los angeles (ap) | Crimes against Jewish people are crimes against all humanity, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said Sunday, April 18, during an annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony.

“We accept the Holocaust as a symbol of our duty and responsibility to prevent such travesties from ever happening again,” said Schwarzenegger, a longtime supporter of Holocaust memorial efforts who also paid for an investigation into his father’s Nazi past.

The event, which drew about 3,000 people to the Los Angeles Holocaust Monument in Pan Pacific Park, was held to remember the 6 million Jews who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Schwarzenegger, a native of Austria, was joined by Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor U.S. Rep. Tom Lantos (D-San Mateo). Lantos noted what he called a rise of anti-Semitism in Europe and defended Israel’s recent military actions, including the killing of leaders of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

“People are perfectly prepared to commemorate the Holocaust, but they won’t recognize our right to prevent the next Holocaust,” Lantos said.