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| President Peres meeting with Secretary of State Kerry in Jerusalem Photo: Mark Neiman/GPO |
Communicated by the Israeli President’s Spokesperson
Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs - The State of Israel
President Peres: “From the ashes of the Holocaust, we re-built the Jewish State with the capacity to defend ourselves, the energy to rebuild our land and with the heritage of justice for all."
President Shimon Peres, this afternoon (Monday, 8 April 2013), met with US Secretary of State John Kerry; the two held a diplomatic working meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the threat of a nuclear Iran and the strategic relationship between the two countries. At the beginning of the meeting the two delivered joint statements to the press and then conducted a small meeting in the president's private study.
President Peres began the meeting by welcoming Secretary of State Kerry and reflecting on Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day: "I welcome you here today to the State of Israel on behalf of all the people of Israel. We appreciate you being with us today, on Holocaust Memorial Day, and for taking part in the memorial ceremony this morning. We paid a heavy price and lost one third of our people. Yet from the ashes of the Holocaust, we re-built the Jewish State with the capacity to defend ourselves, the energy to rebuild our land and with the heritage of justice for all."
President Peres ended on a personal note and said, "We have a long friendship, I've never been disappointed and when I've been surprised it's been for the better."
Secretary of State Kerry, who attended this morning's Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony said, "It's really such an honor to be here today and to share in Holocaust Memorial Day. To be there in Yad Vashem, to lay a wreath on behalf of the American people but most importantly just to share in the uniqueness of that expression of sorrow and honor for this remarkable moment in history which we mark. I was standing there listening to the siren wail and thinking of the stories people have told me of everybody in Israel stopping, if you're in a car you get out and you stand to attention.
The whole country freezes. And I know it's one of only two moments when that happens. For Holocaust Memorial Day and for the fallen in battle.
