Foreign Ministry Holds Holocaust Remembrance Day Ceremony For Righteous Among The Nations
Over 50 foreign diplomats and representatives participated in the Israel Foreign Ministry’s Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony on Monday evening (13th)
The ceremony took place by a wall of the Foreign Affairs Ministry dedicated to the Righteous Among the Nations diplomats, on which are the names of foreign diplomats who risked their lives to rescue Jews from the Holocaust.
“The world today faces another evil regime: the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar at the ceremony. “The Iranian regime openly calls for the destruction of Israel and works to achieve its murderous goal. The international community did nothing special and took it as normal that one country threatens to destroy another.
The policy of appeasement is once again trumping moral courage. Running away from the challenge will not make it disappear, just like burying your head in the sand like an ostrich will not remove the threat.”
Sa’ar also said that Israel’s strength is due to the existential threats it faces from Iran and its proxies across the region.
“Here in the neighborhood where we live, we either become strong or we simply will not exist. We are not acting because of historical traumas. We are acting because our very existence is at stake.
He also described Iran as “the modern version of pure evil,” saying that the free world’s mission is to prevent that evil from triumphing.
“We remember the six million of our brothers and sisters who were murdered. We will keep our oath, Never again.”
We Will Remember: IDF Chief Of Staff Issues Statement Ahead Of Holocaust Remembrance Day
Israel was created as an act of defiance, IDF Chief of Staff LTG Eyal Zamir said in his Monday (13th) order of the day, ahead of Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day on Tuesday (14th).
In the letter, Zamir vowed to “remember the communities that were erased from the face of the earth, the voices of the boys and girls, the men and women, the elderly and the young, who were led to the crematoria and shot into killing pits, and the partisans and underground fighters who struggled and rose up, even when all hope seemed lost.”
”We will remember the acts of bravery, the resistance, and the uprisings,the preservation of Jewish identity in the face of attempts to erase it; the final embraces and parting words – etched into memory and transformed into a living testament,” he added.
Moreover, Zamir described the creation of the State of Israel as “an act of defiance against the oppression of the past, and praised the IDF for acting with determination and strength against Iran and its proxies, striking back and acting against those who for decades have called for the destruction of our state and its erasure from the Middle East.”
“Today, out of the harshest inferno,the Jewish people stand alive, free, and sovereign in their land,” he wrote. This is our clear answer to the world: no longer a people dependent on the mercy of others, no longer a defenseless people, but a free nation in its land that fights for its freedom and its future.”
“Now it is our turn to be a vital link in the chain of defenders, who came before us; to stand guard over the homeland, to defend our home, and to ensure that the memory of the past serves as our compass –and that ’never again.’”
Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day commemorates the six million Jews murdered by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during the Holocaust.
Since 1951, the day has been marked on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan. The date differs from the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, which occurs on January 27, the day Auschwitz-Birkenau was liberated in June 1945.
In Israel, Holocaust Memorial Day opens the evening prior with a state ceremony in Jerusalem and is followed the next morning by a two-minute siren at 10: a.m. , allowing the public space and time to reflect.
Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day began on Monday evening (13th) and will continue through Tuesday (14th) at sundown.
‘There Will Not Be Another Holocaust – Iran War Foiled Plot To Destroy Israel,’ Says Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared over the weekend that the State of Israel is now at its apex, achieving a level of power not seen since the country was established in 1948.
On Sunday (12th), the prime minister and his wife, Sara Netanyahu, hosted a meeting in the Prime Minister’s Office with Holocaust survivors who have been chosen to light torches on Holocaust Martyrs; and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, which began in Israel at sundown Monday (13th).
Netanyahu and his wife listened to the stories of the survivors, who shared their experiences of survival in Europe and immigrating to Israel.
The prime minister then told the Holocaust survivors that the State of Israel recently prevented Iran from carrying out the destruction of the Jewish state, alluding to Operations Rising Lion and Roaring Lion, which decimated Iran’s nuclear program.
“Today, we are the ones hunting the oppressors,” Netanyahu boasted. “We have prevented them from realizing their plan of destruction with a force that has brought the State of Israel to the peak of its power, since its establishment.”
Netanyahu added that Israel is now at the peak of its power, touting not only the country’s military prowess but also its alliance with the United States.
“Who would have believed 80 years ago that our daring pilots, men and women, would be over the skies of Iran, over the skies of Tehran, and not just alone, but alongside the world’s greatest superpower, flying wing-to-wing to strike the oppressor?”
“This is a massive shift in our situation, a massive change from what you experienced first hand. It means that the people of Israel live strong and powerful. There will not be another Holocaust.”
Hezbollah Leader In Fiery Speech: Either Fight Or Surrender
Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem delivered a defiant speech on Monday evening (13th), making it clear that the terrorist organization has no intention of retreating from its positions despite heavy military and political pressure.
Qassem directly attacked Lebanon’s top leadership, including President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam, claiming that US support for the Lebanese army is intended to drag the country into a civil war in order to destroy Hezbollah.
Ahead of a new round of ambassador-level talks scheduled to begin on Tuesday (14th) in the United States, Qassem stated unequivocally that Hezbollah opposes any negotiations with Israel.
