Jerusalem - Delegates from nearly 50 countries were expected in Jerusalem on Thursday to mark 75 years since the liberation of the Auschwitz death camp and take a clear stance against anti-Semitism.

The gathering at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial centre, to be hosted by President Reuven Rivlin, is the "biggest political event" since Israel was founded in 1948, said Israel's Foreign Ministry

Some 11,000 troops and volunteers will be deployed by the Israeli police to provide security through Friday, Israeli radio reported.

The presidents of France, Germany and Russia are set to speak at the event, a list that sparked controversy before Thursday's event. Polish President Andrzej Duda argued that he should be included because half of the Holocaust's 6 million victims were Polish Jews.

Nazi German flags bearing swastikas are seen as visitors look at part of an exhibition in the museum at Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. File picture: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Duda decided to boycott the event, and Lithuania cancelled its attendance in a show of solidarity with Poland.

US Vice President Mike Pence, Britain's Prince Charles, as well as the kings of Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium are set to attend.

Visitors look at part of an exhibition in the Holocaust History Museum at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. File picture: Ammar Awad/Reuters

Israel regards the broad and high-ranking attendance as a sign of solidarity at a time of rising worldwide anti-Semitism.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the arriving leaders, saying that "it is important that they remember where we came from, and it is important that they see where we have gone."

Visitors enter the Hall of Names to look at pictures of Jews killed in the Holocaust during a visit to the Holocaust History Museum at the Yad Vashem World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. File picture: Ammar Awad/Reuters

According to the Israeli Finance Ministry, out of the 192,000 Holocaust survivors still alive in Israel, 16 per cent are aged 90 or older, and 14,800 died in the country in 2019 alone.

dpa