As Israel marked Holocaust Remembrance Day on April 28, the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, warned it is a grave mistake to dismiss Iran’s threats to wipe Israel off the map as mere rhetoric.

Today, just like then, there are those who view Iran’s nuclear ambitions as the result of the natural will of a proud nation – a will that should be accepted. And just like then, those who make such claims are deluding themselves. They are making an historic mistake. We are currently in the midst of fateful talks between Iran and the world powers. This time too, the truth is evident to all: Iran is seeking an agreement that will lift the sanctions and leave it as a nuclear threshold state, in other words, the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons within several months at most.

Israelis came to a united, two-minute standstill at 10 am as sirens rang out across the country to remember the millions slaughtered in the Holocaust.

Netanyahu told his compatriots that just as those who sought to destroy the Jewish people then failed, so too the current threat will not succeed.

The State of Israel is stronger than ever. It is a state that seeks peace with all its neighbors – a state with a will of iron to ensure the future of its people.

[Photo: David Katz]