“We have decided to resist and fight in order to defend Lebanon and our people,” he said. “There are only two options; either fight or surrender. As far as we are concerned, surrender does not exist. Whoever wants to surrender can do so alone.
Qassem presented a unilateral list of demands as conditions for a ceasefire: a complete halt to IDF attacks, a full Israel withdrawal from Lebanon, the release of Lebanese prisoners, the return of displaced residents, and the launch of a reconstruction process.
Regarding the fighting on the ground, Qassem praised Hezbollah terrorists, describing their performance as “legendary and astonishing.”
He revealed the organization’s tactics against the IDF’s ground maneuvers: “We prepared ourselves quietly and under the fog of war. Our fighters move from place to place and conduct battles in a cat-and-mouse format to prevent the enemy from gaining a foothold in the territory.”
Qassem issued a direct threat to IDF troops. “Our fighters will ambush Israeli soldiers when the opportunity arises. We are fighting the enemy from all directions, and he will not know where the blow is coming from.”
Qassem rejected reports of Hezbollah’s involvement in fighting in Iran or other countries, claiming there is “no proof” of such involvement, However, he called on the Lebanese government to “correct its attitude” toward Iran and the Revolutionary Guards, arguing that Lebanon should accept assistance from anyone willing to help. He concluded with a call for Arab countries to cooperate in resisting Israel.
Qatar, UN Quietly Rehabilitating Gaza Strip – Without Hamas Disarmament
Work has already begun to rehabilitate the war-torn Gaza Strip, Israel Hayom reported on Monday (13th), despite Hamas’ ongoing refusal to hand over its arsenal.
Citing video footage filmed in Gaza, the report said that preliminary reconstruction activity has begun in parts of the Gaza Strip under a plan backed by Qatar and the United Nations, even as the US-backed Board of Peace’s Gaza plan remains in limbo.
The move marks a tentative shift from emergency relief toward early rebuilding, but it comes with major political conditions unresolved. Hamas has continued to reject calls to give up its weapons without firm guarantees of a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a position that has the central obstacle in current talks.
Despite the impasse over disarmament , the UN and Qatar are aiding the rehabilitation work , including cleaning debris, repairing damaged roads, and removing unstable blocks from buildings.
Under the broader US-backed framework, Gaza’s reconstruction is supposed to proceed alongside a transfer of governance to a new Palestinian administrative structure and the deployment of international mechanisms to oversee security and aid.
Reuters reported in January that Washington launched the plan’s second phase despite incomplete implementation of the first, signaling an effort to move the process forward even before all battlefield and political disputes were resolved.
But Hamas has shown little sign of yielding on the issue of disarmament. Over the weekend, Saudi media reported that a Hamas delegation visiting Egypt issued demands, while emphasizing that the terror group will not discuss terms for disarmament until a broader deal ensuring a permanent end to the war is drafted.
That leaves the reconstruction advancing, at least in limited form, in a highly uncertain environment.
Along with debris removal, the work has also included the drilling and maintenance of water wells, with a Qatari committee overseeing the work.
In the southern Gaza Strip, the United Nations has funded the paving of roads, with other roadwork funded by the Malaysian Muslim Foundation.
Israel Today Faces Far Fewer Threats Than It Did Before – Herb Keinon
After the ceasefire in Iran, Israel today faces far fewer significant threats than it did before. Iran, in turn, is considerably weaker than it was. While not all of the war’s aims were achieved, enough was accomplished to significantly improve Israel’s strategic position and security. The inability to remove all the enriched uranium or bring a conclusive end to the rule of the clerical regime in Tehran does not mean that the war has not fundamentally changed the regional reality. It has.
The War of Independence did not end with all of Israel’s aspirations fulfilled. Before the war, the Jews did not have a state, afterward, they did. Some 6,000 people – out of a population of roughly 600,000 were killed. There was no peace, only armistice agreements. The economy was in shambles. Yet the fundamental reality had changed.
Before Oct. 7, Iran was steadily advancing toward nuclear capability, building ballistic missiles at a fast clip, actively preparing and prepping its proxies for Israel’s destruction. Today, Hezbollah and Hamas – the tentacles of the Iranian octopus – have been cut back sharply and the head of the octopus is stunned and battered. Is it a complete victory? No. But is it significant? Unquestionably.
Those arguing that nothing was achieved are, in effect, arguing that Iran will rebuild and rearm, resting on the flawed assumption that Israel will simply sit back and allow that to happen. But Israel has changed. The key lesson of Oct. 7 is that it is no longer possible to assume that those who openly declare their intent to destroy you will ultimately be restrained by your power. They will not, because their calculus is often staged by ideological, religious, even messianic factors that lie outside conventional logic.
As a result, Israel’s doctrine has shifted to actively preventing the enemy from building capabilities. Some argue that the war will only intensify Iran’s drive for a nuclear program. That may be so. But Israel and the U.S. have a strong incentive to prevent Iran from doing so. Iran can rebuild its nuclear and military capabilities only if they allow it. It is reasonable to assume that they will not.
Iran’s claim of victory despite its tremendous losses is reminiscent of Egypt’s victory claim after the 1973 Yom Kippur War – a war in which, by most objective military measures, Egypt lost.
