Thousands of Christians from across the globe participated on Tuesday in the “March of the Nations” in Jerusalem to demonstrate solidarity and friendship with the Jewish people and celebrate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding.
The event was organized by the March of Life organization and supported by the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM).
It was held under the banner of “From the Holocaust to New Life” to highlight the important role Holocaust survivors played in establishing and building the State of Israel. The march was by Holocaust survivor Arie Itamar, who was born in Odessa and arrived in Israel on the Exodus ship when he was seven.
Participants traveled from 26 countries, and the event concluded with a festive gathering in the center of the Israeli capital, with speakers including, among others, Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, Jewish Agency President Doron Almog, former Knesset member Yehuda Glick, and Sheikh Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of the Crossroads of Civilizations Museum in Dubai, where the first-ever Holocaust exhibit in the Arab world opened in 2021.
Additional marches are being held this week in seven other Israeli cities — Metula, Tiberias, Zichron Yaakov, Netanya, Ashkelon, Beersheva, and Merhavim.
The March of Life is an initiative by Jobst and Charlotte Bittner and TOS Ministries from Tübingen, Germany. Together with descendants of German Wehrmacht soldiers and members of the SS and police force, they have organized memorial and reconciliation marches at sites of the Holocaust all over Europe. Since the beginning of this movement in 2007, marches have been held in 20 nations and in more than 400 cities in cooperation with Christians from different churches and denominations, as well as from many Jewish communities.
