “You show great disrespect for those that perished in the Holocaust by turning this into another partisan discussion”, why are you being so partisan yourself?
And btw no, I do not think it is disrespectful to the Holocaust victims to blast the 2nd most anti-Israel president America has ever had.
I haven’t made one partisan statement. I haven’t talked about Obama and Israel, Obama and Iran, Obama and the Boy Scouts of America. All I’ve said is please don’t make Yom HaShoah another discussion about what you think the president is doing wrong. I have not defended him in any way.
At any rate, you can go back and read my response to when this question was answered for you earlier. Maybe you missed my response.
Now I suggest we go back to remembering the 6 million who died.
On that note:
Have you see the pictures of the ceremony at Buchenwald? They were so beautiful and sad. They included soldiers who were involved in the liberation, which I think is touching, as that generation is dying off. My cousin is flying from NYC today to go to the ceremony at Bergen-Belsen.
#20 – A comment’s partisanness (yes, I made that word up, but no real word fit) does not depend on if it mentions “Obama and Israel, Obama and Iran, Obama and the Boy Scouts of America”.
par·ti·san
–noun
an adherent or supporter of a person, group, party, or cause, esp. a person who shows a biased, emotional allegiance.
–adjective
of, pertaining to, or characteristic of partisans; partial to a specific party, person, etc.: partisan politics.
According to this definition of partisan (from dictionary.com), I would have to say comments #8 and #18 for sure fit the bill, and comments #3 and #11 get a maybe.
“At any rate, you can go back and read my response to when this question was answered for you earlier. Maybe you missed my response.”
The only question I asked was “if you truly believe that “You show great disrespect for those that perished in the Holocaust by turning this into another partisan discussion”, why are you being so partisan yourself?” I have re-read all your comments, and could not find an answer. Maybe you could point it out?
Sickandtired,
I’m afraid that yes, you are indeed whining. You’re whining a lot. And it isn’t helping.
Similarly, it doesn’t help, at all, that Obama made an empty speech tisk-tisking the Holocaust, since his actions–or lack thereof–prove that he has absolutely no problem at all with the annihilation of the Jewry.
The sentient among us are keenly aware of the disconnect between Obama’s word and deed, and Yom HaShoah naturally causes us to reflect on just how close Obama is bringing us not to “Never Again”, but to “Again”.
You whined in comment #18 that “next year, I hope he [Obama] doesn’t utter a word on Yom HaShoah.” But an intelligent hope for next year is that the US will have a president who really does oppose genocide.
Hey, mw13! You’re my first stalker — I see you followed me to the Rubashkin thread. I’m so flattered! Will you pass me a not in Study Hall with hearts on it?
BTfunnyPerson, I think you’re just going to take every statement and call me whiny. So that’s tiresome. Go ahead, hate the president. Complain about everything he does. He’s still the president. And hopefully will be again.
Sickandtired,
I was surprised by the vacuousness of your response (no. 23): “Go ahead, hate the president.”
Your comment was an unintentional acknowledgment there is no real justification, no intellectually satisfying excuse, for a President who verbally decries the last holocaust while his foreign policy conduct actively ushers in the next.
No one here hates the President, Sickandtired, and we all honor the office he holds. As responsible Americans, we have the duty and the right to criticize and apply pressure to a White House that is asleep at the switch during this final countdown to a nuclear terrorism crisis.