US President Barack Oabama paid a visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial site in Israel, as part of his 3 day visit to the country.
The President with Israeli prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres, lit the 'Eternal Flame' and took part in a 10-minute ceremony, which concluded with a prayer for the souls of martyrs.
Speaking at the memorial in Jerusalem, President Obama stated,
“Nothing equals the wrenching power of this sacred place".
Extracts from his spech have been reproduced below. See his full speech here.
"If you come here a thousand times, each time our hearts will break. For here we see the depravity to which man can sink, the barbarity that unfolds when we begin to see our fellow human beings as somehow less than us, less worthy of dignity and life; we see how evil can, for a moment in time, triumph when good people do nothing."
"In our lives we always have choices. To succumb to our worst instincts or to summon the better angels of our nature. To be indifferent to suffering to wherever it may be, whoever it may be visited upon, or to display the empathy that is at the core of our humanity. We have the choice to acquiesce to evil or make real our solemn vow -- “never again.” We have the choice to ignore what happens to others, or to act on behalf of others and to continually examine in ourselves whatever dark places there may be that might lead to such actions or inactions."
"This is our obligation -- not simply to bear witness, but to act."
