Israeli Ambassador warns against radical ideologies and manifestations present even today

Israeli Ambassador in Bucharest David Saranga vehemently condemns "the attitude and insulting statements of some political leaders who deemed it appropriate to describe the Holocaust genocide as a 'minor topic' for the Romanian education system to address", Agerpres reports.

"I have always argued that fair and objective information on the horrors of the Holocaust in Romania is necessary to prevent such tragedies from happening again. The new generation must know in depth this black page in human history, so as to understand that anti-Semitism, xenophobia and intolerance have no place in today's society and that they contravene Romania's democratic and European values," the diplomat said in a message posted on Facebook, in response to a press release sent by the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).

David Saranga emphasized that the law on the introduction of the subject tilted "The History of the Jews. The Holocaust", adopted by Parliament and recently promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis, "gives students the opportunity to understand this cruel episode, but also the importance of compassion".

According to Saranga, statements that classify the subject as a "minor topic" are "overt evidence of either lack of commitment or ignorance."

"It is important to note that these fall within the definition of Holocaust denial issued by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the same institution that adopted the definition of anti-Semitism during the Romanian presidency. Extremist reactions remind us that radical ideologies and manifestations make their presence felt even today. I am convinced that the Romanian people will choose the historical truth over the anti-Semitic discourse," the Israeli ambassador to Romania also shows.

On Monday, the Alliance for the Union of Romanians sent a press release stating that, in recent years, "systematic action to undermine" the quality of education in Romania has been noted by raising some "minor topics or topics that can be covered in simple lessons within existing subjects (for example, sexuality education, Holocaust history, etc.) to the status of subjects, while reducing the importance given to fundamental subjects for the formation of new generations: the exact sciences, Romanian language and literature, national history".