President Trump laid a wreath Tuesday at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national memorial to the victims of the Holocaust, and later vowed that the world would “never again” remain silent in the face of evil.
Mr. Trump described the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust as “the most savage crime against God and his children.”
He also paid tribute to the Jewish people and the state of Israel, one of America’s closest allies.
“This place and this entire nation are a testament to the unbreakable spirit of the Jewish people and the hope that light can shine the path behind the darkness,” said Mr. Trump, who is visiting Israel on his first trip abroad as president. “Through persecution, oppression, death and destruction, the Jewish people have persevered, they have thrived, they have become so successful in so many places, and they have enlightened the world.”
Earlier, at a ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance at Yad Vashem, the president rekindled the eternal flame and placed a wreath on a stone slab under which ashes from extermination camps are buried.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledged the importance Mr. Trump placed on the U.S. relationship with his country, noting that Mr. Trump was the first sitting U.S. president to come to Israel on a first foreign trip and the first to visit the Western Wall.
“Mr. president, I appreciate your commitment to that principle and your commitment to the security of the one and only Jewish state, which is entrusted with securing the Jewish future,” Mr. Netanyahu said.
• S.A. Miller can be reached at smiller@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.