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■ French Prime Minister H.E. Mr. Manuel
Valls visited Yad Vashem on 23 May. Guided
by Irena Steinfeldt, Director of Yad Vashem’s
Righteous Among the Nations Department, the
Prime Minister was accompanied by a delegation
that included members of the French parliament,
Ambassador of France to Israel H.E. Mr Patrick
Masonnave, CRIF Chairman Roger Cukierman,
Chairman of the French-Israeli Chamber of
Commerce Henri Cukierman, Chairman of the
French Friends of Yad Vashem Pierre-François
Veil, Director of Yad Vashem's French-Speaking
Countries and Benelux Desk Miry Gross, family
members of victims of the 2012 Toulouse terror
attack, and renowned Nazi hunters Serge and
Beate Klarsfeld.
At the conclusion of his visit, Prime Minister
Valls said: “To visit Yad Vashem is… to reflect,
but also to mark the defeat of this barbarism
and its infamous plan. It is to shed tears, but
also to overcome.”
■ Prime Minister of Singapore H.E. Mr. Lee
Hsien Loong visited Yad Vashem on 19 April,
accompanied by his wife Ho Ching. In the Guest
Book, the Prime Minister wrote: “Yad Vashem
moved me deeply. We say ‘Never Again,’ but we
have yet to realize that pledge in full measure.
Mankind continues to inflict and suffer terrible
and tragic violence. May the message of Yad
Vashem inspire us to build a more peaceful
world for future generations, for all races and
religions.”
■ Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of
Foreign Affairs of Nepal H.E. Mr. Kamal Thapa
visited Yad Vashem on 25 May together with his
wife Pralita Thapa, Israel's Ambassador to Nepal
H.E. Mr. Yaron Meir and Nepal's Ambassador
to Israel H.E. Mr. Prahlad Kumar Prasai. “The
Holocaust was the most brutal and terrifying
attack against humanity," wrote Minister Thapa
in the Guest Book. “It was the darkest period in
human history. I pray for the immortal souls
of the victims of Holocaust."
■ On 10 April, international recording artist
Craig David (left) visited Yad Vashem with his
manager Colin Lester Balsam, Chairman and
CEO of JEM Music Group (right). “Thank you
for allowing me to glimpse into the lives of so
many Jewish women, men and children who
went through the atrocities of the Holocaust,”
wrote David at the end of his visit. “I pray
that this will never happen again and that this
museum allows future generations to understand
what the Jewish people went through.”
■ On 15 February, US Permanent Representative
to the UN Ambassador Samantha Power
visited Yad Vashem and was guided through
the Holocaust History Museum by Dr. David
Silberklang, Senior Historian in Yad Vashem's
International Institute for Holocaust Research.
“You cannot visit this place too often; you cannot
spend enough time looking at the exhibits,
seeing those faces, remembering what was lost,
thinking about what would be today if not for
the horrors of what was carried out,” said the
Ambassador at the end of her visit. “Thank
you for honoring the memory of those lost,
and for inspiring those with a responsibility
to do far better.”
■ The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland
H.E. Mr. Timo Soini visited Yad Vashem on
1 June 2016. The Minister toured the Holocaust
History Museum, participated in a memorial
ceremony in the Hall of Remembrance and
visited the Children's Memorial. At the end
of his visit, Minister Soini wrote in the Yad
Vashem Guest Book: “Never again! Never can
this happen anymore, nowhere, to no one."
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