During the commemoration of the International Day dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust, organized on January 27 in Yaoundé by the United Nations International Center for Information, the Israeli ambassador called on Cameroonians to fight against discrimination, including anti-Semitism.
“I therefore call on all my Cameroonian brothers and sisters to stand up against genocidal ideas, to denounce anti-Semitism, to fight against all forms of exclusion and violence… and to promote the values of human rights so that atrocities like the Holocaust will never happen again and will not be forgotten,” said Ambassador Raphaël Morav.
This year’s commemoration comes against a backdrop of acrimony towards Israel since the outbreak of war against Hamas on October 7 in the Gaza Strip. Indeed, after an attack by Palestinian Hamas which left around a hundred dead on the soil of the Hebrew State, Israel responded by massively bombing the Gaza Strip, all accompanied by a ground operation. An operation which sparked an international wave of disapproval. Many in fact accuse the Jewish state of having gone from victim of the Holocaust to executioner of the Palestinian people.
In Cameroon, the Israeli embassy is trying to rally public opinion to its cause. Last October, the embassy caused an outcry by mobilizing students to condemn the Hamas attack. For its part, the government has always shown its support for Israel. At the UN, Cameroon has several times abstained from voting on resolutions condemning Israel’s armed operation in the Gaza Strip. Yaoundé and Tel Aviv indeed maintain very close ties in matters of defense and security. Many Israeli instructors train the elite troops of the Cameroonian army.
For Ambassador Raphaël Morav, “we all have a responsibility. The Holocaust will never be repeated again because the State of Israel is strong. However, we must ensure that Jewish life can flourish everywhere in the world in the same way.”