PM Ariel Sharon at the Holocaust remembrance ceremony: 'Never again will Jews be defenseless.'/haaretz/29/04

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Last Update: 29/04/2003 07:18
PM at Holocaust service: Jewish security through strength
By Haaretz Service

The murder of six million Jews has demonstrated that the Jewish people can only achieve security through strength, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Monday night at the official ceremony marking Holocaust Martyrs` and Heroes` Remembrance Day at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum in Jerusalem.

"We are peace seekers with all our might, but we have learned this: We will not achieve security and peace with weakness and soft-heartedness, but with strong-spiritedness and boldness and readiness to guard from every guard post what is valuable and essential to our future," Sharon said.

Sharon said that Israel's "legitimate struggle" with Palestinian terror has provided a pretext for anti-Semitism throughout the world.

The annual report by Tel Aviv University(IU(Bs Project for the Study of Anti-Semitism showed that the number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2002 increased by more than 30 percent compared to the previous year, Channel One television reported Monday. The most incidents occurred in France, Belgium and Britain.

Sharon said Israel is the only place in the world where Jews can defend themselves.

"Never again will Jews be defenseless... never again will we leave our security to others," said Sharon.

"The state of Israel is the only place in the world where the Jews have the right and the strength to defend themselves by themselves," he said. "This is the answer to anti-Semitism, and this is the guarantee that the memory of those who perished [in the Holocaust] will not be forgotten."

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PM Ariel Sharon at the Holocaust remembrance ceremony: 'Never again will Jews be defenseless.' (AP)