In an exciting ceremony, the Jewish community in Bahrain marked Holocaust Remembrance Day for the first time in a virtual ceremony initiated by The House Of Ten Commandments, the local Jewish organization said.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter
According to the organization, the "ceremony was held at the community synagogue, which was recently renovated at the king's initiative."
Ambassador Houda Nonoo, from a Bahraini Jewish family, who was the kingdom's ambassador to the United States, initiated the event.
The guest of honor was Dr. Dore Gold, the president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs and a former ambassador and Foreign Ministry director-general. He met with Nonoo during his visit to Bahrain in December 2020.
"At the end of the ceremony, the "El Malei Rachamim" prayer was held in memory of the victims, and candles were lit in memory of the victims as part of the 'Yellow Candle' project #Yellocandle," the organization said in a statement.
Earlier this week, the planned commemoration events were announced as a sign of the warming relations between Israel and Gulf states.
Israel, the UAE and Bahrain signed historic peace deals last year, paving the way for normalization, already credited with improving Arab-Jewish relations in the region.
The House of the Ten Commandments of the Jewish community of Bahrain and the Jewish Council of the Emirates (JCE) said they would each hold their own separate commemoration events in addition to the AGJC one, in which they will both participate.
"For the first time ever, the Jewish communities of Bahrain and Dubai will be participating in the Yellow Candle Project, the global communal effort to remember victims of the Holocaust, whereby members from each community will light a yellow candle in memory of the name of Jews who perished during the Holocaust," the AGJC said.
The project includes an educational website which allows participants to explore age-appropriate themes within Holocaust education."
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
