Netanyahu and Obama at the White House
Netanyahu and Obama at the White HouseAvi Ohayon/Flash 90

In remarks recorded for a ceremony honoring four Righteous Among The Nations at the Israeli embassy in Washington, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stressed the importance of a Jewish state. 

Coinciding with International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the event posthumously honored two American and two Polish citizens who saved Jews from the hands of the Nazis.

"Today marks the 71st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz," the Prime Minister began. "Today, we remember the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust. We remember the one-and-a-half million Jewish children who never had a chance to grow up." 

"Today is also a day when we can be especially grateful for the establishment of the State of Israel," Netanyahu emphasized. 

"The Jewish people were once powerless and stateless," he explained. "Now we are again a sovereign, independent nation with the capacity to defend ourselves. But as we defend ourselves, we know that we do not stand alone." 

"While Israel counts other nations as friends, we know we have no better friend than the United States of America," the Prime Minister asserted, before thanking, on behalf of the Israeli people, US President Barack Obama for attending the ceremony. 

"I thank you for your commitment to continue to work with us to bolster Israel's security over the coming decade," he added. "Your being here reflects the unbreakable bond of friendship between America and the Jewish state." 

Obama on Wednesday became the first American president to speak at the embassy of a foreign country when he visited the Israeli embassy and spoke at the ceremony - the first ever of its kind in the United States. 

In his remarks, Obama noted anti-Semitism is once again rearing its ugly head and said that everything must be done to prevent it.

“As we honor the newest of the Righteous Among the Nations, we make real the call to never forget. Our children must know this chapter of history, and that we must never repeat it,” he said. 

Netanyahu too, expressed gratitude to Walery and Maryla Zibjewski, Louis Gunden and Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds.

"We are forever indebted to them because of the Jewish children and the Jewish soldiers who were saved thanks to their bravery," he concluded. "Their courage was a special courage. They not only risked their own lives, but the lives of their families and the life of their soldiers. There is no greater courage."