World remembers Holocaust, but ignores Iran as it follows in Nazis’ footsteps, warns Israeli diplomat

In his first major speech, Gilad Erdan – Israel’s new ambassador to both the U.S. and to the United Nations – addressed the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday and asked why the world is not making the threat from the Iranian regime its highest priority.

It is time, he said, for “an institution charged with safeguarding peace and security to begin addressing the gravest danger in the Middle East: the regime in Tehran.”

“Tomorrow, here at the UN and around the world, we will mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day and mourn the unfathomable murder of 6 million Jews,” Erdan explained. “Seventy-six years after the liberation of Auschwitz, there is another genocidal regime epitomizing the very words and actions of the Nazis.”

“Iran does not try to hide its intention of destroying the world’s only Jewish state. Spreading anti-Semitism, denying the Holocaust, and even proposing legislation calling for Israel’s destruction by the year 2041,” Erdan noted.

“How is it possible that the Iranian Parliament proposing to annihilate a member state is not at the top of this council's agenda?”

“There is no bigger threat to peace and security around the world” than Iran, Erdan argued. “The regime doesn’t stop at threatening Israel. It has spent time since signing the JCPOA developing its nuclear capabilities and deepening its knowledge in a way that makes clear it has not abandoned its intention of becoming a nuclear power.”

In his new role, Erdan has simultaneously replaced Ron Dermer, Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., and Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN.

Both men have returned to Israel from the U.S.

Political analysts are speculating as to whether Dermer, Danon, or both, will enter politics, possibly running on the Likud Party slate of candidates in the March 23 elections.

Erdan specifically warned the international community not to ignore Iran’s incessant cheating of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but to take decisive action against Tehran’s violations.

He also urged the U.S. not to re-enter the Iran nuclear deal and thereby ease or eliminate the economic sanctions that are squeezing Tehran.

Time has proven that the regime’s intentions were never to truly abide by the deal.

“What we all know today about Iran is not what the international community knew when it signed the nuclear deal with Iran,” Erdan said. “Now we know, contrary to the signatories premise, Iran did not use the removal of sanctions to improve the lives of its citizens but doubled down instead on its malign activities. Rather than using the dividends of the nuclear agreement to build schools and hospitals, it built an arsenal of missiles. Rather than using its resources to fight COVID-19, it wasted them on funding terrorist proxies and undermining peace and security. Iran deceived the world when it signed the agreement and it continues to deceive the world today.”

“Returning to the JCPOA and giving up that leverage, even if intended to lay the groundwork for a future agreement, would be a mistake. Once sanctions are lifted and Iran’s economy begins to improve, it will have no reason to negotiate. Once back in the JCPOA, all Iran has to do is wait for the restrictions to expire automatically in less than a decade.”

That said, Erdan thanked President Joe Biden and his team for vowing to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear capabilities.

He said Israel will work with the U.S. to achieve that goal.

To read the full text of the speech, please click here.