Obama Dons Yarmulke at Yad Vashem; Peres Praises His "Moving Humanity"
July 23, 2008 6:42 AM
Alert…Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, has crossed into the West Bank on his way to meet with leaders of the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah.
This trip comes after several other meetings, with Defense Minister Ehud Barack and Likud Party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu this morning and to the Holocaust Memorial and Museum Yad Vashem.
Obama left his hotel this morning, traveling in a bullet-proof limousine that was part of a nine-car motorcade. Upon arrival at Yad Vashem, Obama was greeted by Avner Shalev, chairman of Yad Vashem.
An Israeli journalist called out to Obama: “Can you ensure that there will be no second Holocaust?”
Obama walked into the museum’s main building without responding. At some point during his tour, away from the media's fixed gaze, Obama met with the Israeli border police officer who Tuesday shot and killed the Palestinian wreaking havoc and injuring Israelis with a bulldozer outside the King David Hotel.
In the “Hall of Remembrance,” Obama put on a white yarmulke, lit the “eternal flame” and placed a white chrysanthemum wreath on a stone slab.
Obama then went to the museum's Janusz Korczak Plaza, where he signed the guest book.
"I am grateful to you Yad Vashem and all of those responsible for this remarkable institution," he wrote. "At a time of great peril and promise, war and strife we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man's potential for great evil but also our capacity to rise from tragedy and remake our world. Let our children come here and know this history so they can add their voices to proclaim never again. And may we remember those who perished, not only as victims but also as individuals, who hoped and loved and dreamed like us and who have become symbols of the human spirit."
Shalev gave Obama a book on Yad Vashem, which the senator called an “extraordinary gift.”
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http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/07/obama-dons-yarm.html