PM Netanyahu message to Global Forum for Combating Antisemitism
28 May 2013

Video link:
http://youtu.be/QgCLQatvW9g

I commend all the delegates attending the Global Forum for Combating
Antisemitism.

There were two myths about antisemitism. The first was that after the
Holocaust antisemitism 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 antisemites 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 antisemites 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
antisemitic 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.