Last night, at the invitation of the Jewish community, Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard attended the presentation of the mural "Am Yisrael Chai" by Mexican artist Julio Carrasco Bretón at the Mount Sinai Cultural Center in Mexico City.
In his remarks, Secretary Ebrard said that the mural is "historic, not just because of its size, but because of everything it represents…It has to do with Mexico's origins, the way we Mexicans express ourselves, and the powerful muralism that defines Mexico's contribution to the world…Not only is it monumental in size, not only does it tell the extraordinary story of four thousand years of the history of the Jewish people, but it also synthesizes the relation between the Mexican people, the Jewish-Mexican community and the people of Israel…We are a country that prides itself on its long tradition of receiving anyone who needs refuge.”
The 44-meter-long mural "Historical Image of the Origin and Creation of the State of Israel," whose final destination is Tel Aviv, Israel, tells the story of four thousand years of history of the people of Israel.
The event was attended by the Israeli Minister of Diaspora Affairs, Amichai Chikli; Samaria Mayor Yossi Dagan; Israeli Ambassador in Mexico Zvi Tal; Isaac Assa Farca, President and Founder of the Israel-Latin American Network (ILAN); Alberto Kichik, President of the Mount Sinai Community; Moshe Levy, former half-track commander in the Israeli Armored Corps; Mexican muralist Julio Carrasco Bretón; and the Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Martha Delgado.
Full remarks by Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard:
Good evening, and thank you for the invitation, dear friends. A special greeting for those who have come from Israel; thank you very much for being here.
Minister, thank you for joining us.
Friends from the different Jewish communities—the Jewish community—and close companions from many backgrounds, I see many familiar faces of people very dear to me.
Just briefly, I bring you a greeting from President López Obrador, and his congratulations for this work, Isaac, which is something beyond any expectation. It is very difficult to describe what a mural of four thousand years of history means.
It has a lot to do with Mexico's origins, the way we Mexicans express ourselves, and the powerful muralism that defines Mexico's contribution to the world.
So it's not just that it's a monumental work, it's not just that it tells an extraordinary story, which is the history of the Jewish people over four thousand years, but it also synthesizes the relationship between the people of Mexico, the Mexican-Jewish community and the people of Israel.
Why do we understand each other? Well, Mexico is a country that has more or less 68 native ethnic groups today, with 68 languages. In this country, you are diverse from the moment you are born, you can't stop being so, and if you don't understand this, you don't understand Mexico.
We have in our country communities from abroad, at least 49 important ones, the majority, linked to political, religious or some kind of persecution. We are a country that prides itself on its long tradition of receiving anyone who needs refuge.
And when it was the turn of the Jewish community, our country opened its doors, and here we are. Now we are part of the same community, so how can we not understand each other. But Mexico is also a people that were persecuted for a long time. We have had four invasions, not counting the Spanish one.
People were persecuted for what they believed; the first actions of the Inquisition in Mexico were against people who were Jewish, and also those who were, or spoke, Nahuatl, Otomi, Zapotec and Purépecha.
Even in the 19th century, they still wanted to exterminate the Yaquis who survived with extraordinary tenacity. They suffered more than 10,000 deaths because they did not want to give up their land, their water and their religious ideas... their worldview.
So, how is Mexico not going to understand or how are Mexico and the Jewish people not going to understand each other? This is what is represented in this mural, which I would call historic, not just because of its size, but because of everything it represents.
So, today I am honored to be with you, and to say: we love you, we appreciate you and we understand you.
I'm not just talking about history: there are risks today. What these risks are have already been mentioned here.
For us in Mexico, well, how can we forget? While I have been Foreign Secretary, there was the 2019 tragedy in El Paso, Texas, when a guy entered a Walmart to kill Mexicans because we were invading his country -he wrote a manifesto that two million people saw- and he killed grandparents who were with their children, their grandchildren, to buy school supplies.
The first community that supported us in the United States was the Jewish community, and I remembered what my great-uncle used to tell me when I was very little about why he went to war against the Nazis even though he was born in Coyoacán.
Why did 28 Mexicans go? There were Mexican men and women of different backgrounds who couldn't stay silent and do nothing against Nazism. You couldn't stay and stand aside or look the other way when they wanted to destroy many peoples, including Jews, just because of what they believed and they thought. You couldn't.
And when this tragedy occurred in El Paso, the first community that helped us in the United States with which we are working, was the Jewish community. So, how can we not understand each other? Of course we understand each other, and we are near every time we need each other.
So, thank you very much, Isaac, for this very moving work. It speaks a lot about the past, but it speaks more to the future we have together. We will keep fighting and not turn a blind eye to brutality, totalitarianism and any actions against any people.
We say “no,” as we have always done. This is what the mural says.
Thank you.
