This morning I was honored with an invitation from the Israeli Consulate (currently on strike along with the entire Israeli Foreign Ministry) with an invitation to hear Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu address about 200 people at the Museum of Tolerance.

I was instructed to arrive very early because of the necessary security precautions and had the opportunity to visit with many colleagues, friends and community leaders. I went into the auditorium along with the other visitors and patiently waited.

Rabbi Marvin Hier, Founder and Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center introduced PM Netanyahu. Unfortunately, Netanyahu’s address was very brief.

Mr. Netanyahu began his remarks describing a letter he saw, part of the museum’s collection, written in 1919 that called for the destruction of the Jews. He framed the historical framework outlining the deception and intent that were present simultaneously during the rise of the Nazi party in Europe.

From there PM Netanyahu spoke about Iran. He drew a direct parallel between the Nazi party and the current Iranian regime particularly highlighting the deceit and intent of the regime. Externally Iran is telling one story and internally they continue to talk about the liquidation of the Jewish state and act towards destruction including building weapons of mass destruction and sending weapons. PM Netanyahu shared the current news story about an Iranian ship heading from Iran to Sudan carrying sophisticated misles headed towards Gaza. Israeli forces caught the ship and it should be in Eilat in a few days. (Below is a map from The Israel Project that describes the route and the link in this sentence describes the news story in more depth).

PM Netanyahu’s remarks were extremely brief. I was disappointed he did not use the time to address ANY other topic including the peace process, the situation in the Ukraine, social justice issues in Israel, and the list goes on.

I was grateful to be included and be in the room.