In remembering Holocaust, Netanyahu warns against Iran

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used his speech at the ceremony marking Holocaust Remembrance Day last night to convey a tough message to Iran. "Holocaust deniers cannot commit another Holocaust against the Jewish people," he said, referring to Iran's nuclear program. "This is the State of Israel's supreme obligation and this is my supreme obligation as prime minister."

Speaking at Yad Vashem, Netanyahu also hinted Israel had to be prepared to act alone against Iran if necessary.

Although he only mentioned the word Iran once, he devoted nearly all his speech to the Iranian threat. "Only a matter of a few decades after the Holocaust, new forces have arisen that openly declare their intention to wipe the Jewish state off the face of the earth," he said.

Netanyahu also discussed diplomacy he hoped would foil Iran's nuclear plans.

"We must appeal to the world's conscience and forge alliances," he said. "We must remember that our ability to fend off the dangers to our people's existence rests on the strength of our state, our cohesion and our unity at the moment of truth," he said. "The State of Israel is the shield and the hope of the Jewish people."

Netanyahu also referred to the Durban Review Conference against racism in Geneva and to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech there. "The sad fact that as we mark the events of the Holocaust here at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, there are those who choose to participate in a display of hatred of Israel in the very heart of Europe," he said.

President Shimon Peres called the conference, also known as Durban II, "the acceptance of racism rather than a fight against it." He condemned those who would "attack the only country in the world that was established as a haven for Holocaust survivors, the only country that will prevent another Holocaust."