PM Netanyahu's Remarks Following His and French President François
Hollande's Visit to Yad Vashem

(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara, today (Sunday, 17
November 2013), accompanied French President Francois Hollande and his
partner Valerie Trierweiler on their visit to Yad Vashem. At their later
press conference, Prime Minister Netanyahu told President Hollande:

"We just came back from Yad Vashem. I’m always moved when I’m there.

We understand exactly when somebody says that they’re out to destroy you, we’ve
learned in our Jewish history to take them seriously. And I think from
humanity’s point of view, there should be another lesson. When somebody
starts by attacking the Jews, they generally don’t end there, and the fire
soon catches and burns many lands.

Now in Yad Vashem, I was moved by the fact that you were so visibly moved,
and you said, when you came out, you said that the experience of the
Holocaust places a very special responsibility on all of us. François, I
want to tell you the burden it places on me, as the Prime Minister of
Israel. It is my duty to prevent anyone from credibly threatening or
executing another holocaust against the Jewish people. This is my
obligation, but I also believe it’s our common obligation for the sake of
mankind, for the sake of our common future."