Last update - 00:00 09/05/2007
Israel marks VE Day with Jerusalem march, special Knesset session
By Haaretz Service
Exactly 62 years after the Allies defeated the Nazi Germany, Israel marked Victory in Europe Day on Wednesday with a special Knesset session and a parade by Russian-born Israeli veterans in Jerusalem.
Addressing the Knesset plenum, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert paid tribute to the one and a half million Jewish fighters who joined the battle against the Nazi regime.
Olmert hailed the Jews who were "soldiers in the Allied armies, fighters in partisan units in the countries of Eastern Europe, and in the ranks of the anti-fascist underground in Western Europe and North Africa. Throughout the war - they fought for life and death."
The Jewish fighter "fought not only for his life, but also for the life of the entire Jewish people," he said.
The prime minister also praised the "30,000 men and women out of 400,000 in the Jewish yishuv in the Land of Israel during World War II to volunteer for the ranks of the British Army, out of a desire to participate in the war effort."
But Olmert also warned of the threats facing today's society, highlighting Iran's determination to acquire nuclear weapons, and the call by its president to destroy Israel.
"Evil, racism, hatred of that which is foreign and different, anti-Semitism - all today threaten the well-being of humanity and its future," he said.
"This is the reason why the entire enlightened world is currently making a serious effort to prevent evil regimes like Iran - which openly announces the need to destroy the State of Israel - from obtaining nuclear weapons."
At a reception later in the day, Olmert told the veretans that they were "a living heritage of one of the most dramatic and significant chapters in the history of the Jewish People."
Immigrant Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim also honored those present for their heroism.
"The State of Israel owes a national debt to the veterans whose heroism constitutes a torch in whose light we walk. The Government of Israel has a duty to preserve this glorious heritage."