Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib Visited Yad Vashem Today, 27 March 2024

Today, the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs, Foreign Trade and Federal Cultural Institutions, H.E. Ms. Hadja Lahbib, visited Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center. Minister Lahbib toured the Holocaust History Museum, participated in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, and visited the Children’s Memorial. Yad Vashem Chairman joined the Foreign Minister for the memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance.

At the end of the visit, Foreign Minister Lahbib signed the Yad Vashem Guest Book and remarked:

"It is a moment of intense emotion for me to stand here and be at Yad Vashem. On behalf of my country, Belgium, I would like to pay tribute to all victims of the Shoah. The six million men, women and children who lost their lives in horrendous conditions, were deported, tortured and murdered for the sole reason that they were Jewish. The Holocaust is one of the darkest chapters of human history. We must remember these atrocities of the past so that such horrors never happen again. More than 80 years later, a sad reality imposes itself on us. In Europe, as well as elsewhere in the world, we see that antisemitism, as well as other forms of discrimination, are once again gaining ground. This is something that we have to continue to combat. It is the duty for all to reaffirm forcefully, never again. We commit to opposing all forms of hatred and injustice, ensuring that the echoes of history are never silenced.