Israel Hayom Publishes Ambassador Zhan Yongxin's Op-ed On the Friendship Between the Chinese and Jewish People

2019年5月2日，驻以色列大使詹永新在以色列大屠杀受难英烈纪念日期间，应以发行量最大的报纸《今日以色列》约请，发表题为《中以友谊，历久弥新》的署名文章。詹大使在文中回顾了中国人民和犹太人民在反法西斯战争期间守望相助的感人故事，呼吁双方不忘初心，为建设更加富有成果的中以创新全面伙伴关系共同努力。全文如下：

On May 2, Israel Hayom, the largest circulating daily newspaper in Israel, published an Op-ed by Ambassador Zhan Yongxin entitled "The Unbreakable Foundation of China-Israel Friendship". The full text is as follows:

　　今年4月，特拉维夫中国文化中心和纽约布鲁克林公共图书馆不约而同，举办了有关二战期间犹太人在中国的展览。大屠杀幸存者的口述回忆与大量珍贵的历史照片一起，照亮了一段我们共同珍视的过去，擦亮了黑暗时期闪耀的人性光辉。在以色列人民纪念大屠杀受难英烈之际，我谨以此文重温中国人民和犹太人民共同经历的那段不平凡岁月。

In April, the China Cultural Center in Tel Aviv and the Brooklyn Public Library in New York both staged exhibitions on Jewish people in China during the Second World War. The recounts of Holocaust survivors and historic pictures refreshed the memory we hold dear to our hearts and brought to life an extraordinary history when Chinese and Jewish people helped each other in the darkest time of Mankind.

On this special day of Yom HaShoah, I am honored and humbled to bring you some of the stories we experienced together.

　　70多年前，正当欧洲犹太人惨遭纳粹迫害、屠杀而走投无路时，中国人民向他们张开了双臂。约有2.5万名犹太人前往上海寻求庇护，这一数字超过了加拿大、澳大利亚、印度、南非、新西兰五国接纳犹太难民的总和。在困顿的岁月中，中国人和犹太人建立了深厚的情谊。即使在上海全面沦陷后，同样沦为难民的中国人也坚持为犹太人提供帮助。一位亲历那段历史的犹太朋友曾说，“如果我们口渴，中国人给我们水喝。如果我们饿了，他们给我们米糕吃。尽管我们的日子不好过，但他们比我们更艰难。”

Starting from the late 1930s, the Nazi's persecution on Jewish people reached its height in Europe, and many countries across the world closed their doors. However, the Chinese people extended a helping hand and received tens of thousands of Jewish people escaping from the Holocaust. Shanghai city alone sheltered at least 25,000, exceeding the total number of those in Canada, Australia, India, South Africa and New Zealand combined.

At that time, China was also at a national war defending itself against the invasion of fascist Japan, and the life was miserable for ordinary Chinese. But no matter how hard life was, the Chinese and Jewish people lived friendly together in Shanghai. Jerry Moses, a Holocaust survivor fondly recalled, "if we were thirsty, the Chinese gave us water. If we were hungry, they gave us rice cakes. As bad as we had it, they had it worse. And they felt bad for us."