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Shin Bet has increased security measures ahead of President Isaac Herzog's upcoming visit to Poland on Thursday, following public threats and the display of antisemitic protest signs in Warsaw calling for his arrest and extradition to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Herzog, traveling on the "Wings of Zion" aircraft, is scheduled to land in Poland early Thursday morning, Holocaust Remembrance Day to participate in the March of the Living at Auschwitz. He will be accompanied by an official delegation and a group of former hostages.
The Shin Bet security agency is taking the threats against the president seriously and has reinforced security around him and his entourage.
The 37th annual March of the Living will take place between Auschwitz and Birkenau, commemorating the Jews who perished in the Holocaust and honoring the survivors. This year’s event marks 80 years since the liberation of the concentration camps and the end of World War II. President Isaac Herzog and his wife, Michal Herzog, will lead the march alongside Polish President Andrzej Duda and 80 survivors from Israel and around the world.
The oldest participant is Bella Eizenman, aged 98. Among the marchers will also be a delegation of former Hamas hostages, families of hostages and bereaved families from the events of October 7. Former Prime Minister Naftali Bennett canceled his participation in the March of the Living following a medical procedure he underwent, though all his test results were reported as normal.
This year, Holocaust survivor Tzili Wenkert, grandmother of Omer Wenkert, who recently returned from captivity in Gaza, will join the march. The delegation will be led by Haim Taib, founder and president of the Menomadin Foundation, along with Yaakov Hagoel, chairman of the World Zionist Organization, and the Hostages and Missing Persons Directorate, under the renewed call of "Never Again." Marchers will be accompanied by mental health professionals.
Among the former captives participating in the march will be lookout soldier Agam Berger, who will walk alongside her grandfather Aharon, a second-generation Holocaust survivor, her mother Merav, and her twin sister Bar. Ori Megidish, a lookout soldier rescued from Gaza, will march with her mother Margalit. Eli Sharabi, who survived captivity while his wife and daughters were murdered on October 7, will march alongside his brother Sharon in an effort to secure the release of their brother Yossi Sharabi, whose body is still held by Hamas.
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Hagar Brodetz will be accompanied by her sister Yaara, and Almog Meir Jan will march with his mother Orit. Other participants include Chen Goldstein-Almog, Moran Stela Yanai, Gadi Mozes with his daughter Moran, and Keith Siegel with his daughter Ilan.
On Thursday evening, Holocaust Remembrance Day events will begin with two central state ceremonies at 8:00 p.m.: one at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, attended by Herzog and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the other at the Massuah Institute in Tel Yitzhak, attended by Member of Knesset and former IDF Chief of Staff Gadi Eizenkot, Air Force Commander Major General Tomer Bar, and Massuah Chairman Yossi Feit. At 11:00 p.m., a special broadcast titled "Every Person Has a Song – Singing Together, Remembering Forever" will air from Yad Vashem.