Israel: Sirens wail in memory of Holocaust

Cars came to a halt and people froze in their tracks, many with heads bowed, in memory of the victims. An official wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, was to follow. In deference to the solemnity of the day, restaurants, bars and places of entertainment were closed.

Israeli leaders Monday vowed that there would not be a second Holocaust, their pledges ringing in the shadow of a U.N. conference against racism in Geneva perceived as anti-Semitic.

At the opening ceremony for the memorial day on Monday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the president of Switzerland for meeting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ahead of the conference. The Iranian leader has suggested that the Holocaust never happened and has repeatedly called for Israel's annihilation.

Speaking at the U.N.-sponsored racism conference on Monday, Ahmadinejad accused the West of using the Holocaust as a "pretext" for aggression against Palestinians.