40 years ago, at the opening in Jerusalem of the trial of Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi arch-murderer, then Attorney-General of Israel Gideon Hausner, stated that he was not standing alone in the court: with him were six million victims, Jews who were exterminated during the Holocaust. In a different way, those six million are here with me today, among them my own grandfather, grandmother, aunts and uncles, cousins and others who were shot into a mass grave together with all the Jews of their little town in Byeloruss, in 1942. Also with me is my wife's whole family, sent from Warsaw to Treblinka in 1942.

There was a hope, after the Holocaust, that because of the immense shame that those atrocities put on their perpetrators and their nations, and no less on those who remained silent and bear responsibility, that anti-Semitic phenomena will not be part of the future scene - since anti-Semitism, perhaps the most ancient and enduring case of vicious intolerance in history, was the main cause of the Holocaust. But no: the history of the post Second World-War era reveals that not only has anti-Semitism not ceased, but the world has seen more and more of it, as well as other notorious cases of intolerance - extremism, xenophobia, and associated hooliganism and vandalism, coupled with growing ignorance and prejudice. Moreover, the very existence of the Holocaust has been denied.

It is for this reason that our own government gratefully commends and admires the initiative of the Swedish Government, led by Prime Minister Göran Persson, starting some years ago, focusing international attention on the need to educate people on Holocaust history, to fight ignorance, to combat intolerance through legislation, to use the media and the internet as a means of spreading information in this regard. Last year, the Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust was convened, following the Swedish initiative, that resulted in the publication of the school Holocaust history book. The Task Force, established together with Prime Minister Blair of the U.K. and President Clinton of the U.S., has been working on Holocaust education, remembrance and research. Today's forum is the continuation of this effort, widening the scope of attention also to other anti-democratic and discriminative phenomena against minorities and week groups in all societies. It is gratifying to see so many respected delegations from many countries, marking the interest of the international community, a partnership of decent people.

Indeed, we feel that the Holocaust was a unique event. In the words of the Israeli Holocaust writer K. Zetnik, on the witness stand in the Eichman trial: "Auschwitz was a 'planet'". And by the way, we have found out that listening to survivors, to victims and their testimony, is one of the most effective tools of education; it should be part of the educational efforts.

But we do recognize that the black holes of human nature can manifest their ugliness in various shapes and forms of intolerance. As my friend Philosopher Ithamar Gruenwald has put it, "intolerance, like many other forms of vice in human nature and history, can always be rationalized by a good number of reasons".

Let me give you an example, from the last few months, and bear with me for the Israeli-Jewish dimension. At the end of September, while we were deeply engaged in trying to achieve peace with the Palestinians, a wave of violence started in the Palestinian Authority territories, for no clear reason. It became, for a while, a major media item abroad - indeed demonstrating once again, the power of the media. The result was a wave of anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli phenomena in many countries, including the most civilized: 180 events of molotov cocktails, stone throwing and other attacks against Jews, and in particular against synagogues, were recorded throughout October 2000, all over the globe. These were perpetrated largely, though not exclusively by a combination of extreme-Islamic-Arab-Palestinian groups as well as right-wing, neo-Nazi groups. Threats, curses and huge propaganda against Jews, Zionism and Israel were coupled with incitement and calls for the killing of Jews. The events were alarming, because of their abundance, and particularly because of the easy readiness to pass judgement and attack. A political, sometimes unfortunately violent clash between Israel and Palestinians, was quickly given a religious character – leading to a further instigation of hate and violence. Internally, in Israel, when disturbances broke out between Israeli Arabs and Jews, we ordered strong enforcement against all perpetrators, from any - Arab or Jewish - sector, including the bringing to justice of Jews who acted against Arabs.

We all witnessed, through the media just less than two years ago, the Kosovo tragedy, and I am proud that our voice was raised against it at the time, in all fora. There are no magic solutions; but there is also no excuse for sitting back. Years ago, 1987, as founding chairman of the forum monitoring anti-Semitic phenomena in the Israeli government, I, together with my colleagues identified three channels of action: Public political awareness, education and legal action: They are valid for all kinds of intolerance, and they are basically why we are here: Institutionalization of efforts is a must. We should not tire. It is our sacred duty to our children, to weaker parts of society everywhere, to generations to come, to do our best not only to guarantee that horrors such as the Holocaust never occur again, but also that intolerance, racism and xenophobia remain the gutter, in the realm of shame; and that people mainly, young people, are well informed of the facts, of the unacceptable price of intolerance.

On behalf of our government and delegation, I wish the conference great success.
Thank You.