Ambassador Canaj held a meeting today with Shai Bazak CEO of The European Leadership Network (ELNET). They both agreed on the existing opportunities to brings together leaders and representatives from Albanian Government in Israel who believe in the importance of close relations between Europe and Israel, based on shared democratic values and common interests.

Ambassador Canaj participated at the event organized by President Rivlin for an Iftar dinner this evening at Beit HaNasi at the end of the day's fast for Ramadan. Albania is an excellent example of the interfaith coexistence and religious tolerance.

In the israeli media there is a focus on the role and bravery of albanians in protecting jews during Holocaust. Vrato, a Chicago attorney and author of The Counselors: Conversations with 18 Courageous Women Who Have Changed the World (foreword by Bill Clinton), discovered just last year that her own grandfather, Kadri Cakrani, acted with incredible humanitarianism and bravery during the Holocaust in Europe. Commandant Cakrani sheltered approximately 600 Jews in Albania while serving as the military officer in charge of its Berat region while it was under Nazi occupation.

As we are marking Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel, it is an opportunity to share testimonies of Holocaust Survivors and to also address antisemitism today, the danger of rise of conspiracy theories, and the Shoah remembrance. We have to remember today with a sense of deep responsibility the 6 million Jews killed on European soil in the Holocaust, and in the meantime as Albanians we stand proud of sheltering and protecting all our Jews and also hosting others who came to Albania to hide during the darkest hours of humankind.