Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Address to the Opening Ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day.

Following is Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address, this evening (Sunday, 5 May 2024), at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, to the opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day [translated from Hebrew except where noted:

"The Honorable President Herzog and Mrs. Herzog, I will follow your lead and greet our most esteemed guests. First and foremost, the Holocaust survivors, who greatly inspire us all, including during this difficult war. You are living proof of the resurrection of the Jewish people after the destruction of our communities. You are true heroes. Major Moshe Yedidyah Leiter, an admired officer in the Shaldag unit, went to battle in the Gaza Strip with the legacy of the Holocaust on his shoulders. This is not merely poetic words; it is reality. During his military service, when his father, Yechiel, would ask him: 'How do you bear such a heavy burden?' Moshe used to say, 'It is the burden of generations. A burden of responsibility that gives meaning to my service in the Israel Defense Forces.'

Moshe Leiter was named after his great-grandfather. He was born in Galicia, moved to Vienna, escaped from Vienna to Switzerland, from Switzerland to France, and ended up in New York. Many of his relatives were mercilessly slaughtered in the extermination camps. He, along with his wife and children, managed to escape Austria in the week of the Anschluss, the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany in 1938. Moshe and his family never forgot the sound of the Nazi soldiers' boots in the streets of Vienna.

Major Moshe Leiter, the great-grandson of Moshe Leiter, led his soldiers in the war in Gaza, knowing that he was fighting for his great-grandfather as well, and for the six million Jews, our brothers and sisters. Moshe, one of our best fighters and commanders, a father of six, fell while serving in reserve duty in Beit Hanoun.

During the Shiva, his father Yechiel said: 'If the State of Israel were not established after the Holocaust, the image that would have been engraved in us is the photograph of the little boy in the Warsaw Ghetto with his hands up in the air, against the Nazi soldiers' rifles. But the State of Israel exists, and puts weapons in our sons’ hands. We did that so that we could defend ourselves against those who seek our destruction.'

Tomorrow, Yechiel Leiter, the bereaved father, will attend the March of the Living in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The message that he will send from there, Never Again, is also our message here today, from the hills of Jerusalem.

I wish to clarify: Never again is now!

Because eighty years after the Holocaust, after the unspeakable genocide of six million Jews, a third of our people, the forces of evil rose up against us once again, driven by pure evil. They slaughtered, abused, raped, kidnapped.

I say this clearly: the horrific terrorist attack of October 7th was not a Holocaust. Not because they lacked the intent of genocide, but because they lack the ability to carry it out. The intention is the same; the Nazis acted in order to completely destroy the Jewish people. The Hamas murderers are instructed to do the exact same thing. They murder babies, children, women, men, the young and the elderly. They do so without batting an eye. They kidnapped our brothers and sisters, and half of them are still held hostage, underground, in the dark.

We are determined to release them all – all of them – from this dark inferno, those who are still alive and the dead. We are obligated to bring them home, to their families, and end this ongoing nightmare. Our hearts are with them.

We will fight the monsters of Hamas and destroy them for good. I say 'monsters' not only because of the horrors they committed, but because of the fact that they take pride in them. They broadcast their murders live.

In a nursery in Gaza, which was used as a terror base of operation by Hamas, our soldiers found a copy of Hitler's slanderous book, Mein Kampf, translated into Arabic. In another house, they found a girl's tablet with a picture of Adolf Hitler as the wallpaper.

A straight line, as sinister as can be, connects the murderers of old to the murderers of today. But right here lies the difference between the Holocaust and the resurrection. But unlike in the Holocaust, when we were helpless against our enemies, today we have our own defensive might.

After the October 7th massacre, we initiated a war against our assailants. A war that, by the help of God, will end in our absolute victory.

Our enemies made a big mistake. They thought we were weak, divided, devoid of roots and perseverance. They were wrong.

In the moment of truth, we stood together, shoulder to shoulder, full of resilience, determination and strength.

My friends, the people of Israel, our test is to continue to stand together, all the way to victory in the crucial days ahead of us. This is the only way to ensure our existence and our future.

We are fighting on two fronts: The first, the fanatical regime in Iran and its terror proxies, who act with the clear intention to destroy us; the second, the antisemitic volcano eruption that spits burning lava of lies against us, all around the world.

I say this simply: The suppressed antisemitism in the West, that bubbled under the surface ever since the Holocaust, is now rearing its ugly head.

Previous generations spread lies of how Jews poisoned wells, used the blood of children to make matza, and spread disease. Today, they spread new lies, that we are committing genocide and causing famine in Gaza. This could not be further from the truth.

What genocide are they talking about? We do everything we can to avoid harming citizens. We take precautions that no army in history ever took.

What starvation? From the beginning of this war, we let into the Gaza Strip countless trucks filled with food and medicine, to prevent exactly that. To prevent a humanitarian crisis.

Just as they were in the past, these false accusations are not levelled against us because of the things we do, but because of the simple fact that we exist. Sadly, many people believe these blatant lies, and they believe them for one reason and one reason only: because we are Jews.

What moral bankruptcy.

The lie has become truth, truth turned into lies. As the prophet Isaiah said: 'Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that change darkness into light, and light into darkness.'

This madness has reached the most prestigious campuses in the West. Jewish students, supporters of Israel, are facing threats, slander and harassment. They are scared to be seen with any Jewish symbols: their yarmulkes, prayer shawls, Stars of David. Jewish professors and academics are beaten up and humiliated. Brainwashed bullies break into classrooms and break the windows.

This is reminiscent of things that happened in German universities in the 1930s. Yes, they broke windows too. Only this time, it is happening in America in 2024.

Our brothers and sisters in the Diaspora, we stand with you against the hatred here, and against the hatred there.

No less scandalous is what might happen in the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

This court, which was established in response to the Holocaust and other horrors, to ensure that Never Again, is considering issuing warrants against Israel’s leaders and commanders.

If such a step is taken, its intent will be to tie our hands and undermine our basic right to self-defense.

How absurd!

How justice and history are being distorted!

This step would put an indelible stain on the very idea of justice and international law.

The attempt to tie our hands originates from various parties in the international community.

From here, from Jerusalem, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day, I send a message, loud and clear: 'You will not tie our hands.'

If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. But we know we are not alone because countless decent people around the world support our just cause. And I say to you, we will defeat our genocidal enemies.

Never again is now!

[Hebrew]

Distinguished guests,

During the Holocaust, we had no voice, we had no protection. Our cries were not heard, our torment ignored.

We will not return to those dark days.

The State of Israel will not kowtow to the murderers and instigators of antisemitism.

Our voice will be heard.

We will protect our country and establish the eternal future of our people."