Netanyahu: "Hamas are Nazis, we will defeat them and prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons"

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke at the state ceremony opening the Holocaust Remembrance Day events today (Wednesday), marking 80 years since the end of the Holocaust and World War II.

Highlights of the Prime Minister's speech: "Exactly one year ago, I stood in this place and spoke firmly against elements in the international community who sought to tie our hands. They warned us that if we entered Rafah, they would impose an arms embargo on us. They even carried out this threat. I told our interlocutors in our ally the United States: I told them that as the Prime Minister of Israel – the state of the Jewish people thousands of years old, the people who just a few decades ago went through the Holocaust with cruel murderers – I will not tie our hands, and no one will prevent us from defending ourselves. We are entering Rafah, I said, because it is a necessary condition for victory in the war. If we need to stand alone – we will stand alone. If we need to fight with our fingernails – we will fight with our fingernails. But under no circumstances will we abandon the mission of victory."

"To my colleagues in the cabinet I said: Israel is not a state that accepts dictates that endanger its existence. Such a state simply would not survive in the turbulent Middle East. Therefore, no pressure and no decision will prevent us from holding accountable the worst barbarians, as bad as the Nazis, the despicable ones – who slaughtered, raped, and kidnapped our loved ones. In the midst of Holocaust Remembrance Day exactly a year ago – on that very day – our operation in Rafah began. And it was indeed a significant turning point in the war."

"Thanks to the bravery of our wonderful fighters, we took control of the Philadelphi Corridor. We killed thousands of terrorists; eliminated the architects of the massacre; Yahya Sinwar, Deif, Haniyeh, and of course the villain Nasrallah; we brought Hezbollah to its knees; created the conditions for the fall of the Assad regime; severely hit Iran; and as I promised two days after the start of the war – we changed the face of the Middle East."

"Those who feared that after the massacre of October 7th we would face another Holocaust, saw how we turned the tables. On this Holocaust Remembrance Day, I promise: The military pressure on Hamas will continue. We will destroy all its capabilities. We will bring back all our hostages. We will defeat Hamas and prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons."

"Fighting powerfully against the regimes of fanaticism that threaten the entire world, fighting powerfully against the regimes of fanaticism that threaten the entire world and doing so in time – this is the central lesson from the Holocaust. This is also the central lesson I learned from my father, Professor Benzion Netanyahu of blessed memory. He witnessed the feebleness of the free world in the face of the rise of Nazism."

Netanyahu further added and mentioned his father: "In 1933, the year of Hitler's rise, at the age of 23, my father wrote: 'If antisemitism spreads, it will endanger the existence of Jews everywhere in a Holocaust facing the Jewish people.' I've heard people say that no one foresaw the Holocaust."

He continued: "We can crush antisemitism if we prove that it is not directed only at Jews. We must convince others that Hitler's attack on German Jews is an attack on human society as a whole."

The Prime Minister emphasized: "Today I say: The regime in Iran, the terror regime in Iran, is a threat to the fate and existence, not only of our future, but to the fate and future of human society as a whole. This is what will happen if it acquires nuclear weapons."

"The struggle between us and the empire of terror in Tehran will determine the fate of all free societies. If Israel loses this campaign, God forbid – Western countries will be next in line. The wave of fanaticism will wash over them mercilessly, and it will happen much faster than they think. But Israel will not lose, Israel will not give up, and Israel will not surrender. This is my mission as Prime Minister of Israel, and this is the mission of all of us, the entire Israeli society in all its parts. We will continue to defend ourselves persistently, we will continue to defend ourselves stubbornly, we will continue to defend ourselves powerfully."

"And I say these things because what good are beautiful words about the victory of enlightenment over barbarism – if at the moment of truth you are not ready to fight, and you surrender to the barbarians. We will never surrender. Victory requires resilience. Thanks to the resilience and unity of all of us, of you, citizens of Israel, we have already achieved tremendous achievements. And thanks to resilience, we will achieve additional achievements – until victory comes!"