Activities in Israel came to a halt Tuesday as the wail of sirens pierced the air in remembrance of the six million Jews who perished in the Nazi Holocaust.
Cars stopped and people stood still during a two-minute silence across the Jewish state. Israeli leaders and Holocaust survivors later attended a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial.
Israel began its annual Holocaust remembrance after sundown Monday at the memorial. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed there to prevent those who deny the genocide from repeating it.
Mr. Netanyahu spoke hours after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked outrage at a United Nations conference by calling Jewish suffering "a pretext" for the creation of Israel.
Israeli President Shimon Peres called Mr. Ahmadinejad's remarks disgraceful.
Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom said Iran is trying to replicate Nazi Germany's treatment of the Jewish people. He spoke in Poland, where he attended ceremonies at the wartime site of the Nazi-run Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp.
Mr. Ahmandinejad was greeted warmly on his return to Tehran Tuesday, with well-wishers gathered at the airport to give him flowers.
Separately, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned those who deny or minimize the Holocaust - the killing of millions of Jews and others by Germany's Nazi government leading up to and during World War II.
