Alexandru Muraru: I appeal to the ambassador of Israel to dissociate himself from AUR; Reuven Azar: We understand the skepticism, but I think we have an important chance to change the course

PNL deputy Alexandru Muraru criticizes the fact that Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, met on Monday with the leader of the AUR party, George Simion, stating that, thus, “it creates immense damage to democracy and Romanian public life because it legitimizes an extremist group, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, legionary, neo-fascist”.

“I learned with indignation and revolt about the meeting between the leader of the extremist party AUR, George Simion, and the ambassador of Israel, Reuven Azar, as well as with Yossi Dagan, a member of the ruling Likud party. It is incomprehensible how the ambassador of Israel can officially meet and shake hands with a politician who is the exponent of violence in Romanian politics. Ambassador Azar’s gesture creates immense damage to democracy and Romanian public life because it legitimizes an extremist, xenophobic, anti-Semitic, legionary, neo-fascist formation. It is unprecedented in the diplomatic policy of the State of Israel in Bucharest from 1990 until today,” Muraru wrote on Facebook on Monday.

As a member of Parliament, PNL vice-president and former special representative of the Government for the promotion of memory policies, combating anti-Semitism and xenophobia, he appeals to the Embassy of Israel and to Ambassador Reuven Azar, to “dissociate from any affiliation with the extremist party, from fascist and neo-legionary origin, which for years continuously mocked the memory of the Holocaust victims, the values of tolerance and demonstrated through everything it did that it is a formation that feeds on hatred and violence”.

“It is vital to ensure that no concession is made to ideologies that neglect or distort historical tragedies,” Muraru wrote.

Israel’s ambassador to Romania, Reuven Azar, declared, on Monday, for AGERPRES, that he understands the skepticism of deputy Alexandru Muraru.

“We understand the skepticism, related to what happened in the past, but I think that here we have an important chance to change the course and create a situation where all the main parties in Romania agree with these principles. So I think that when we have such an opportunity, regardless of the political implications at the local level – we don’t interfere with the local side – we believe that when someone is willing to declare these things, they should be given a chance. We will see in the future. I think that Mr. Muraru is skeptical, there are more skeptical people, but we have to let the future show us whether or not it was the right decision,” said Azar.

The Ambassador of Israel, after the meeting with George Simion: The AUR message – unprecedented

Israel’s ambassador to Bucharest, Reuven Azar, declared for AGERPRES, after the meeting he had on Monday with the leader of AUR, George Simion, that the message sent by the party led by him is “unprecedented”.

Azar said he decided to meet with the AUR leader because the party members “agreed to deliver a public statement, a statement that would include four elements that the Israeli side cared very much about.”

The diplomat explained that these four elements are: “1. the assumption of the Holocaust on the Romanian Jews from the territory of Romania during the Second World War; 2. condemning anti-Semitism and adopting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism; 3. banning the use (images – n.r.) of war criminals, especially Ion Antonescu – they mentioned that there is a law in this sense and 4. supporting education about the Holocaust”.

“These are the four elements that were the conditions for our meeting and that allows us to open a dialogue. Of course, when someone reaches out to you and is ready to say the right thing, we have to give them a chance. I think I saw that at that meeting, I talked to the AUR leader about these matters. He expressed his firm opposition to anti-Semitism, firmly condemned anti-Semitism, during the meeting, the importance of Holocaust memory, the fact that exterminated people, killed in various ways, were Romanians and that he supports ties with the State of Israel. We talked about the bilateral relationship, about regional issues and we will see if this declaration is respected. (…) There has never been a nationalist, far-right party that adopted such a statement”, the ambassador pointed out.

Moreover, he added that more people will be “careful” if the statement becomes reality.

“We live in an open world, everyone can see everything and not only we will pay attention to these aspects, everyone will pay attention to these aspects, including Jewish organizations, people in Israel, in Romania, in the USA and in other places . This is the reason why it is important that this statement was made public”, the ambassador pointed out.