Israeli President Reuven Rivlin today urged Croatia to "deal with its past" while paying respect to the victims of the Balkan country's most brutal World War II death camp.
Rivlin was visiting a memorial at the site of the Jasenovac camp, known as "Croatia's Auschwitz", where the country's pro-Nazi Ustasha regime brutally murdered tens of thousands of ethnic Serbs, Jews, Romas and anti-fascists.
Croatia's current government has come under criticism in recent years for failing to tackle lingering intolerance and celebrations of Ustasha slogans and ideology.
"There are some who prefer to repress their past and see it as a 'black hole' which requires no study or soul searching," Rivlin said in Hebrew in front of the memorial site, a towering concrete flower that looms over lush farmland.
"Croatia's ability to deal with the past and not to ignore it is a moral obligation which is a fundamental part of any just society," he said, according to an official translation.
It "will continue to be an important element of the friendship between Croatia and Israel," the Israeli leader added.
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Rivlin, who arrived in Zagreb on Tuesday for a two-day visit, was accompanied by his Croatian counterpart Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic.
The two presidents visited the camp's museum and laid wreaths for the victims at the monument. Rivlin also recited a traditional Jewish prayer.
Grabar-Kitarovic also voiced deep sympathy for victims of the Ustasha regime.
"No political goal or regime can justify crimes committed in its name," she said, pledging to continue to take care of the "collective memory of the crimes committed here."