Netanyahu to bring up Iran to leaders in town for Holocaust Forum

Iran’s nuclear ambitions will be on the agenda for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meetings with world leaders visiting Jerusalem this week for the Fifth World Holocaust Forum, he said at the opening of Sunday’s cabinet meeting.

Netanyahu is expected to meet with US Vice President Mike Pence, Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron, among others, who will be in Jerusalem along with 43 other leaders to attend the event at Yad Vashem marking 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz and calling to fight antisemitism today.

“I will discuss Iran, the various developments in the region and strengthening ties between the countries,” the prime minister said.

Netanyahu’s comments come as France, Germany and the UK have triggered the dispute mechanism in the 2015 nuclear deal between Teheran and world powers, after Iran began enriching uranium again last year.

A French diplomatic source said that Netanyahu and Macron have a good interpersonal relationship and respect each other’s stances on Iran, though they differ. France seeks to get Iran back to the negotiating table, as opposed to the American strategy of increasing sanctions.

Netanyahu also spoke of how far the Jewish people have come since the Holocaust.

“We came out of the pits of death, established our state, brought it to the greatest decade in its history, and we are marching it towards additional unprecedented achievements,” Netanyahu said, “but along this whole long journey, we will never forget our brothers and sisters who were killed in the Holocaust. We will ensure the eternity of Israel in their name and memory.”

Netanyahu mentioned that he and Putin will dedicate a new monument in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park commemorating the Red Army fighters of World War II and the siege of Leningrad, now called Saint Petersburg.

Approximately 70,000 Jewish fighters in the Red Army lost their lives in World War II.

However, the Russian Embassy to Israel would confirm only that Putin is attending the event at Yad Vashem on Thursday.

Putin may cut his trip to one day, shorter than originally planned, because of shakeups at home. His entire government resigned last week to facilitate major constitutional changes Putin proposed, which would allow himself to stay in power past the end of his fourth term in office in 2024.

The Russian President is considering announcing during his visit that he will pardon Naama Issachar, the Israeli-American 26-year-old sentenced to over seven years in prison in Russia for allegedly possessing 9.5 grams of cannabis in her luggage while on a stopover in Moscow on her way from India to Israel.

Netanyahu expressed hope in the cabinet meeting that he will “hear good news soon” from Putin about Issachar.

Macron plans to arrive in Israel on Tuesday night and stay until Thursday afternoon. While here, he plans to visit the Memorial to the Deportation of Jews from France near Bet Shemesh. The memorial is in a forest in the Elah Valley, which has 80,000 trees in memory of the 80,000 Jews deported from France in the Holocaust.

In addition, the French President will meet with about 500 French-Israelis in an event organized by the CRIF, the umbrella organization of French Jewish organizations.

Macron also has meetings with President Reuven Rivlin and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas scheduled for his visit.

French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner, who will be party of Macron’s delegation to Israel, plans to visit the graves of nine victims of terrorist attacks in Paris who are buried in the Givat Shaul cemetery in Jerusalem.