Netanyahu in praise of Shanghai's kindness
By Xu Chi |
May 8, 2013, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his gratitude to Shanghai for offering sanctuary to fleeing Jewish refugees during the reign of the Nazis.
"When the gates of the world were closed to the Jews fleeing the Nazis, there was one exception. Shanghai was the exception," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum yesterday.
"We were here some 15 years ago and we had a very moving visit in this place to see the great kindness of the people of Shanghai in the war for our people, and we shall never forget," Netanyahu said.
He said the fate of the Jews had greatly changed after the refugees found shelter in the city.
"Seventy years ago we could only plead, only beg to be saved," he said. "Today we have a state of our own, an army of our own. We need not beg to be saved. We can defend ourselves."
Netanyahu visited the museum to attend a ceremony of Cafe Atlantic, one of many small businesses run by the Jews in Shanghai around 1940. The historical cafe reopened yesterday in the museum with its original business sign.
Museum officials told Shanghai Daily yesterday that during the neighborhood renovation work in 2008, workers found dilapidated but still recognizable German business signs.
Those signs are telling reminders dating back to the 1940s when the Jews in Shanghai ran a number of businesses in the Tilanqiao neighborhood in Hongkou District, including cafes, restaurants, pubs and bakeries.
About 30,000 Jewish refugees made Shanghai their home between 1933 and 1941. About 18,000 of them settled in the "designated area for stateless refugees" in Tilanqiao area and lived with local residents.
Netanyahu also met with Mayor Yang Xiong yesterday.
Yang introduced Netanyahu to some ongoing aircraft and aerospace programs in Shanghai as well as work being carried out in the field of bio-medicine, information technology and new energy resources, and welcomed Israeli companies to invest in the city, Xinhua news agency reported.
Netanyahu showed interest in cooperating with Shanghai as he said Israel had also made achievements in these areas.
Israel hopes to apply its technological achievements to the huge market in China so as to further improve Israel's levels of innovation, he added.
"When the gates of the world were closed to the Jews fleeing the Nazis, there was one exception. Shanghai was the exception," Netanyahu said during a visit to the Shanghai Jewish Refugees Museum yesterday.
"We were here some 15 years ago and we had a very moving visit in this place to see the great kindness of the people of Shanghai in the war for our people, and we shall never forget," Netanyahu said.
He said the fate of the Jews had greatly changed after the refugees found shelter in the city.
"Seventy years ago we could only plead, only beg to be saved," he said. "Today we have a state of our own, an army of our own. We need not beg to be saved. We can defend ourselves."
Netanyahu visited the museum to attend a ceremony of Cafe Atlantic, one of many small businesses run by the Jews in Shanghai around 1940. The historical cafe reopened yesterday in the museum with its original business sign.
Museum officials told Shanghai Daily yesterday that during the neighborhood renovation work in 2008, workers found dilapidated but still recognizable German business signs.
Those signs are telling reminders dating back to the 1940s when the Jews in Shanghai ran a number of businesses in the Tilanqiao neighborhood in Hongkou District, including cafes, restaurants, pubs and bakeries.
About 30,000 Jewish refugees made Shanghai their home between 1933 and 1941. About 18,000 of them settled in the "designated area for stateless refugees" in Tilanqiao area and lived with local residents.
Netanyahu also met with Mayor Yang Xiong yesterday.
Yang introduced Netanyahu to some ongoing aircraft and aerospace programs in Shanghai as well as work being carried out in the field of bio-medicine, information technology and new energy resources, and welcomed Israeli companies to invest in the city, Xinhua news agency reported.
Netanyahu showed interest in cooperating with Shanghai as he said Israel had also made achievements in these areas.
Israel hopes to apply its technological achievements to the huge market in China so as to further improve Israel's levels of innovation, he added.
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