At Mount Herzl Memorial, Netanyahu Says Iran "Planned Another Holocaust"

This morning (Tuesday), the main state ceremony marking Israel’s Memorial Day for fallen soldiers and victims of terror was held at the Hall of Remembrance on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem. At the ceremony, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered remarks.

He said: "On this sacred mountain, Mount Herzl, generations of heroes are laid to rest. The wound is deeper than time; time passes, but the pain never goes away. I feel it in every fiber of my being. My brother Yoni, who is buried here, fell 50 years ago. He led his brave soldiers who rescued our hostages from Entebbe in Uganda. I was then an Israeli student in the city of Boston in the United States; my brother Ido called me and told me that our eldest brother had fallen in battle. My world collapsed. There is not a day I do not think about my brother Yoni—'you were so dear to me, I miss you so much.' All of us in the bereaved family miss our loved ones so very much."

Netanyahu also mentioned soldiers recently killed in the fighting in Gaza: "When Shaldag commando Kogen, z\"l, fell, his wife Shaked cried that what keeps her steady before the abyss is 'looking forward and upward, as the spirit of the people—and yours—carries me.' When Avichai, z\"l, fell, his sister Shira said words that are the essence of the nation."

He went on to address the security situation and the cease-fire with Iran: "In the War of Rebirth—building on Israel’s previous campaigns—the essence is clearer than ever: to defend national existence. To safeguard the home, the people, and the state. To ensure, with Hashem's help, the eternity of Israel. In every generation, others rise up to destroy us. Also in this generation."

Netanyahu continued: "The ayatollahs' regime in Iran planned another Holocaust. It schemed to wipe us out with nuclear bombs and thousands of ballistic missiles. Had we not acted against this existential threat—had we not acted with resolve and daring—the names of the death sites Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan might have been added to the names of the death camps of the Holocaust: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka. But that did not happen—because together with our great friend the United States, we crushed the Iranian regime’s killing machine in time. We pushed away an immediate existential threat. That is the essence of the campaign—to ensure that the lifeline of the people of Israel is not cut."