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Written by Nuno Martins
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Friday, 12 February 2010 |
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Over 140 Members Parliament, and Members of the European Parliament from 30 countries as well as members of the Israeli Knesset, had an emotional visit in the extermination camp on the day of the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. European Friends of Israel (EFI), an organisation whose objective is to foster dialogue and a deeper understanding between Europe and Israel, organised the visit for the third consecutive year. In 2005, the United Nations declared January 27 International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Sixty-five years down the road from the day when the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp took place in 1945 signalling an end to the campaign of systematic murder which saw the extermination of over six million Jews and millions of other innocent citizens of Europe. Romanian MEP Dancila says “It was very impressive to see the biggest concentration camp where about 1.1 million people, mostly Jews, were exterminated. This grim place is terrifying”. “It is very important to preserve the memories of the victims and to teach the young generations this shameful and sad part of history so that it will happen never again”, she adds. Gunnar Hokmark, EFI Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the European People’s Party group at the European Parliament, said in a message to the participants, “understanding our past, remembering the Holocaust is so important to understanding each other today and working together in the future. And so for the past years, on the occasion of the Holocaust Remembrance Day, EFI has led the delegation of Parliamentarians from around Europe to Auschwitz-Birkenau Camps”. A total of 1.3 million people perished at Auschwitz-Birkenau --- 1.1 million of them Jews from across occupied Europe -- mostly killed in gas chambers but also from shooting, hanging, starvation, disease, slave labour and pseudo-medical experiments. Carrying European and Israeli flags, the delegation lit six candles in memory of the six million Jews from across Europe who were exterminated in the Holocaust. "We are landing on another planet" said Mr. David Brin, survivor of the Holocaust, “while we were reaching the camps”. Spanish MEP Garriga Polledo observes: “Actually this planet was governed by people who did not belong to the human race. I do believe that Auschwitz is a lesson to Europe in terms of solidarity, reconciliation and forgiveness”. “The EFI mission to Auschwitz was a grim, solemn and moving occasion in the bitter cold of a Polish winter”, says Dr. Charles Tannock, British Member of the European Parliament. “The phrase 'whoever forgets the past is condemned to repeat it' sprang to mind, being a reason why all Western Leaders should visit the location of man's greatest inhumanity to main in the last century - yet impunity still prevails for those criminals behind these atrocities and in the same way that in the past the vast bulk of those Nazis and collaborators who executed the Holocaust got away unpunished. It's extraordinary that in our current timeframe enormous barbarities – albeit not on the scale of the Holocaust – still occur from the genocide of Darfur, Cambodia and Bosnia to the insanity of Rwanda. This is something the World must address for the future”, Mr Tannock adds. Alice Graham |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 12 February 2010 )
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Written by Nuno Martins
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Friday, 04 December 2009 |
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THE 3rd EFI MISSION TO AUSCHWITZ 26 – 27 January 2010 On the occasion of European Holocaust Remembrance Day 65th Anniversary of the Liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Camps REMEMBERING THE PAST TO FOSTER A PEACEFUL FUTURE A United Europe Against Anti-Semitism, Racism and Xenophobia For more information please send us an email to
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or call us on 003222357272 |
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 24 February 2010 )
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Friday, 06 February 2009 |
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Belgian MP, Georges Dallemagne who participated last week to the EFI Mission to Auschwitz questioned this thursday the Prime minister of Belgium, Herman Van Rompuy, about the reintegration into the Catholic Church of Bishop Richard Williamson, one of four bishops reinstated in the Church who held denial statements about the Holocaust. The Belgian Ambassador to the Holy See will be responsible to bring to the attention of authorities Vatican's condemnation of our country about any denial of the Holocaust. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 May 2009 )
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE EFI is particularly concerned by the European Parliament’s decision taken yesterday during the plenary session in Brussels to postpone the vote on Israel’s participation in the EU’s Community Programmes by 194 in favor to 173 against. Israel’s Participation in Community Programmes is meant to create trust, facilitate mutual understanding and encourage collaboration between Israel and the EU at the “People to People” level. By going against the position of both the Commission and the Council, the European Parliament has sent an unprecedented message to Israel that it does not consider it a partner. EFI is convinced that the EU has to continue on the path of peace promotion through dialogue. It is only by inclusion and not by exclusion of our democratic partners that true and mutual understandings can be achieved. Jean-Pierre Jouyet, French State Secretary for European Affairs, stated on behalf of the Council that “the Action Plan can bring the two-sides together creating a new trust between the partners on multiple levels. This way Europe can become more credible… not only in Israel but all ENP countries”. Günter Verheugen (Socialist), European Commissioner for Enterprise & Industry stated that “Already in 1995 Israel commenced close cooperation in Research and Development and I saw first-hand the quality of its people, which can bring many advantages to Europe. Anything that can gather together the people and that can promote dialogue deserves our support. [Therefore], the strengthening of relations with Israel is in the EU’s interests.” Ioannis KASOULIDES, MEP (EPP-ED), asked “We do not have this political conditionality on issues of bilateral relations within ENP policies. In the case of Morocco for instance, we have never mentioned Western Sahara or human rights. Also in the case of Egypt or any country in the Mediterranean. I do not understand why this time we have chosen this political linkage?” Charles Tannock, MEP (EPP-ED), stated “Israel and the EU share the common values which not all partners of the EU can demonstrate”. Elmar Brok, MEP (EPP-ED), Foreign policy coordinator of the European People Party, stated that the reason that was given for postponing the vote, the situation in the Gaza-strip, means supporting the illegal Hamas regime, which is decisively responsible for the situation in Gaza and the shelling of Israel. |
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 May 2009 )
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Tuesday, 02 December 2008 |
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Today Israeli Foreign Minister, Mrs. Tzipi Livni, addressed the Foreign Affairs Committee at the European Parliament. Acknowledging the importance of a deeper partnership between the EU and Israel, Mrs. Livni urged her European counterparts to accept the current Plan which deepens cooperation in numerous fields. “We (Israel and the EU) share the same democratic values, the same vision of Peace and that’s the reason why we need to upgrade our relations. There are stagnating positions that see Israel as an enemy that wants to control the life of Palestinians, this is not the real Israel and this is why we need to open Israel to Europe and Europe to Israel”. “Let us continue the bilateral process decided in Annapolis. We need help of the EU to continue this process according to the parameters set at Annapolis. Israelis and Palestinians both need concrete borders, and we need to translate now the vision of two-states solution into peace and security”.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 04 May 2009 )
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