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Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today:

“This evening, the State of Israel marks Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day. Six million of our brethren were massacred during the Holocaust. Sadly, not everyone learned the lesson. While we gather to honor their memory, in Switzerland there will assemble a conference allegedly aimed against racism. Its guest-of-honor is a racist Holocaust-denier who does not hide his intentions to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. I commend the countries that are boycotting this show of hatred. As opposed to those dark days, today a strong Jewish state stands to ensure the continued existence of the Jewish people in the face of this new anti-Semitism.

We do not forget the survivors. In a joint proposal with my colleagues, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz and Social Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog, we have decided to allocate NIS 20 million from the basket of services intended for Holocaust survivors and NIS 10 million in additional funds from the Company for Restitution of Holocaust Victims Assets, NIS 30 million which we want to earmark to subsidize medicines for survivors. I am glad that we have found a solution for this vital need of Holocaust survivors who live among us. It is suitable that they should live out their lives in honor and in health.

In the final reckoning, the State of Israel is the answer and the key to ensuring the existence of the Jewish People, to ensuring its security as well as its welfare and the welfare of the survivors.

Thank you very much.”

Credit: PMO’s website

Brought by: Eitan Behar

Speaking at the Plenum of the World Jewish Congress currently taking place in Jerusalem, Likud party chairman Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a growing scourge of anti-Semitism which many analysts have seen a considerable spike in the wake of Israel’s recent campaign against Hamas. 

Describing Jew hatred as a plague, the former Prime Minister said “In this battle against anti-Semitism we must form alliances with others who are being attacked.  Evil acts such as these begin with the Jews but can quickly spread to a far greater conflagration of hatred.  If unopposed, it will spread and consume the entire world.”
 
With leaders of Jewish communities from across the globe in attendance, Mr. Netanyahu said that in the spirit of Theodor Herzl, “when Jews are faced with anti-Semitism the response should be to turned to the place of the Jewish people.”