Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at Auschwitz, June 13, 2013. Photo: Israel GPO.

The world stood by as millions of Jews were being slaughtered, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday, vowing that Israel would “do whatever is necessary to prevent another holocaust.”

Speaking at the Auschwitz death camp during the opening of a new pavilion, Netanyahu said:

“The leaders of the Allies knew about the Holocaust in real time. They understood exactly what was happening in the death camps. They were asked to act, they could have acted, and they did not. To we Jews the lesson is clear. We must not be complacent in the face of threats of annihilation. We must not bury our heads in the sand or allow others to do the work for us. From here, the place that attests to the desire to destroy us, I, the Prime Minister of Israel, the state of the Jewish People, say to all the nations of the world: The State of Israel will do whatever is necessary to prevent another holocaust.”

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Netanyahu  said that the intentions of the Iranians are just as murderous as the Nazis.

“This is a regime that is building nuclear weapons with the expressed purpose to annihilate Israel’s 6 million Jews,” Netanyahu said. “We will not allow this to happen. We will never allow another Holocaust.”

Netanyahu also responded to critics who question the comparison between Iran and the Nazis.

“The comparison is intentional. Does Iran want to destroy the state of Israel, first and foremost its Jews? The answer is yes,” he said in response to a question from The Associated Press. “Here is where the comparison diverges, since there was no State of Israel back then that could defend itself. The difference is not in the hatred of Jews and the will to destroy them. This is something that is pretty consistent in history and even modern history. The Holocaust didn’t change this situation.”