Presenting the two honorees of the evening with the WJC award, Rodham Clinton said Elie and Marion Wiesel “played a pivotal part in bringing the Shoah into public consciousness.” She added: “Elie’s own story of survival and those of others he’s helped tell, and has steeled the world’s resolve that such an atrocity can never be repeated. The Wiesels have worked to overcome indifference toward the suffering of oppressed and marginalized populations around the world: Soviet Jews, Miskito Indians, refugees from Cambodia, prisoners from the former Yugoslavia, victims of the genocide in Darfur. Looking toward the future, Elie and Marion have filled us with hope and optimism for a freer, more just world.”
Rodham Clinton also praised the work of the World Jewish Congress: “For nearly 80 years, the World Jewish Congress has helped protect Jewish communities around the world, worked to stamp out anti-Semitism wherever it still exists and promoted understanding and friendship among people of all faiths.”