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World Holocaust Forum in Israel Is a Major Diplomatic Event
(Times of Israel) Raphael Ahren - Delegations from 49 countries, including 41 heads of state, are expected to attend the Fifth World Holocaust Forum in Jerusalem this week to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp. Israeli diplomats said that not even the funerals of Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres drew as many foreign dignitaries. U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Britain's Prince Charles and French President Emmanuel Macron are the most prominent names. The Forum includes a state dinner at Israeli President Reuven Rivlin's official residence on Wednesday night and a memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem on Thursday, where leaders from the four WWII Allied countries and Germany will speak. Putin will also attend a dedication ceremony for a monument in Jerusalem in memory of the heroism of the soldiers and residents killed during the siege of Leningrad.