The Chief Rabbi last night slammed US President Donald Trump’s executive order banning travel to the US from some Muslim-majority countries.
His condemnation came as Prince Charles warned that the lessons of the Second World War were “in increasing danger of being forgotten” at the annual dinner of the charity World Jewish Relief last night.
Addressing hundreds of charity supporters at the event in the city of London’s guildhall, Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said: “Sadly there are so many millions of refugees who are receiving no signs of hope from countries closing their borders to them.
“And alas right now not much hope from the United States of America of all countries where President Trump has signed an executive order which seeks to disriminate against individuals based totally on their religion or their nationality.
“We as Jews, perhaps more than any others know exactly what it is like to be the victims of such discrimination and it is totally unacceptable.”
Rabbi Mirvis praised the millions of people standing up and protesting about Trump’s Muslim travel ban.
He said: “But I must tell you that there is alot of hope. I see so much hope in the millions around the globe right now for taking excpetion and voicing their opposition to this recent trend in America.”
His words came after Prince Charles warned that the lessons of the Second World War were in “increasing danger of being forgotten.”
The heir to the throne, who is a patron of World Jewish Relief, said: “The work of World Jewish Relief allows us to rall together to do what we can to support people practically, emotionally an dspiritually, particularly at a time when the horrific lessons of the last war seem to be in increasing danger of being forgotten.”
He praised the charity for reaching beyond the Jewish community and “across boundaries helping other people irrespective of their faith.”
The Prince said that these values had been “engrained upon him” by his grandmother Princess Alice who had sheltered a Jewish family in her Athens apartment during the Nazi occupation and who is now buried in Jerusalem.
In reaching beyond your own community you set an example for us all through compassion.”
He praised the charity for helping refugees who have fled Syria and are starting new lives in Greece and Turkey.
He said: “World Jewish Relief shows us how vital it is to learn lessons from the horrors of the past.”
Prince Charles met Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott during the evening and praised him as “a wonderful man of extraordinary grace and strength”
He said: “To me Ben and others who are like him have endured indescribably persecution is to be reminded of the dangers of forgetting the lessons of the past.”
Learn more about World Jewish Relief here
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