Cabinet Communiqué
(Communicated by the Cabinet Communiqué)

At the weekly Cabinet meeting today (Sunday, 27 January 2013):

1. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made the following remarks:

"Today, we mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Anti-Semitism+and+the+Holocaust/Documents+and+communiques/International_Holocaust_Remembrance_Day_2013.htm
. I welcome Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and the
Chairman of the Yad Vashem Board of Directors, Avner Shalev. This day was
established at the initiative, and as a result, of systematic action by
Silvan Shalom, who was then Foreign Minister, and I welcome the work of
Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, who has
struggled for the commemoration of the Holocaust, and who has struggled
against the new anti-Semitism that is flooding the world. Anti-Semitism has
not disappeared and – to our regret – neither has the desire to destroy a
considerable part of the Jewish People and the State of Israel. They exist
and they are strong. Holocaust-denial is being spread by one of the world's
major countries, not by a group or by individual countries or by marginal
elements, but by Iran which, today, from the UN or any other platform, is
the leader of Holocaust-denial while preparing for what they deem to be
another Holocaust – the destruction of the state of the Jews. They are not
halting their relentless and systematic race to achieve a nuclear weapons
capability in order to realize this intention. We do not make light of these
threats and we will prevent them. This is our primary mission as a
government and as a people.

In the perspective of the almost 75 years that have passed since the
Holocaust, what has not changed is the desire to annihilate the Jews. What
has changed is the ability of the Jews to defend themselves. This ability
finds expression in the state, the military, and the security services and
in our willingness to act against those who come to destroy us. This ability
is the difference between what was then and what there is today. Nobody will
defend the Jews if they are not ready to defend themselves; this is another
lesson of the Holocaust. It is impossible to rely on separate and
independent action to defend the Jews if the Jews will not defend
themselves.

Therefore, the root of the issue today, International Holocaust Remembrance
Day, is not what happened, but how we can prevent it from happening again
and this depends on the ability and the determination of the state of the
Jews to defend itself against those who would destroy it. To this end, we
must look around us, at what is happening in Iran and its proxies and at
what is happening in other areas, with the deadly weapons in Syria, which is
increasingly coming apart. The Middle East is not waiting on the results of
the elections and it will not stop during the formation of the government.
There are many threats here, among the more difficult that I have pointed
out and others, and the reality is developing apace. In the east, north and
south, everything is in ferment and we must be prepared. Strong and
determined in the face of all possible developments. To this end, I would
like to form the broadest and most stable government as possible in order –
first of all – to meet the significant security threats that face the State
of Israel, and I am convinced of our ability to deal with these threats."

2. The Cabinet marked International Holocaust Remembrance Day and Struggle
against Anti-Semitism Day.

Public Diplomacy and Diaspora Affairs Minister Yuli Edelstein, Vice Premier
Silvan Shalom, Yad Vashem Council Chairman Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, Jewish
Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, Yad Vashem Board of Directors Chairman
Avner Shalev, a Mossad representative, Tel Aviv University Prof. Dina Porat
and education Ministry Director-General Dalit Stauber addressed the Cabinet
on the following points:

* The upsurge in acts of anti-Semitism around the world, including acts of
violence toward Jews;

* Actions being taken to instill the memory of the Holocaust and the
resistance among young people and various population groups around the
world.

3. The Cabinet approved revised procedures regarding a change of
director-general in government ministries. Please click here
http://www.pmo.gov.il/MediaCenter/SecretaryAnnouncements/Pages/govmes270113.aspx
for further details.

4. The Cabinet discussed assistance in rebuilding homes that were damaged in
the recent floods
http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Events/Pages/eventMankal100113.aspx
and – inter alia – instructed the Finance Ministry Budget Director to
locate – within 21 days – budgetary resources worth NIS 8 million, to this
end. Please click here
http://www.pmo.gov.il/MediaCenter/SecretaryAnnouncements/Pages/govmes270113.aspx
for further details.

5. The Cabinet ratified a space research cooperation agreement with the
Republic of Kazakhstan.

6. Pursuant to its 11 September 2011 decision
http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Communiques/2011/Cabinet_approves_plan_Bedouins_Negev_11-Sep-2011
, the Cabinet approved Minister Benny Begin's recommendations on formalizing
the status of Bedouin settlement in the Negev
http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Spokesman/Pages/spokebedu270113.aspx