Romanian Ambassador To Israel Responds To Anti-Semitism Accusation Against Romania

The statement of Romanian president Traian Basescu, cited by the November 2 edition of the Israeli daily Haaretz, according to which Syria’s neighbors are Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, is “truncated and taken out of context”, Romania’s ambassador to Israel Edward Iosiper said.

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Imaginea articolului Romanian Ambassador To Israel Responds To Anti-Semitism Accusation Against Romania

Romanian Ambassador To Israel Responds To Anti-Semitism Accusation Against Romania

 

“In fact, the statement [in which Basescu said Syria is bordered by the following countries: Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine] did mention Israel and its negotiations with Syria,” Iosiper said in a letter published by the Israeli newspaper Thursday.

Iosiper deems accusing the president and the Romanian people of anti-Semitism is “unwarranted and misleading”.

“The recent desecration of a Jewish cemetery in Bucharest is a very serious incident that in no way reflects the relations between Romanians and the Jewish community. The president, prime minister and justice minister expressed their outrage and conveyed their solidarity to the Jewish community,” the letter read.

The Romanian ambassador added Romania is conducting a serious effort to come to term with the past and to promote Holocaust awareness. Steps include the establishment of an annual Holocaust memorial day and the Institute for Holocaust Studies as well as the introduction of Holocaust education into the national curricula.

Romania is also active in combating anti-Semitism, hosting an OSCE ministerial meeting in 2007 and a regional meeting on this topic in September, Iosiper added.

In a comment published in Sunday’s edition of the Haaretz Daily, Romania was accused of anti-Semitism, after the head of state’s return from Syria, when he said this country borders Palestine, in an apparent confusion with Israel.

The article, called “The state the Romanian president forgot”, is written by historian Cellu Rozenberg, specialist in homeland security, whose family was killed during the massacre in Iasi, northeastern Romania, on June 29, 1941. Starting from the recent desecration of Jewish tombs, he showed anti-Semitism in Romania has older roots. Historian Hannah Arendt considers Romania is “the country with the deepest anti-Semitic roots of all countries”.

He referred to Basescu’s statement according to which Syria’s neighbors are Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine, which does not officially exist as state. “Did he miss the fact that there is no country called Palestine, but another country, indeed small, which has a border with Syria – one called Israel?” Rozenberg rhetorically asked in his article, severely attacking Basescu’s ignorance.


 

 

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