(Prime Minister's Office) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday at Yad Vashem: Tonight, on the eve of Holocaust Remembrance Day, I ask myself: why, in the years preceding the Holocaust, did the overwhelming majority of world leaders fail to detect the danger in time? The bitter truth is: They did not want to see it because they did not want to face the consequences of that truth. The axiom of avoiding conflict at any cost was adopted not only by the leaders. The people themselves, primarily the educated ones, shared it too. Today Iran is calling for our destruction. It is developing nuclear weapons. It continues to develop inter-continental ballistic missiles that can carry nuclear warheads to threaten the entire world. Today, just like then, there are those who dismiss Iran's extreme rhetoric. Today, just like then, there are those who view Iran's nuclear ambitions as the result of the natural will of a proud nation - a will that should be accepted. Those who make such claims are deluding themselves. Iran wants a deal that will eliminate the sanctions and leave their nuclear capabilities intact. Such a deal, which will enable Iran to be a nuclear threshold state, will bring the entire world to the threshold of an abyss. I call on the leaders of the world powers to insist on a full dismantling of Iran's capability to manufacture nuclear weapons, and to persist until this goal is achieved. In any event, the people of Israel are strong. When faced with an existential threat, the situation of our people today is entirely different than it was during the Holocaust. Now we have great power to defend ourselves. On behalf of the Jewish people, I say to all those who still seek to destroy us: you have failed and you will fail. Israel is a state that seeks peace with all its neighbors - a state with a will of iron to ensure the future of its people.
2014-04-28 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive