88 years after Kristallnacht, mayors from 18 countries light candles in Jerusalem as Huckabee tells them to go home and tell the truth about Israel

Dozens of mayors and local leaders from around the world gathered in Jerusalem on Sunday evening to mark 88 years since Kristallnacht, the Nazi pogrom of November 9-10, 1938, The Jerusalem Post reports.

The candle-lighting ceremony opened the 35th International Mayors Conference, organized by the American Jewish Congress, which this year brought in city leaders from 18 countries. Kristallnacht, the "Night of Broken Glass," saw synagogues burned and Jewish homes and shops smashed across Germany and Austria, and marked a major escalation toward the Holocaust.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told the delegation to see the country for themselves and to push back on what is said about it abroad. "There are so many crazy things being said about Israel around the world that simply aren't true," he said. "Israel needs more people to come here, see the reality with their own eyes, and then go home and simply tell people what they saw."

Huckabee also hit the boycott campaigns against Israel. "Instead of the world simply saying thank you to Israel for the technologies and innovations it provides, there are countries seeking to boycott and sanction it. That's crazy. What we should have here is a genuine partnership."

The anniversary comes the same weekend that activists in Berlin swapped the German flag on the Reichstag for a Palestinian flag and a "boycott ride" targeted Jewish-owned restaurants in Philadelphia.