Addressing the Israel Foreign Ministry's "Global Forum for Combating
Anti-Semitism" in Jerusalem on May 28, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
said:
"I commend all the delegates attending the Global Forum for
Combating Anti-Semitism.
There were two myths about antisemitism. The
first was that after the Holocaust anti-Semitism would disappear. And the
second was that with the creation of the Jewish state, antisemitism would
disappear. That didn't happen. Neither one of them. In fact, the anti-Semites
took a respite after the Holocaust, but that's all it was. It was a brief
intermission.
And what was unfashionable is now becoming fashionable
again. After the rise of Israel, what is fashionable today is to say, "Well, I
don't hate Jews, I just don't think they should have a state." Or, effectively,
that their state is an illegitimate one that doesn't have the right to
exist.
To further this attack on the Jewish state, three arguments are
put forward by the anti-Semites all the time, and they are false all the
time.
The first is that Israel is guilty of war crimes. We, who fight war
criminals with measured means, whose cities are attacked by terrorists who fire
from built-up areas and try to pinpoint the rocketeers - we are accused of war
crimes by the war criminals. That is one facet of the vilification that we
experience.
The second is that we are expansionists, we don't want peace,
we never agree to compromise. That's patently false. The State of Israel
repeatedly has offered concessions, has made concessions for peace that no
other people, no other state has made in history. I don't know of any other
case in which the victor made concessions in order to achieve peace, but we've
done it again and again.
We are prepared to compromise for peace - for a
genuine peace. This is our most reverent hope, to live in peace with our
neighbors. It is not reciprocated as much as we want, and recently it is not
reciprocated at all. We can only hope that it will change.
The third
argument is that we are violators of human rights. Did you hear that? Israel,
the one country in the vast expanse that recognizes the rights of everyone -
women, minorities, every individual - who have access to the best court system
in the world. Israel has a free press and a vibrant democracy, and Israel is
accused of violating human rights. This is when in our neighborhood hundreds of
people are killed daily, massacred daily in neighboring regimes.
These
three vilifications - that Israel is guilty of war crimes, that it doesn't want
peace, it wants to continue expansionist policies, and that we are guilty of
violating human rights - are part and parcel of the anti-Semitic campaign that
is leveled against the Jewish people and their state.
That's by way of
saying: You have a lot of tasks before you and I hope you're up to it. I'm sure
that you believe there is only one remedy for the slander, and that's the
truth. And I encourage you to fight and win the battle of truth.
Thank
you."
