The embassy will be the closest official Israeli mission to an Iranian border, only some 15 miles away. Cohen's visit and the embassy's inauguration are intended to send a message to Iran that Israel is a present and growing influence in the region.
The lesson from the Holocaust is to live a sovereign life in our land; not to be at the mercy of other nations where we sought temporary refuge for a short while or centuries.
President Isaac Herzog conveyed an appropriate Holocaust Remembrance Day message with just the right tone, but the people who most needed to hear and heed it either weren’t listening or didn’t think it applied to them.
Even as we mourn our six million martyrs, let us rejoice in everything our people have managed to rebuild in the eight decades since the Holocaust.
Museums, archives of testimonies and educational efforts preserved the survivors’ legacy. Still, that won’t counter contemporary antisemitic hatred and disinformation.
