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How Israel’s president is shifting his country’s worldview

Israeli President Reuven Rivlin objects to the worldview where all threats to Israel are considered through the prism of the Holocaust, as preached by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin lays a wreath during a ceremony marking the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem April 24, 2017. REUTERS/Amir Cohen - RTS13NJX
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In his official speech at the Holocaust memorial museum Yad Vashem on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah) on April 23, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin decided to challenge the idea that the Holocaust is "the lens through which we view the world." It was a refreshing and important approach.

Rivlin's speech made headlines and caused a buzz on social media, not least because of his bold statement that the very idea that "any criticism of the State of Israel is anti-Semitism … is fundamentally wrong, and is dangerous for us a nation and as a people. No less than this, it is dangerous for the memory of the Shoah."

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