Bibi Denounces ‘Systematic Vilification’ of Israel

Stand for Israel  |  May 2, 2019

Each year, Israel marks her observance of Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) with a solemn ceremony at Yad Vashem, featuring words by the nation’s leaders. This year, The Times of Israel reports, PM Netanyahu lauded the Jewish state for its rise from the ashes of this dark chapter in Jewish and world history, but warned that Israel continues to face rising threats such as widespread anti-Semitism and a belligerent Iran:

“In exile our abysmal weakness doomed us to our fate,” he said at the Yad Vashem memorial museum. “In our homeland the strength we’ve built has made us a rising world power. Many — a great many — desire closer relations with us.”

But the premier also warned that side-by-side with such great admiration for Israel was “a rising hatred of Jews in certain circles.”

“The extreme right, the extreme left and extremist Islam agree on one thing only: on hatred of the Jews,” he said. “This hatred is expressed in despicable attacks on worshipers at synagogues, as took place a few days ago in San Diego and before that in Pittsburgh; in the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and in the publication of caricatures and article dripping with hate, even in newspapers considered respectable…”

“We are not speaking of legitimate criticism of Israel, I wouldn’t linger on it if it were that,” he said, “But systematic, lying vilification that incessantly undermines the legitimacy of the Jewish nation state, and it alone. It’s an insufferable hypocrisy and cannot be accepted…”

Watch the entire ceremony held at Yad Vashem in the above video.