Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday said the world is remembering the Holocaust but it is not doing enough to condemn Iran and its anti-Semitism.
The prime minister spoke at a special Knesset session marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that will be observed on Thursday.
"The international community, has not put into practice the lessons learned from the horrors of the Holocaust."
"One thing is clear. The fact that global anti-Semitism is increasing is a well-known phenomenon. New anti-Semitism is washing over the world and it is important to fight it."
"There is an ayatollah regime, which is a member of the UN, and it knowingly and openly calls for the elimination of at least another six million Jews, and yet nobody says a word. Here and there they mention it, but where is the fury, the rage, the international uprising that should have come from the advanced international community against clear statements calling for the destruction of the same people? It doesn't exist."
"There are many good-hearted people and countries around the world. They feel in their hearts what I think, but that's not enough. Facing a regime which calls for our destruction and which is arming itself with weapons of mass destruction, a stronger mobilization of countries should have emerged."
"Six years after the world established International Holocaust Remembrance Day and vowed to remember - the serpent of destruction again raises its head, It turns out that in complete contrast to the hopes of the Zionist movement, an old anti-Semitism is emerging again. Today, we're not talking anymore about secret protocols, so tomorrow no country can claim that it didn't know and didn't hear. The snake has announced its intentions with the UN, and today its venom is aimed at the entire free world. So just remembering the Holocaust is not enough."
Today they are very aware of it. They know, they hear, they see, they photograph. You don't need special intelligence, you only need to turn on the television, hear the news, read the newspaper. Will they act? Will they talk? Will they really talk? Will they attack? Will they condemn?
The Iranians say that it's against the Zionists, anti-Zionism. It was Martin Luther King who burst that bubble better than anyone else. He said, and I quote: "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You're talking anti-Semintism!"
I expect the world to learn the lesson and start fighting in words and in deeds against the new anti-Semitism. That is what I expect and I am certain, my friends, that you expect the same.
Opposition leader Tzipi Livni condemned the statements of both Netanyahu and Rivlin.
"It is forbidden to compare the situation of Israel to that of the Jews of the Holocaust," she said. "We always have the Holocaust in mind and our leaders must justifiably ask themselves if we recognize a threat in time and how to act. But parents who ask themselves what they would do if they lived at that time must not be given the feeling that Israel is in a similar situation. Israel is not defenseless or in exile alone against evil that tried to destroy them because of who they are."
