Netanyahu: Iran working in plain sight to destroy Israel

At Yad Vashem ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day, PM calls nuclear-armed Iran an existential threat to the people of Israel; says Israel has greatest obligation of world's nations to stop nuclear Iran.

By JPOST.COM STAFF
Netanyahu at Yad Vashem 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Netanyahu at Yad Vashem 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem)
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke at the Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at Yad Vashem on Wednesday saying that the Iranian regime was working in plain sight to destroy the people of Israel.
Netanyahu stated that the Iranian regime was working to obtain nuclear weapons in order to carry out this goal, and that while it was the whole world's obligation to stop this, the responsibility falls first and foremost on Israel.
The prime minister rejected those who do not want him to speak of the Iranian threat as an existential threat, saying that Israel's leaders had always been honest about the threats facing the state, citing David Ben-Gurion as an example. "I believe in the power of the people of Israel to deal with the truth," he stated.
"People say it is diminishing the memory of the Holocaust to speak of Iran in these terms. I disagree strongly with this. It is my obligation to speak of the threat," Netanyahu added.
President Shimon Peres also spoke at the ceremony, saying that the world must learn the lessons of the Holocaust and stand against the Iranian threat.
Peres called Iran "a threat to the world" and the center of all terror.
He stated that Israel had the ability to stand up to the Iranian threat.
The president referred to Israel as an "uncompromising democracy" and said that in order for it to remain that way the country's 1.5 million non-Jewish citizens must not be disenfranchised because of their nationality.