Netanyahu at Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem
Netanyahu at Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad VashemYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on Sunday spoke at the Yom Hashoah ceremony in Yad Vashem, vowing not to remain silent against those who call for the destruction of Israel.

At the start of his speech, Netanyahu mentioned a new book which revealed that the United States, Britain and the Soviet bloc were aware of the murder of at least two million Jews by the Nazis at the end of 1942, and not two years later as originally believed.

“The world powers knew and didn't take action. They could have saved four million Jews,” he said.

"The anti-Semitism of radical Islam, Iran and the Islamic State wants to destroy us. The hatred for Jews is now being directed towards the Jewish state. As for the indifference of the world, has anything changed in that regard? The answer is no. There are many instances in which the world stands by and fails to prevent genocide,” said Netanyahu.

"Since World War II, there has been no tragedy like the Holocaust, but in many cases the world stands by and does not prevent genocide. In Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan and Syria,” he added. “At the same time, there are several points of light within the darkness. One of them just recently occurred and that is [U.S. President Donald] Trump's decisive response to the massacre of Syrian children using chemical weapons.”

"Those who threaten to destroy us risk being destroyed themselves," Netanyahu then warned.

"From being defenseless people, we have become a state with a defensive capacity that is among the strongest in the world," he added.