Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Holocaust Martyrs\u2019 and Heroes\u2019 Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) wreath-laying ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, April 14, 2026. (Photo by Maayan Toaf\/GPO)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Had the Israeli and U.S. militaries failed to act, \u201cthe names Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Parchin might have been remembered eternally in infamy, just like Auschwitz, Treblinka, Majdanek and Sobibor,\u201d the prime minister said in Hebrew remarks aired during the state ceremony for Holocaust Martyrs\u2019 and Heroes\u2019 Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah), which was held via a prerecorded broadcast due to the tenuous ceasefire with Tehran.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Holocaust, the poet Uri Zvi Greenberg wrote: \u2018We were an extinct people like a wild beast in a hunt.\u2019 In contrast, today, our people fight back against our oppressors. During the Holocaust, we were an abused animal crying in agony. Today, however, we have a state which is stronger than ever, which roars with power,\u201d declared Netanyahu.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe regime of the ayatollahs sought to develop nuclear bombs and manufacture tens of thousands of lethal ballistic missiles intended to annihilate us. It funded and armed its terror proxies, which sought to suffocate us in a ring of fire. At the same time, it spread a fanatical ideology across every continent, defining the West as an existential threat. They thought they could do this unhindered, but no more,\u201d the premier continued.<\/p>\n
The Israel Defense Forces has been \u201csystematically crushing the Iranian axis of evil\u201d across the Middle East to ensure that future generations will not look back and \u201cask what if, with a sense of missed opportunity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
While the establishment of the State of Israel \u201cdid not end the aggression against us, nor the antisemitism that is surging once again everywhere,\u201d according to Netanyahu, \u201cunlike the past, whoever seeks to destroy us now, brings upon themselves destruction on a scale they never could imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn this Yom Hashoah, let us remember that the State of Israel is at the peak of its power. Who could have imagined eighty years ago that our daring air force pilots and American military pilots would defend the Middle East, wing to wing? Defending Israel, the United States, and something else: we are defending Europe,\u201d stated the prime minister.<\/p>\n
Accusing European nations of having \u201cforgotten so much since the Holocaust,\u201d as well as of \u201cmoral weakness,\u201d Netanyahu said they \u201ccan learn many things from us, primarily: the sharp distinction between good and evil, which, in the moment of truth, requires us to go to war for the sake of good, for the sake of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cDear Holocaust survivors, citizens of Israel, no other nation could have accomplished what we have done: to bring about this immense transformation, from Holocaust to rebirth, a rebirth rich in achievements that amaze the family of nations,\u201d he said, vowing that \u201cthe flourishing State of Israel will continue to serve as a beacon of liberty, progress and prosperity.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAm Yisrael Chai<\/i>! [The People of Israel live],\u201d Netanyahu concluded his address.<\/p>\n
Established in 1951, Yom Hashoah<\/a><\/span> is observed annually on the 27th of the Hebrew month of Nissan. The theme of this year\u2019s state ceremony, \u201cThe Jewish Family During the Holocaust,\u201d highlighted the family as a source of identity, strength and human connection even in the face of unimaginable loss. In ghettos, concentration camps and hiding places, families preserved dignity and hope under the harshest conditions. Many survivors went on to rebuild their lives in the Jewish state.<\/p>\nIsrael is home to some 111,000 survivors<\/a><\/span> and victims of antisemitic persecution, according to government estimates released ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day 2026<\/a><\/span>. Women make up about 63% of survivors, most of whom are in their 80s and 90s.<\/p>\nIsrael will come to a standstill on Tuesday morning, when a two-minute siren will sound nationwide at 10 a.m. in honor of Yom Hashoah. The siren tradition began in the 1960s and has become one of the nation\u2019s most solemn national rituals, with public ceremonies, educational programs and survivor testimonies set to take place throughout the day.<\/p>\n
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