Israeli PM accuses world of doing 'nothing' over Iran

"Like the 1930s in Germany, the international community hears voices today calling for the destruction of Israel and does nothing," he said Friday during a speech at the country's Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem.

"For the first time, the leader of a great nation (Iran) declares that its objective is the destruction of the State of Israel, which does not stop this nation from remaining a legitimate partner in the UN," he added.

Israel views the Islamic republic as its chief enemy, alarmed by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's call for the Jewish state to be wiped off the map and his dismissal of the Nazi Holocaust as a myth.

Olmert charged that Iran was not happy with words alone, "but is deploying huge efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction".

He was speaking at a ceremony organised by Yad Vashem to honour US billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who donated 25 million dollars in what was the largest single private donation in the memorial's history.

Israel and the United States have spearheaded international claims that Iranian nuclear activities are a cover for an atomic weapons programme although Tehran insists it wants only to generate energy.

Israel is widely believed to be the only country in the Middle East to have a nuclear arsenal, estimated at 200 warheads, although it has never formally confirmed or denied it holds such weapons.

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