A ‘Strong, Sovereign’ Israel Will Defend the Jewish People

Unlike the pre-State era, the Jewish State will defend the Jewish People, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day 2014.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day 2014, stated at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting:

Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu tells the weekly Cabinet meeting on Sunday that Israel will defend the Jewish people. (Photo: Amit Shabi/FLASH90)

“This evening we will mark Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. The State of Israel will honor the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust. The main difference between the helplessness of the Jews during the Holocaust and the situation of the Jews today is that today we have a strong, sovereign state with a strong military that can defend the Jewish people against those who seek our lives.”

Hamas Wants to Create New Holocaust, PM Says

“Iran tops the list of those who seek our lives; it has declared its intention to destroy us,” the Israeli leader continued. “In addition to its effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons, Iran arms, finances and trains Hamas and other terrorist organizations on our borders. Hamas denies the Holocaust even as it attempts to create an additional Holocaust by destroying the State of Israel. It is with this Hamas that [Palestinian Authority President] Abu Mazen [aka Mahmoud Abbas] chose to form an alliance last week.”

Netanyahu was referring to the Fatah-Hamas unity deal, which was announced on Thursday. Since Abbas chose to align with a terrorist organization that aims to destroy the State of Israel and to kill Jewish people around the world, the PA-Israeli peace negotiations came to an end.

“Instead of issuing statements designed to placate global public opinion, Abu Mazen needs to choose between the alliance with Hamas, a terrorist organization that calls for the destruction of Israel and denies the Holocaust, and a true peace with Israel. We hope that he will disavow this alliance with Hamas and return to the path of true peace,” Netanyahu affirmed.

European Jewish Leader Notes Surge in Antisemitism

Also on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, known in Hebrew as Yom HaShoah, Dr. Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, told a press conference: “Normative Jewish life in Europe is unsustainable.”

A Jewish man visits the “Chamber of the Holocaust” on Mount Zion in Jerusalem’s Old City on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day. (Photo: Hadas Parush/Flash 90)

Kantor was discussing the annual survey conducted by the Kantor Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry and the Moshe Kantor database for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University, in cooperation with the European Jewish Congress.

“According to that survey, almost half of the Jewish population is afraid of being verbally or physically attacked in a public place because they are Jewish and 25% of Jews will not wear anything that identifies them as Jewish or go near a Jewish institution for fear of an attack,” he said.

“As we see in these findings in addition to results from the EU Fundamental Rights Agency survey released in November, Jews do not feel safe or secure in certain communities in Europe.”

“According to that survey, almost half of the Jewish population is afraid of being verbally or physically attacked in a public place because they are Jewish and 25% of Jews will not wear anything that identifies them as Jewish or go near a Jewish institution for fear of an attack.”

Kantor also warned about the dangers of hate and incitement against the Jewish people.

The State of Israel has been encouraging European Jews to immigrate to the Jewish State.

In addition, Netanyahu told the meeting that the “Cabinet is due to approve Finance Minister Yair Lapid’s and Social Affairs and Social Services Minister Meir Cohen’s proposal for a national plan to assist Holocaust survivors.”

Israel has “a moral obligation to see to it that Holocaust survivors living among us can live out their lives honorably,” he said. “We [also] have the supreme national responsibility of preventing another Holocaust; let us do both.”

Written by: Atara Beck, Senior Writer, United with Israel