Holocaust Memorials

“As a Jew, I always carry the pain of the Holocaust endured by my brothers and sisters. As an Israeli, I regret the tragic delay in the establishment of the Jewish state that left my people with no safe harbor. As a grandfather, I cannot come to terms with the loss of one and a half million children—the greatest human and creative potential that could have changed Israel's destiny.

“I am proud that we are the arch-enemy of Nazi evil. I am proud of the legacy of our forefathers, diametrically opposed to the doctrine of racism. I am proud of the revival of Israel, the moral and historic answer to the attempt to erase the Jewish people from the face of the earth. I thank the Lord that peoples rose and crushed the madness, the evil and cruelty.

“The Holocaust must always be prominent in our minds and in the conscience of humanity and serve as an unequivocal warning in perpetuity as a binding decree to uphold the sanctity of life, equality among men, freedom and peace.

www.israelimages.com Moshe Shai


 

“Murderous hatred must be stopped in its tracks, stopped right from the beginning.  All countries in the world must learn this lesson, just as we did after losing a third of our people in blood-soaked Europe. We learned that the only guarantee for the protection of our people is the state of Israel and its army, the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]. I promise, as head of the Jewish state, that never again will we allow the hand of evil to sever the life of our people and our state.”              —Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a speech at the Auschwitz–Birkenau concentration camp

“It is not enough to apply sanctions for the purpose of show; it is not enough to talk about International obligations. The time has come to act against the angel of death, who is once again knocking, and this time on the doors of all humanity.”              —Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin at the Knesset (Israel’s parliament)

“The Jews of Europe also did not believe that the German despot intended to carry out the great crime of murdering six million Jews. And now, 65 years have passed, and a new despot has emerged who denies the Holocaust and threatens to destroy the Jewish people, while insisting on developing a weapon of mass destruction, stating at every opportunity that Israel’s proper place is not on the face of the globe.”              —Knesset Member Danny Danon