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Jerusalem
20 April 2009
Israel observed Holocaust Remembrance Day on Monday.
Israeli officials, foreign dignitaries and Holocaust survivors gathered for a solemn ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial here in Jerusalem.
Six torches were lit in memory of the six million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II. One of the songs performed was from Psalm 22: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"
The Israeli observance took place only hours after Iran's President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has denied the Holocaust, spoke at the United Nations anti-racism conference in Geneva.
He described Israel as a cruel and racist regime that uses the Holocaust as a pretext for aggression against the Palestinians.
Israel fears that Iran is developing nuclear weapons to carry out Ahmadinejad's threat to wipe the Jewish state "off the map."
At the ceremony, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that will not happen.
"We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people," Mr. Netanyahu said. He added, "This is the supreme duty of the state of Israel and my supreme duty as prime minister."
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