Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke at a ceremony marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day in New York City at the UN Headquarters on Monday. The event commemorated 80 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

Herzog began his speech by noting the yellow ribbon pin on his lapel, and said, “I stand before you as president of a nation that is determined and proud, and yet – anguished and incomplete.”

He continued by making his appeal to the international community saying, “I call on all representatives in this General Assembly, all who consider themselves part of the civilized world, to throw your weight to ensure our hostages return to their homes – every single one of them. Bring them home now!”

Herzog presented a challenge to the global community by asking a few questions:

“How is it possible that the moral compass of so many in the family of nations has become so disoriented, that they no longer recognize the clear truth: That just as terrorists use civilians as human shields, they also weaponize the international institutions, undermining the most basic, fundamental reason for their establishment? How is it possible that the same institutions established in the wake of the greatest genocide in history – the Holocaust – are manipulating the definition of genocide for the sole purpose of attacking Israel and the Jewish people?”

Herzog told those in attendance that “the international courts and institutions set up in the wake of the Holocaust have since become distorted and hypocritical in their attacks on Israel.”

Herzog shared that his great uncle, Hersch Lauterpacht, a Holocaust survivor, “served as a prosecutor in the Nuremberg trials and went on to help establish the International Court of Justice, later serving on the court as a judge” according to the Times of Israel.

“He did so out of deep faith – and hope, that the international institutions [including the UN, ICJ and ICC] would forever be committed to preventing these heinous crimes from ever happening again – to the Jewish people or any other people,” remarked the President.

Herzog noted that Hamas terrorists who carried out the atrocities of Oct.7, 2023, “took their inspiration from Nazism and Hitler.”

The President highlighted that, 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, antisemitism continues to exist, now growing more intense and manifesting in new ways. He stated, "This serves as an urgent reminder to all of humanity: antisemitism, brutality, cruelty, and racism are still alive and well in our world."

Read the full article at All Israel News.