Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, on Wednesday evening delivered opening remarks at the Kristallnacht memorial event, organized by the Holocaust and the United Nations Outreach Program.

The event, which took place at the UN headquarters, included a panel discussion with international experts on the topic.

Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass) was a pogrom against Jews in Nazi Germany and Austria on November 9 and 10, 1938. The name Kristallnacht comes from the shards of broken glass that littered the streets after the windows of Jewish-owned stores, buildings, and synagogues were smashed.

In his remarks, Ambassador Danon presented a burnt stone salvaged from the Great Synagogue in Mannheim, which was set aflame during the night of Kristallnacht. The stone was borrowed from the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York.

“This stone represents one of the darkest times in human history, and the history of the Jewish people.  The burn marks of hatred and anti-Semitism are, in a very real sense, the cornerstone of this institution, which was established to ‘to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,’” he said.

 Ambassador Danon responded to Wednesday’s attack in Marseilles, France, where a Jewish teacher was stabbed by assailants who expressed support for the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist organization.

“In the 70 years since the end of World War II and the liberation of the concentration camps, anti-Semitism has returned to the streets of Europe. The state of Israel was founded to ensure that never again will the survival of the Jewish people be threatened. We will not remain silent and we will never let anti-Semitism to rise again,” he said.