New York, NY – One day after criticizing Israel’s settlement building in Palestinian territories, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Saturday donned a kippah skullcap to honor Jewish Holocaust dead and survivors.
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And one of the leading US rabbis paid tribute to Ban by calling him a “mensch” — the Yiddish word for a person of great integrity — at a Holocaust remembrance service.
The UN leader and other top UN diplomats went to the Park East synagogue in New York, where Rabbi Arthur Schneier has in the past welcomed Pope Benedict XVI and other leading religious dignataries.
Schneier, who himself went through the Nazi crackdown in the Budapest ghetto in World War II, highlighted the “dwindling group of survivors” from the Nazi death camps who will be honored on International Holocaust Remembrance day on January 27.
“I never thought I would see the day when I would see the German and Russian ambassadors sat next to each other here,” he said.
While Ban has often had tough words for Israeli policies, the rabbi called the UN leader a believer in “compassionate diplomacy, diplomacy from the heart.”
Schneier called Ban “a mensch” and said “there is no greater tribute.”
In his comments, Ban called the Holocaust “the darkest chapter in history” and said “we can never tolerate anybody who denies the Holocaust.”
On Friday, Ban criticized Israel’s refusal to halt settlement building in Palestinian territories and warned that time is running out to save Middle East peace talks.
One can be a great friend of the Jewish people and still think that the settlements are a bad idea.
Did this take place Saturday evening or by day? Interesting to know
was this after or before he called for the arab state to have its capital in yerushalyim? some mentsh.