Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected international pressures to end the war in Gaza during a fiery speech on the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, stating: “If Israel must stand alone, it will stand alone.”
The message, typically delivered in a context that avoids politics, was aimed at the growing number of world leaders who have criticized the severe casualties caused by the Israeli military attack against Hamas fighters and urged the parties to agree on a ceasefire. Netanyahu added, “I tell the world leaders: no matter the amount of pressure, and any decision from any international forum, it will not prevent Israel from defending itself. It will not happen again.”
Holocaust Remembrance Day, a day when Israel commemorates the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies, is one of the most significant dates in the country’s calendar and usually avoids political discussions in its ceremonies. Netanyahu also compared the recent wave of protests at American universities to German universities in the 1930s, in the period before the Holocaust.
This year’s ceremony on Sunday marked the first Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel since the Hamas attack on October 7. The day took on a new meaning this year, as Hamas fighters killed about 1,200 people in the attack, making it the most violent act against Jews since the Holocaust.
