The president of the "Greece 2021" Committee, Gianna Angelopoulou - Daskalaki, was named honorary president of the Greece-Israel Friendship Association in manifestation held on Wednesday 1η September 2021, at the Jewish Museum of Thessaloniki. Mrs. Angelopoulou is the first person to be named honorary president since 1965, when the Association was established. Its announcement was made following a relevant joint initiative of the Association, the Israelite Community of Thessaloniki and the Jewish Museum.
Ms. Angelopoulou stated that this is a "great honor". "I stated that I will do everything to help from my side. The truth is that here in Thessaloniki years ago, the Jewish community was happy, created and flourished".
According to Mrs. Angelopoulou, the Holocaust Museum that will be created in the city will remind young and old of the unacceptable crime, as she said, that was committed because of a different religion. "Especially this year, when we celebrate 200 years since Greece claimed its freedom, we remind the two peoples that they have gone through the hell of history but they are here, they are brave, they are extroverts and that is the point," concluded Ms. Angelopoulou.
Gianna Panagopoulou, president of the Association, described the appointment of Gianna Angelopoulou as a special honor for Thessaloniki, pointing out that she is the most suitable person to be the first honorary president of the Association "because she is the ambassador of our best selves, our best version". "I believe that this placement in the bond of friendship between Greece and Israel will bring the two countries much closer today, where relations are really very good. We need Mrs. Daskalaki, because we believe that she can create an even greater stream of Jews who left and went to Israel, to come and visit this city, their birthplace. "I think we could not have had a better ambassador," said the president of the Israeli Community of Thessaloniki, David Saltiel.
Present at the event were ND MPs Kostas Giulekas, Theodoros Karaoglou and Savvas Anastasiadis, the mayor of Thessaloniki Konstantinos Zervas, the deputy regional governor of Thessaloniki, Voula Patoulidou, the rector of AUTH Nikos Papaioannou, the president of the Central Jewish Council of Greece and the president of the Jewish Community of Thessaloniki , David Saltiel, the president of the Holocaust Museum of Greece and former mayor Yannis Boutaris et al.