Israel marked its own Holocaust memorial day on Thursday with a renewed commitment to defeat Hamas, the contemporary incarnation of the Nazis, who sought to eliminate the Jewish people in World War II.
Officially known as “Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah” in Hebrew, which means “Day of (remembrance of) the Holocaust and the Heroism,” the day is observed on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nisan, which means it falls each year in April or May.
It long pre-dates the International Holocaust Remembrance Day set more recently by the United Nations on January 27th, which commemorates the liberation of Auschwitz in 1944 and sees Jews primarily as the victims — and, not coincidentally, portrays the Soviet Union in a heroic role.
Across the country, sirens blared at 10 a.m., and people stopped where they stood, even parking their cars on the roads and stepping outside to observe a nationwide moment of silence.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli President Isaac Herzog participated in a ceremony at Israel’s Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.
Netanyahu drew an explicit connection between the Nazis and Hamas, who have vowed to destroy Israel:
“Indeed, they are exactly like the Nazis, just like Hitler,” Netanyahu says. “They wish to kill and destroy all of the Jews, and they openly declare their intention to destroy the state of the Jews. They say so out loud, but it’s not going to happen. We are determined to annihilate the monsters of Hamas, these monsters who committed the worst massacre that we’ve experienced since the Holocaust.”
In his own remarks, Herzog also sounded a warning against Israel’s recent internal political divisions:
We are living through days of fierce and painful division. And the overwhelming majority of our people cry out with all their might: Enough! Enough with the polarization. Enough with the hatred. History will not forgive those who act irresponsibly and tear us apart from within. History will not forgive those who weaken the foundations of our wonderful country—beloved, unique, Jewish and democratic—born from the ashes of the terrible Holocaust.
Herzog also traveled to Poland to participate in the annual March of the Living, a procession from the gates of Auschwitz to the death camp of Birkenau nearby. He was joined by Polish President Andrzej Duda.
Netanyahu later participated in a special memorial in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, where he was joined by Holocaust survivors in a ceremony that stressed the importance of acknowledging each individual victim.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer briefed reporters on Israel’s memorial observances, noting that Israelis have become accustomed to sirens, but that the sirens of the Holocaust memorial still had special meaning — and new relevance, given the ongoing struggle for existence against a new genocidal enemy.
The difference today, Mencer noted, was that Jews now have the ability and the right to defend themselves.
He noted that there are still 24 living hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza, and that Israel remained determined to bring them back alive, while also remaining committed to the goal of eradicating Hamas.
Mencer also commented on the ongoing wildfires in central Israel, near Jerusalem: “The fires overnight have largely been brought under control, thank God, largely due to the determination of our firefighting teams.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
