President Biden on Wednesday visited Israel’s memorial to Holocaust victims after arriving in Jerusalem.
The president took part in a somber ceremony at Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, alongside Israeli and U.S. officials. Biden lit the eternal flame in the Hall of Remembrance and spoke briefly with Gita Cycowicz and Rena Quint, two American Holocaust survivors.
Before leaving the memorial, Biden signed the guest book.
“We must never, ever, forget because hate is never defeated. It only hides. We must teach every successive generation that it can happen again unless we remember,” Biden wrote in the book.
Others who joined Biden at the memorial included Secretary of State Antony Blinken, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Thomas Nides and Deborah Lipstadt, Biden’s special envoy to combat antisemitism. The Israeli president and prime minister were also in attendance.
Biden arrived earlier Wednesday in Israel, where he will spend the next two days meeting with Prime Minister Yair Lapid, President Isaac Herzog and former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. On Thursday, Biden is scheduled to attend a reception with Herzog, where he will receive the Israeli Presidential Medal of Honor.
Biden will then travel to the West Bank and to Saudi Arabia before departing for Washington, D.C., on Saturday.