Israel's Netanyahu: World must act against "new anti-Semitism"

Jan 26, 2011, 19:33 GMT

Jerusalem - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday demanded the world do more to fight anti-Semitism, a day before the international community was set to commemorate the Holocaust.

He also implied that anti-Israeli sentiment was a new form of anti-Semitism, highlighting in particular Iran's calls for the destruction of the Jewish state.

While the world knew about Nazi atrocities against the Jews during World War II, but failed to act, today it knew about calls for Israel's destruction by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and should act against them, he said.

'Will they act? Will they talk, but talk really? Will they attack? Will they condemn?' the premier asked a special session of the Knesset, Israel's parliament, held ahead of Thursday's international Holocaust Remembrance Day.

'I expect the world to learn the lesson and start to fight with words and actions against the new anti-Semitism,' he continued.

Israel's opposition leader, Tzipi Livni, chose to use the platform to voice more introspective criticism.

She apologized for the failure of consecutive Israeli governments to improve the economic and social conditions of aging Holocaust survivors, and for the tough welcome they at times received from native-born Israelis in the state's early years.

'Some of you also deserve our apology, for the past years during which you aged and the state of Israel failed to give you the envelope of security and welfare that would enable the life of dignity which we owe you,' she said.

'And sorry also for the first years. Here you met the 'Tzabar' (non-immigrant Israeli born in Israel) - the Israeli creation who due to the conditions of our lives and the struggle for survival was required to be strong and determined, but a little less sensitive.'

January 27 was declared an international day of commemoration of the victims of the Holocaust by a November 2005 UN General Assembly resolution, to keep alive the memory of six million Jews murdered during World War II in a bid to prevent future acts of genocide.

January 27, 1945 marks the day when an advancing Soviet army liberated the largest Nazi death camp, Auschwitz-Birkenau, in Poland.

The resolution rejects Holocaust denial and urges member states to develop educational programmes to teach future generations about it.

It also calls for actively preserving Holocaust sites, including Nazi death and forced labour camps.

Israel, under a 1951 law, marks it own annual national Holocaust Remembrance Day on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nizan, which falls in April or May.

It is marked seven days before Remembrance Day for Fallen Soldiers - killed in the wars that ensued Israel's creation - and eight days before Independence Day, to symbolize how the state of Israel rose from the ashes of the Holocaust.

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