New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo Visits Yad Vashem

On March 5, 2017, State Governor Cuomo of New York visited Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. He spoke passionately, urging zero tolerance for the discrimination or abuse of any person or persons in Israel, New York, the United States and around the world. “Touring Yad Vashem was indeed powerful. It is a living lesson of what the Jewish people have gone through and what this world allowed them to go through. It reminds us all of the potential danger. We must live by the rule that an abuse to one, an affront to one, is an affront to all. We must have zero tolerance for any abuse or discrimination about any fellow human being.”

During his remarks, Cuomo referred to the recent widespread acts of terrorism, vandalism and threats against Jewish institutions, synagogues and cemeteries in the United States that have reached over one hundred incidences in 2017 alone. In response to this, Governor Cuomo declared, “It is disgusting, it is reprehensible, it violates every tenet of the New York State tradition. To the people of Israel, I say that these acts of antisemitism will not be tolerated.”

Before concluding his public address, Governor Cuomo stated: “This trip has two purposes; number one, while some would weaken the relationship between the people of the State of New York and our Jewish brothers and sisters, the purpose of this trip is to strengthen those relationships through cultural exchange, through economic development partnerships, and we’ll be working on them. The second purpose of this trip is ‘Hineini,’ I am here, I have been here before, and I will be here again.”

While at Yad Vashem, Governor Cuomo participated in a wreath laying ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance with President of Israel Reuven Rivlin and Director General of Yad Vashem Dorit Novak. The Governor visited that Holocaust History Museum and the Hall of Names, a memorial that houses the names of over 4,600,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust.

 

Photos of Governor Andrew Cuomo at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center: