Former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau warned Thursday that another Holocaust could not be ruled out, saying it all depended on how people fight anti-Semites.
Lau, who was one of the speakers at Thursday's gathering of high-level dignitaries at the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem and a Holocaust survivor himself, said the arrival of so many world leaders was of immense importance to Israel and the fight against anti-Semitic hatred.
"Five world leaders will speak, among them four who represent the Allies of World War II," he told Israel Hayom ahead of the event. "I will be the only one among the speakers who actually experienced the Holocaust, the only one who lived it, who lost a father and mother as a little boy. We have a very important imperative to remember and not to forget."
He said that if Jews did not pay attention to what their enemies did to them, they might overlook trends that could "God forbid, lead to another annihilation."
He said that he "cannot promise you that another Holocaust will never take place, but if, God forbid, it does, it will be different."
He explained that "this time, the fact that we have a Jewish state that deters Israel's haters, the fact that we have the Israel Defense Forces, and the fact that we have won wars decisively, makes things starkly different [than the 1940s]."
