World Holocaust Forum Organizers Confounded By Zelenskyy's Refusal To Attend

World Holocaust Forum Organizers Confounded by Zelenskyy's Refusal to Attend

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reasoning behind his decision to not attend the forum commemorating the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem, on Thursday is "confusing," the organizers said

JERUSALEM/KIEV (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2020) Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's reasoning behind his decision to not attend the forum commemorating the victims of the Holocaust at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Remembrance Museum in Jerusalem, on Thursday is "confusing," the organizers said.

Zelenskyy is currently on a working trip to Israel. In an interview with The Times of Israel earlier this week, he said that he would be attending the World Holocaust Forum but that he was "not invited to speak." Earlier on Thursday, Zelenskyy said that he would not be attending the event so that his place could be taken by people who actually suffered during the Holocaust.

"This morning, the Ukrainian president announced his refusal to participate in the ceremony on the grounds that he was giving up his place in favor of the Holocaust survivors. We explained to the president that all the survivors who had contacted us in recent days received an answer to their requests and that the museum had no opportunity to invite elderly people to participate in the ceremony at the last moment. In such circumstances, his decision is confusing, and it is unfortunate that such a decision was made on the day of the event dubbed 'Remembering the Holocaust, Fighting Anti-Semitism,'" the museum said in a press release obtained by Sputnik.

Despite not attending the forum, Zelenskyy said that all his other plans, including his meetings with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin, were unaffected.

"As far as I knew yesterday morning, he was planning to come. Why change his mind, I do not know. But I know that he is coming on Friday with his wife and he will pay a visit to Yad Vashem. So what exactly happened and what changed the timetable, I really don't know, I can not answer you," Avner Shalev, chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate, told reporters.

The 5th World Holocaust Forum, which marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp, is being attended by more than 45 heads of state, members of royal families and heads of government. Among the most notable attendees are Russian President Vladimir Putin, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, French President Emmanuel Macron, US Vice President Michael Pence and Prince Charles of the UK. Zelenskyy's name is still mentioned on the list of forum participants released by Yad Vashem on Tuesday.