Palestinians Mark Holocaust Remembrance Day by...Launching Rockets into Israel

File photo from Getty Images

Even though Holocaust denial is rampant in the Arab world, Palestinians and their supporters marked Holocaust Remembrance Day which began Sunday night with rocket attacks and cyber-attacks.

First it was the “virtual” cyber-attack on Israeli websites – as TheBlaze reported on Sunday. Then came the rockets from terrorists in Gaza that were fired into southern Israel.

The Israeli Defense Forces Spokesperson’s office reported the rockets were launched 10 minutes after memorial ceremonies got underway nationwide to pay tribute to the six million Jews killed in the Nazi extermination campaign. The IDF posted video on YouTube (seen below) showing Israeli civilians attending one such ceremony – including children – fleeing for cover when the sirens wailed, warning of incoming projectiles.

So while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was making a speech warning about the present day dangers to the Jewish people, terrorists in Gaza appeared to be proving his point.

Three rockets were fired at the Jewish state, though two reportedly fell short and landed in Gaza. The rocket that made it over the border landed in an open field in Shaar Hanegev in southern Israel. No injuries were reported.

Precisely during the rocket attack, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was speaking at the main memorial ceremony at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. It was as if the Gaza terrorists were driving home a major point of his speech in which he emphasized modern-day anti-Semites continue to harbor the genocidal intentions that characterized the Nazis.

He compared quotes by Iran's leaders which are reminiscent of the Nazi language used to describe Jews decades ago.

Netanyahu quoted Iranian religious leaders saying, “the Zionists are microbes and bacteria, the Jews are polluted people that spread disease."

"That was not just said then, it is said today. They call us 'a cancerous growth which must be removed from the Middle East,'” he said. Netanyahu added that anti-Jewish hatred "has not disappeared, it has been switched with murderous hatred against the state of the Jews. What has changed is our ability to defend ourselves."

Despite international efforts to curb Iran’s nuclear program, Israel "cannot forfeit our security to other nations...not even to our closest allies,” Netanyahu said.

Israeli National News described the significance of Sunday’s rocket attacks this way: “Hamas terrorists, the modern heirs of Nazism, who declare openly their wish to commit genocide against the Jewish people, marked Holocaust Remembrance Day their way Sunday – with a salvo of rockets fired at Jewish civilians.”

No group has taken responsibility for the attack, but Hamas – which controls Gaza – committed to restraining rocket fire into Israel as part of a ceasefire negotiated in November.

Secretary of State John Kerry is in Israel to try to move forward peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Times of Israel speculates that his presence in Jerusalem “may have been a factor” in Israel’s decision “to respond in a nonmilitary manner.”

Just last week in response to several volleys of rockets fired at Israel, Israeli Air Force jets bombed open areas in Gaza, as a warning to terrorist groups.

In this video, Israelis are seen fleeing for cover shortly after a Holocaust memorial ceremony gets underway: