‘Iran planned a second Holocaust’ – Netanyahu

Israel pushed off an existential threat from Iran, Prime Minister Netanyahu says at Memorial Day ceremony, tells nation Iran war foiled ayatollahs plan to carry out a second Holocaust.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

Iran’s rules had planned “another Holocaust” but was foiled by the joint American-Israeli air campaign against the Islamic Republic, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared on Tuesday

Speaking at the state Memorial Day ceremony for fallen soldiers on Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, Netanyahu said the Iranian regime had sought to destroy Israel with nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, adding that the recent war with Iran pushed off the “existential threat.”

“The Ayatollah regime in Iran planned another Holocaust,” he said.

“It plotted to destroy us with nuclear bombs and thousands of ballistic missiles,” Netanyahu continued. “Had we not acted against the existential threat, had we not acted with determination and daring, the names of the death sites Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan might have joined the names of the death camps of the Holocaust: Auschwitz, Majdanek, Treblinka.”

Netanyahu said that outcome was prevented because Israel and the US struck first.

“But that did not happen because together with our great friend, the United States, we crushed the Iranian regime’s machinery of destruction in time,” he said. “We removed an immediate existential threat.”

The prime minister made the remarks while linking Israel’s current war to the broader history of Jewish persecution and the country’s past military campaigns.

“In every generation, they rise up against us to destroy us; in this generation as well,” he said.

Netanyahu described the current conflict as part of a broader struggle to defend Israel’s survival.

“In the War of Redemption, continuing Israel’s previous wars, the essence is clearer than ever: To defend our national existence,” he said. “To guard our home, our people, and our state.”

The speech came during Israel’s annual memorial observances for soldiers and victims of attacks, with Netanyahu mixing personal remembrance, national mourning and current wartime messaging.

Netanyahu spoke about the pain of bereaved families and his own brother, Yoni Netanyahu, who was killed during the 1976 Entebbe raid.

“Fifty years have passed since then, and there is not a day that I do not think of you, Yoni,” Netanyahu said. “I miss you dearly.”

At the same time, Netanyahu repeatedly framed the losses of Israeli soldiers in the current war as part of a larger national mission.

“From the abyss of October 7th, we burst forth, guided by the essence, to return the war to the gates of those who seek our lives, on seven fronts,” he said.

He also highlighted fallen soldiers from different sectors of Israeli society, including Jewish and Druze troops, saying the war effort was shared across communities.

“Jews and Druze, shoulder to shoulder, on a mission of unparalleled importance,” he said, adding that the mission was also shared by “our Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, and Circassian brothers.”

Netanyahu ended by praising Israel’s wounded soldiers and bereaved families, and by vowing that the sacrifices made in war would not be forgotten.

“May the memory of the fallen of Israel’s wars be blessed and kept in our hearts forever,” he said.

Benjamin NetanyahuIranIran war