PM Sharon's Speech at the Knesset Special Session Marking the Struggle
Against Anti-Semitism
Translation
26/01/2005
www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speech260105.htm

[IMRA: "However, it must always be remembered that this is the only place in
the world where we, the Jews, have the right and the capability to defend
ourselves, by ourselves. And we will never relinquish this."
Prime Minister Sharon the day that Vice Minister Peres explained that Israel
should rely on the Palestinians to protect Israel against weapons smuggling
via the Philadelphi Corridor.

As for the King quote, one hopes that Mr. Sharon's staff is more careful
drafting policy than drafting speeches. A three second long check in Google
would have found the following:

www.camera.org/index.asp?x_article=370&x_context=8
CAMERA's research indicates that the "Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend"
allegedly written by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is apparently a hoax,
although, the basic message of the letter was indeed, without question,
spoken by Martin Luther King, Jr. in a 1968 appearance at Harvard, where he
said: "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews, You are talking
anti-Semitism." [ from "The Socialism of Fools: The Left, the Jews and
Israel" by Seymour Martin Lipset; Encounter magazine, December 1969, p.
24. ]. ]

"For the second year, we mark the day commemorating the State of Israel's
struggle against anti-Semitism. We chose to mark this day of struggle
against anti-Semitism on the day of the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau
Death Camp that horrible symbol of the Holocaust.

The allies knew of the annihilation of the Jews. They knew and did nothing.
On April 19, 1943, the Bermuda Conference gathered, with the participation
of representatives from Britain and the United States in order to discuss
saving the Jews of Europe. In fact, the participants did everything in
their power to avoid dealing with the problem. All the suggestions for
rescue operations which the Jewish organizations presented were rejected.
They simply did not want to deal with it.

The Bermuda Conference was nothing more than a continuation of the shocking
story of the "Ship of the Damned" - the Saint Louis - which set sail from
Germany in 1939 with 1,000 Jews who succeeded in escaping from the Third
Reich on board. The passengers knocked on the doors of Cuba and ports in
the eastern United States, but were refused sanctuary and were forced to
return to the shores of Europe. Most of them were murdered in the death
camps.

The leadership of the British Mandate displayed the same obtuseness and
insensitivity by locking the gates to Israel to Jewish refugees who sought a
haven in the Land of Israel. Thus were rejected the requests of the 769
passengers of the ship "Struma" who escaped from Europe - and all but one
[of the passengers] found their death at sea.

Throughout the war, nothing was done to stop the annihilation [of the Jewish
people]. When, in the summer of 1944, the mass deportations in Hungary were
carried out, the allies did not bomb the train tracks which led to Auschwitz
from Hungary, nor the murder facilities in Birkenau, and this was despite
the fact that they had the ability to do so. Allied planes attacked targets
near Auschwitz, but they refused to bomb the camp itself, in which 10,000
Jews were murdered daily. Thus were 618,000 Jews annihilated in a number of
weeks - the Jews of Hungary.

Mr. Speaker, the sad and horrible conclusion is that no one cared that Jews
were being murdered.

"Do not put your trust in men in power" - said the poet of the Psalms - and,
indeed, during the most terrible critical hour, those in power, and the
declared friends did not lift a finger. This is the Jewish lesson of the
Holocaust - and this is the lesson which Auschwitz taught us, the enchained
people.

The State of Israel learned this lesson - and since its establishment, it
has done its utmost to defend itself and its citizens, and provide a safe
haven for any Jew, wherever he may be. We know that we can trust no one but
ourselves.

This phenomenon - of Jews defending themselves and fighting back - is an
anathema in the side of the new anti-Semites. Legitimate steps of
self-defense which Israel takes in its war against Palestinian terror -
actions which any sovereign state is obligated to undertake to ensure the
security of its citizens - are presented by those who hate Israel as
aggressive, Nazi-like steps.

Many of the manifestations of anti-Semitism in the past years are no longer
aimed only at Jews as individuals. Rather, they are aimed at the embodiment
of all Jews - the State of Israel, the Jewish state. As early as 1967, in
"A Letter to an Anti-Zionist Friend", Dr. Martin Luther King wrote that
anti-Zionism is no less than disguised anti-Semitism.

I quote: "The times have made it unpopular, in the West, to proclaim openly
a hatred of the Jews. This being the case, the antisemite must constantly
seek new forms and forums for his poison. He does not hate the Jews, he is
just 'anti-Zionist'! My friend. when people criticize Zionism, they mean
Jews - make no mistake about it."

These days, the generation which was witness to the horrors is disappearing,
and ignorance is increasing. Fewer people around the world have heard of
the Holocaust or are aware of what happened in Auschwitz, and the
manifestations of anti-Semitism are on the rise. 60 years after the
liberation of Auschwitz - the evil which gave rise to the horror still
exists - and still threatens us.

Israel stands with governments, as well as Jewish and international
organizations around the world which remember Auschwitz and are determined
to fight this evil uncompromisingly and relentlessly.

We will continue to act tirelessly in order to ensure that the memory of
Auschwitz and the lessons of the Holocaust will not be forgotten, so that
Auschwitz will never again return.

Israel is a very small country, blessed with talented and courageous people.
However, it must always be remembered that this is the only place in the
world where we, the Jews, have the right and the capability to defend
ourselves, by ourselves. And we will never relinquish this.

It is our historic responsibility. It is my personal historic
responsibility".