President Biden will meet with two Holocaust survivors during his visit to Yad Vashem – Giselle Cycowicz and Rina Quint – who immigrated to the United States after the end of World War II
U.S. President Joe Biden will start his 3-day trip to Israel on Wednesday with a visit to Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem.
According to the center, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan will escort the President throughout his visit to the Mount of Remembrance. President Biden will be accompanied by Israeli President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Yair Lapid, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Prof. Deborah Lipstadt and renowned Holocaust survivor and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau. The visit is scheduled for 18:00.
The presidential delegation will meet with two Holocaust survivors – Rina Quint and Gita Cycowicz – in the Museum of Holocaust Art, and participate in a memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance, commemorating the six million Jewish men, women and children murdered during the Holocaust by the German Nazis and their collaborators.
During the memorial ceremony, the President will rekindle the Eternal Flame and lay a wreath on a slab under which ashes from the extermination camps are buried. The Ankor Children’s Choir will sing “Walk to Caesarea” written by Hannah Szenes, and Cantor Shmuel Berlad will recite El Maleh Rachamim, a Jewish prayer for the souls of the martyrs of the Holocaust.
The memorial ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance will be broadcast live by Yad Vashem via its website and Facebook page.
Lapid: Biden visit will be ‘historic,’ carry message of ‘peace and hope’
Ahead of President Biden’s arrival in Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid said this would be a “historic” week for the Jewish state and called Biden “one of the closest friends that Israel has ever had in American politics.”
“This visit will deal with both challenges and opportunities,” Lapid said Sunday at the weekly cabinet meeting. He emphasized that discussions would focus on progress Iran has made in its nuclear program.
Lapid thanked the Biden administration for thus far not removing Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of foreign terrorist organizations, and noted that Tehran “is behind Hezbollah and supports Hamas, and Iranian terror cells recently tried to murder Israeli tourists in Istanbul.”
Lapid also highlighted the significance of Biden’s upcoming direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia (on Friday), saying the U.S. leader would “carry with him a message of peace and hope. … Israel extends its hand to all the countries of the region and calls on them to build ties with us, establish relations with us and change history for our children.”
A senior Saudi Arabian journalist, said to be close with the country’s leaders, said the Gulf state could normalize ties with Israel, even without American mediation, Channel 12 news reported.
“In my opinion, there is no need for the US president to be a meditator between Tel Aviv and other countries,” says Mubarak al-Ati, the director of Saudi Arabia’s official al-Ekhbariya Radio in a video aired on the Israeli network.
Biden is due to fly on to Saudi Arabia from Israel on Friday.
More than 16,000 police officers to secure Biden’s Israel visit
“During the days of the visit, more than 16,000 police officers, Border Police officers and volunteers will be deployed … for security and to safeguard public order, as well as directing traffic during the state visit,” the Israeli police said in a statement.
Police described the security operation as complex and involving multiple security organizations. It will focus on Ben-Gurion International Airport, Jerusalem and the main highways leading to the capital, according to the statement.
Specialized command posts will be in operation to allow effective command and control of the security operations, police added.
Disruption to traffic is expected between Wednesday and Friday in central Israel, on roads leading to Jerusalem and throughout Jerusalem itself. Changes in traffic routes will occur in the capital for limited periods, according to police.
Hundreds of journalists from around the word are in Israel to cover Biden’s visit. The Israel Government Press Office (GPO) will operate a mini-site -in real time, including live brioadcasts, photos and documents- for the hundreds of Israeli and foreign journalists covering the event.