Mayor Bloomberg was chosen by President Bush to lead a delegation to Israel next week as America’s chief representative at the opening a new museum at the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.

The $46 million Holocaust History Museum has been more than a decade in the making and will use a wide array of photographs, testimonials, and diaries to tell the stories of the six million Jews who were killed and of those who survived.

Mr. Bloomberg told reporters yesterday that the White House contacted his staff and asked whether he would be interested. “They had asked would I be interested and I said: ‘Yes, I’d be thrilled,'” he told reporters yesterday.

When asked to comment on Mr. Bush’s Middle East policies, the mayor, who is Jewish, said: “I’ll leave the Middle East strategy to the political pundits or the foreign affairs experts, but I was honored that the President asked me to lead a delegation.”

“This is the 60th anniversary of the Holocaust museum at Yad Vashem. It will be the fourth time that I’ve been to Israel,” the mayor said. “I’ll be going over for Tuesday and Wednesday, but I’ll be back in time to march in the St. Patrick’s Day Parade on Thursday. It’s a great honor, and I’m pleased that they thought of me.”

According to an announcement, the new venture will combine the best of Yad Vashem’s expertise, resources, and exhibits to “take Holocaust remembrance well into the 21st century.”

Most of the new museum is underground, and it will present the story of the Shoah from a unique Jewish perspective, emphasizing the experiences of individual victims through original artifacts, survivor testimonies, and personal possessions. The museum will also have a Hall of Names, which will be a repository for millions of pages of testimony from Holocaust victims.

According to people familiar with the itinerary, Mr. Bloomberg is scheduled to attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the museum Tuesday with the heads of other delegations and will be at an evening ceremony with Prime Minister Sharon; the president of Israel, Moshe Katsav; the U.N. secretary-general, Kofi Annan, and some other top Israeli officials.

Holocaust survivor, author, and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel may also attend. That evening, Mr. Bloomberg will attend a state dinner hosted by Mr. Sharon at a hotel in downtown Jerusalem.

On Wednesday morning, the mayor will speak at ceremony commemorating the opening of the new Holocaust History Museum, where all of the heads of delegations will be given a few minutes to talk about the post-Holocaust era and stamping out anti-Semitism and xenophobia.