“We, all of us, are obligated to make sure that such terrible events [i.e. the Holocaust] will never happen again.”

[US army chief Michael Mullen, speech at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, 15 February 2010] [1]


“We would operate all our forces for Israel. […] The option to attack Iran is still on the table, but we’re not there yet.”

[US army chief Michael Mullen, joint press conference with the Israeli army chief Gabi Ashkenazi, Tel Aviv, 14 February 2010] [2]

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from the archives:


“Our soul screams out: ‘This [i.e. the Holocaust] can’t be correct, this must not be real.’ But then, defeated, it screams out ‘Never Again.’ ”

[Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, comments in the visitors’ book, Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, 1 February 2010] [3]


“Never again ignore blood-thirsty dictators, hiding behind demagogical masks, who utter murderous slogans. The threats to annihilate a people and a nation are voiced in the shadow of weapons of mass-destruction [...]”

[Israeli President Shimon Peres, speech on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Germany’s Parliament Bundestag, Berlin, 27 January 2010] [4]


“We cannot allow this to be repeated. We, means the whole civilized world. We cannot allow those who wish to perpetrate mass death, those who call for the destruction of the Jewish people or the Jewish state, to go unchallenged. […] [T]he most important thing to do is to nip it at the bud.”

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speech at the Axel Springer publishing house, Berlin, 27 August 2009] [5]


“The Holocaust is […] an eternal responsibility of our country, and part of a basic tenet of our policy […] is to defend Israel always, […] and that is why we feel so responsible now also as regards Iran.”

[Germany’s Prime Minister Angela Merkel, joint press conference with the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, Berlin, 27 August 2009] [6]


“There are clocks ticking all around. One of those clocks is the uranium enrichment clock, which will show that by a certain date the Iranians will have sufficient, highly enriched uranium materials to create a bomb that could literally wipe Israel off the map in a matter of seconds.”

[Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren, Aspen Ideas Festival, Colorado, 3 July 2009] [7]


“When you see the gas chambers, the concentration camps, […] it makes you absolutely determined that we should not ever allow this to happen again.”

[UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, interview at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, 28 April 2009] [8]


“How do we ensure that ‘never again’ isn’t an empty slogan, or merely an aspiration, but also a call to action?”

[US President Barack Obama, Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, United States Capitol, Washington D.C., 23 April 2009] [9]


“France will always stand shoulder to shoulder with Israel when her security and existence are threatened. […] And those who call scandalously for Israel’s destruction will always find France in their way, blocking the path.”

[France’s President Nicholas Sarkozy, speech at the Israeli Parliament Knesset, Jerusalem, 23 June 2008] [10]

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notes:


[1] Admiral Mullen Visits Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum

Israel Defense Forces website, 15 February 2010

 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/02/1503.htm


[2] U.S Army Chief: “Iran attack option on the table”

Israel Defense Forces website, 14 February 2010

 http://dover.idf.il/IDF/English/News/today/10/02/1403.htm


[3] Visit of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem (Holocaust Museum) website, 1 February 2010

 http://www1.yadvashem.org/yv/en/about/events/2010/berlusconi.asp


[4] Address by President Peres at the German Bundestag

Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, 27 January 2010

 http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2010/Address_President_Peres_German_Bundestag_27-Jan-2010.htm


[5] PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at Axel Springer, Berlin, Germany

(Israeli) Prime Minister’s Office website, 27 August 2009

 http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechspringer270809.htm


[6] Joint Press Conference of PM Netanyahu and Chancellor of Germany, Angela Merkel in Berlin

(Israeli) Prime Minister’s Office website, 27 August 2009

 http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechangela270809.htm


[7] Israel US ambassador warns of Iranian bomb

by Yitzak Benhorin, Ynetnews, 3 July 2009

 http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3740959,00.html


[8] PM’s words at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp
Number 10 (UK Prime Minister’s Office) website, 29 April 2009

 http://www.number10.gov.uk/Page19172


[9] Remarks by the President at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony

The White House website, 23 April 2009

 http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-the-Holocaust-Days-of-Remembrance-Ceremony/


[10] Speech by M. Nicolas Sarkozy, President of the Republic, to the Knesset

Embassy of France in Washington website, 23 June 2008

 http://fr.ambafrance-us.org/spip.php?article1027

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