Notwithstanding the profound existential challenges facing the Jewish state and the free world and a seeming lack of will on the part of most Western nations to combat these threats, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu concluded his address at the “Israel Towards 2020 Conference” at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan University with hope and determination.
“I believe in the power of the people of Israel and I believe in the power of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu declared, noting the country’s “wondrous” achievements in all fields since its establishment.
While voicing hope that peace and prosperity will come to the entire region, he warned his audience against taking Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s friendly words at face value and urged them to examine the facts behind the Israeli-Arab conflict.
“Iran’s goal is to take over the entire Middle East and beyond, and to destroy the State of Israel. This is not speculation; this is their goal,” the Israeli leader stated.
Why does Rouhani “insist on centrifuges to enrich uranium and on plutonium reactors? Neither of these things is necessary to produce peaceful nuclear energy.
There is no need for them; however they are the essential components for producing fissile material for nuclear weapons…. Seventeen countries, including some of the leading countries in the world…produce nuclear energy without centrifuges, without plutonium reactors….
“As long as Iran does not dismantle its centrifuges and plutonium reactors, the sanctions must not be eased at all,” the Israeli leader asserted. “On the contrary, they should be increased…. If their intentions are peaceful, they will agree. If they are not peaceful, they will not agree. But perhaps the formula should be put simply as follows: they dismantle, they receive; they don’t dismantle, they don’t receive.”
The second issue Netanyahu presented was the false notion that the so-called “occupation” of territories of Judea and Samaria is the main obstacle to peace between Israel and the Palestinians. He pointed to terrorist attacks against the Jewish population decades before the establishment of the State of Israel, including massacres in areas such as Tel Aviv.
“There were no settlements for 46 years, from 1921 to 1967, nearly half a century,” he said. “We were excoriated by the Arab public unrelated to settlements, unrelated to what is presented as the historic heart of the struggle.”
Netanyahu presented historical evidence of the “readiness to cooperate with Germany in any way” on the part of Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, the “undisputed leader of the Palestinian national movement in the first half of the 20th century.”
Al-Husseini, Netanyahu said, “was the living spirit” behind attacks against Jews from 1921 throughout the Second World War; according to historical records, he recruited Muslim fighters to join the ranks of the S.S. in the Balkans and broadcasted propaganda for the Nazis.
“I mention these things here because these roots, this poisonous tumor, must be uprooted,” Netanyahu stated. “The Mufti is still an admired figure in the Palestinian national movement. Go look at websites, go to schools; look at schoolbooks. This…is the root of the conflict….
“In order for the current process to be significant, in order for it to have a real chance for success, it is essential that we finally hear from the Palestinian leadership that it recognizes the right of the Jewish people to its own country, the State of Israel…..in the land of their ancestors.”
Author: Atara Beck, staff writer for United with Israel
Date: Oct 8, 2013
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