Last Updated on January 20, 2020
45 world leaders converge on Jerusalem for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem – Thursday, January 23rd, 2020.
The Fifth World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem on Thursday, marks the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Kings, princes, world leaders and delegations including the King of Belgium, Charles, Prince of Wales, Vladimir Putin – Russian President, US VP-Mike Pence, French President Emmanuel Macron and German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will be among the many attending the Forum.
The King David Hotel, The Inbal Hotel. The Crowne Plaza and The Mamilla Hotel are just some of the hotels in Jerusalem that will be hosting these leaders, dignitaries and VIPs
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, roads will be closed and traffic rerouted. Expect bottlenecks and long delays.
A dinner at the President Reuven Rivlin’s residence will be held on Wednesday evening. Routes from the city hotels to the President’s residence on Hanasi Street will be closed for short periods of time. Routes leading to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s official residence on Balfour Street will also be affected while the convoys pass through.
Major routes will be closed on Thursday morning, as VP Mike Pence arrives and travels to Jerusalem. Roads between the hotels and Yad Vashem, located next to Mount Herzl, will be shut between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. as leaders make their way to the ceremony, and are sealed off again at 3 p.m. for approximately an hour. Later in the afternoon, Pence will travel from Yad Vashem to the Western Wall, In the evening he will travel from the Crowne Plaza Hotel to the American Embassy.
On Thursday afternoon, after the ceremony, Putin has planned to travel to Bethlehem to meet with the President of the Palestinian Authority – Mahmoud Abas.
Security on the ground and in the air will be at its tightest.
Quick facts about the World Holocaust Forum
- Who is Dr. Moshe Kantor? A Russian-Jewish billionaire philanthropist is the founder and the man behind the World Holocaust Forum. More here…
- The World Holocaust Forum Foundation was established in 2005.
- The Second Forum in 2006 took place in Kiev. The Third Forum took place in Krakow in 2010. In January 2015, the Fourth International “Let My People Live!” Forum was held in Prague and Terezín (Czech Republic)
- This year’s event, the fifth of its kind is entitled: “Remembering the Holocaust: Fighting Antisemitism”
Parking
Parking options in Jerusalem will be limited
Parking will be forbidden from midnight Tuesday, the 24th of Tevet (the night before Wednesday, the 25th of Tevet/January 22, 2020), until noon on Friday, the 27th of Tevet (January 24, 2020) on the following streets: Agron, Ramban, Jabotinsky, HaNasi, and David HaMelech.
Residents with a parking permit will be able to park for free at the Agron parking lot, the Wolfson Malls parking lot, and the Ahad HaAm parking lot at the corner of Sokolov.
Shuttle buses will operate at the Wolfson and Ahad HaAm parking lots.”
