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Hope for Herzog’s birth plaque

February 11, 2016 12:35
11022016 herzog plaque cropped

By

Charlotte Oliver,

Charlotte Oliver

1 min read

A campaign to commemorate the birth of Chaim Herzog in Belfast has been launched in the city - two years after a memorial to the former Israeli president was removed following attacks.

The initiative, which aims to raise national and international awareness of the Herzog connection to Belfast through social media and public lectures, was launched by the Northern Ireland Friends of Israel (NIFI) ahead of the centenary of Herzog's birth in 2018.

Steven Jaffe, NIFI co-chair, said the group had been moved to act "to make the point that you cannot erase history" after repeated, failed attempts to restore the original plaque (below) at the building where Herzog was born.

The memorial was removed by officials in August 2014 after events in Gaza led to a series of antisemitic graffiti and cases of vandalism on the site.