‘Never Again’ Vows UAE Foreign Minister at Berlin Holocaust Memorial

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan greets German Foreign Minister He
MICHELE TANTUSSI/POOL/AFP via Getty
Deborah Brand

Israel and the UAE’s top diplomats visited the Holocaust Memorial in central Berlin on Tuesday, in a “historic” first meeting between the newly allied foreign ministers.

Gabi Ashkenazi and Emirati counterpart Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan joined German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas to discuss bolstering trade, tourism and security between the Middle East nations. At Al Nahyan suggestion, the diplomats made a stop at the memorial.

“A whole group of humanity fell victim to those calling for extremism and hatred,” Al Nahyan wrote in the visitor’s book at the site. The visit, he wrote, “underscored the importance of human values such as coexistence, tolerance and accepting the other… as well as respect for all creeds and faiths. These are the values upon which my country was founded.”

“I salute the souls of those who fell victim to the Holocaust,” Al Nahyan wrote. He went onto quote a Jewish prayer translated into Arabic: “May their souls be bound up in the binds of life.”

“Never again,” he wrote, in both English and in Arabic.

Ashkenazi said the meeting “symbolizes the beginning of a new era. An era of peace between peoples. Our joint signature in the book of remembrance is like a shared cry and oath: to remember and not to forget, to be strong and to promise ‘never again.’”

According to Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Maas told Al Nahyan that Ashkenazi was the child of Holocaust survivors.

“The Emirati minister was surprised to hear this and asked to hear more,” the ministry said. “Minister Ashkenazi told him of his roots and his father who survived a labor camp in Bulgaria in 1944 and about his immigration to Israel,” it added.

Maas later said at a peace conference that their willingness to meet in Berlin and tour the Holocaust memorial together “shows how serious you are in your efforts for good bilateral relations,” the Times of Israel reported.

He called the U.S.-brokered agreement between the UAE and Israel “the first good news in the Middle East for a long time — and a chance for new movement in the dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians.”

BERLIN, GERMANY - OCTOBER 6: UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi visit the Holocaust memorial together with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas prior to their historic meeting on October 6, 2020 in Berlin, Germany. The foreign ministers of Israel and the United Arab Emirates visited the Holocaust Memorial during their first meeting since their countries signed a US-brokered deal to normalize relations. (Photo by Michele Tantussi-Pool/Getty Images)

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and his Israeli counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi visit the Holocaust memorial together with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas prior to their historic meeting on October 6, 2020 in Berlin, Germany.  (Photo by Michele Tantussi-Pool/Getty)

“This shows that peaceful coexistence in the Middle East is possible,” he said.

Al Nahyan said: “There is new hope for Palestinians and Israelis so they can work for a two-state solution and a better region,” he said.

Ashkenazi said that other Gulf states will come forward to make peace but that they needed to be “courageous.”

“Everyone understands why we need to be strong to avoid war and create peace” and speaking in Arabic, wished for peace.

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