Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara on Thursday met with the Holocaust survivors who will serve as the torchlighters at the opening ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem.
During the meeting, which was held at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem,Netanyahu promised the torchlighters that if need be, Israel will stand alone to defend itself.
"Izi (Itzhak Kabilio, one of the survivors) said here: 'The State of Israel is the one and only sanctuary of the Jewish people,'" Netanyahu said. "This is so correct, and Michael (Michel Bar-On, one of the survivors) said: 'We cannot rely on the nations of the world who make promises.'"
"If it is possible to receive the assistance of the nations of the world, I am always for it. However, in the greatest Holocaust, great leaders like Roosevelt, who was told what was happening at Auschwitz and Birkenau and in the [other] death camps, they told him and he knew, his answer was that he would not lose a single pilot and refused to accept the Jews. They were great leaders. Churchill, who I greatly admire, tried to recruit his army but his army rebelled against him."
"If we need to stand alone – we will stand alone," Netanyahu promised. "If it is possible to recruit the nations of the world, how much the better. But if we do not defend ourselves – nobody will defend us."
"The strength at our disposal is the strength that I have heard here, we have no other."