Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joined French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Vel’ d’Hiv round up of French Jews during World War II.
In 1942 French police, under orders from Nazi authorities, arrested 13,152 Jews and others and held them at the Vélodrome d’Hiver before moving them on to the Drancy camp just outside Paris ahead of transportation to Auschwitz.
#NeverFoget – #Netanyahu in Paris to commemorate Vel d’Hiv deportation of Jews https://t.co/wfbQy0ANwp – #NeverAgain pic.twitter.com/SMJPjZwrCo— פטריק פולוק (@redbrasco) July 16, 2017
Emmanuel Macron spoke of his regret:“I reject the tone of those who pretend today that Vichy was not France. Vichy was definitely not all French people it was the government and the administration of France.
Netanyahu in Paris for commemoration of WWII Vel d’Hiv roundup of Jews – https://t.co/kj2jFl4daZ pic.twitter.com/TL8j1F9Wxz— FranceEnglishNews (@english_france) July 15, 2017
Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ceremony along with leaders of the French Jewish community and Holocaust survivors:
“I have come here to bow my head in memory of our slain brothers and sisters slaughtered slowly because they were Jews. I have come here to mourn with you the victims,” the prime minister said.
Macron was adamant that France take responsibility for the crimes: “not one German” participated in the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup, he said.
