Yom HaShoah 2007: Holocaust Remembrance Day

Today is the day that we remember the atrocities committed by the Nazis during World War 2. Six million Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, and each passing year means that there are fewer and fewer survivors who are around to retell their stories and account for how they were among the few to survive the death camps, concentration camps, and the persecution of Jews throughout Europe.

Israel comes to a standstill and marks two minutes of silence each year on this solemn occasion. This year, there were protests in Israel to bring attention to the fact that quite a few survivors live in impoverished conditions.

The Knesset began its Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, "To Each a Name" at 11 a.m. Monday in which ministers and members of Knesset read names of victims of the Holocaust.

Participants, which included acting President Dalia Itzik and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, went up to the main stand and read out names of members of their families who perished during the tragedy.

Earlier, sirens sounded throughout the country, bringing life to a standstill as millions of Israelis observed the moment to honor the memory of Holocaust victims.

The two-minute siren at 10 a.m. (0700 GMT) is an annual tradition marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, which began Sunday evening and ends at sundown Monday. Pedestrians froze in their tracks, buses stopped on busy streets, and cars on major highways pulled over as the country paused to pay respect to the 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis.

What has many concerned is that another Holocaust is quite possible. Rabid anti Semitism is present around the world and fueled by the likes of Iran's Ahmadinejad, whose national pursuit of nuclear weapons is a danger of existentialist proportions for Israel.

Never again is supposed to mean that we never allow another Holocaust to occur, and yet people ignore the genocides and ethnic cleansings that occur throughout the world - from Darfur to Congo, and ignore the words of Ahmadinejad who calls for the annihilation of Israel. The failure to heed those words make "never again" ring hollow.