By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora

GRIM REMINDER. Jewish women and children from Subcarpathian Rus selected by the Nazi SS for death walk toward the gas chambers of Auschwitz Birkenau German Nazi Concentration and Death Camp in this undated photo. On the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss said Friday (Jan. 31, 2025) that prejudice and discrimination against Jews continue to exist. (Photo from US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Yad Vashem)

MANILA – The prejudice and discrimination against Jews — the very movement that fueled the horrific and systematic killings of six million people under the Nazi rule during World War II — continue to exist to this day, an Israeli official said Friday.

As the world commemorated the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israel Ambassador to the Philippines Ilan Fluss called on the public to stand in solidarity in the fight against antisemitism and to continue confronting hatred and Holocaust denial.

“We must never forget. Never again will we allow such horrors to unfold,” he said in his remarks during the Holocaust commemoration ceremony in Manila.

“In times of such cruelty and injustice, we cannot be merely bystanders. We must stand firm against hatred and ensure that the mistakes of the past are never repeated,” he added.

Citing the latest Anti-Defamation League study, Fluss said antisemitism skyrocketed since the Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks by Hamas.

The survey showed that nearly half or 46 percent of all people worldwide have antisemitic beliefs, with the Philippines ranking 53rd out of 103 countries that participated in the polls.

From the three percent who expressed antisemitic attitudes in 2014 in the Philippines, the number rose to 42 percent last year.

“These figures are alarming, and we cannot simply watch as this hateful ideology spreads. This is why today’s event underscores the importance of continued Holocaust education,” Fluss said.

In the same event, Education Undersecretary Gina Gonong expressed alarm over the figures and promised to personally ask the Department of Education’s curriculum development team to look into the teachings of Holocaust in schools.

“The Holocaust is a chapter in human history that we must not allow to fade into the shadows of time,” she said.

“The atrocities committed during this period serve as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of hatred, intolerance, and discrimination, but they also challenge us to act — they demand that we actively work to cultivate a culture of peace, understanding and respect, a culture that ensures such horrors are never repeated,” Gonong added.

The annual International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust is observed worldwide every Jan. 27. This year marks the 80th year since the end of the World War II and the Holocaust. (PNA)