A leading Israeli diplomat forecast “another Munich” if the nations of the world continue their “capitulation to the brutal threats and force” of the Arab and Soviet bloc. In an address commemorating the rescue of the Jewish community of Denmark by the Danish resistance movement 31 years ago this Oct., Israeli Consul General David Rivlin compared the global situation today with that of Europe in the 1930s and called upon the free nations to follow the “heroic example of Denmark” instead of that of the appeasers.
Rivlin spoke at a reception Sunday sponsored by Tribute to the Danes. The voluntary organization was established to express tangibly the gratitude of the world Jewish community for the courageous 1943 rescue action of the Danes. In a massive, secret, nationwide operation, the Danish people spirited 6000 Jews to Sweden, thus saving them from the Nazi death camps.
More than 100 people, including members of the Danish Parliament, UN delegation, former freedom fighters, veterans of the Warsaw ghetto battle and concentration camp survivors, were in the audience at the reception at the home of Dr. Leon A. and Mrs. Ruth Falik in New York City. Dr. Falik, president of Tribute, announced that since the organization was founded in 1969 more than 100 Danes–students, professors. journalists, scientists, educators, social workers and community leaders–went to Israel on scholarships, fellowships and for special conferences and study programs.
REMEMBERING FRIENDS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE
He added that Tribute’s two-fold objectives are to strengthen relations between Israel and Denmark and to pass on to future generations the spiritual and ethical values demonstrated by the unparalleled Danish action, one which no other people matched. The Royal Government of Denmark was represented by Acting Royal Consul Gunnar Blaer who said that in 1943 his fellow citizens acted out of their regard for their fellow Danes and “a sense of outrage against injustice.”
Rivlin, declaring that the Jewish people has a long memory, said that “just as we do not forget the foes who have singled out our people for oppression, torture, discrimination and extermination, we also remember our friends, the just among the nations.” Noting that the large nations will have to pay a price as they did in World War II, Rivlin declared. “Today, it is Israel in the Middle East which is victimized by terror, aggression and powerful political and economic forces. Tomorrow, it may be any other state.”
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