Netanyahu Issues Call to World From Jerusalem Conference – reported by Hillel Fendel (IsraelNN.com)
Binyamin Netanyahu, speaking at the 4th Annual Jerusalem Conference Monday morning, repeated his call for the world to prove that now is not like the 1930s and that the world knows how to respond this time.
“Historic tragedies occur when leaders do not foresee dangers – and the opposite is true: Great things happened when leaders foresaw and took advantage of opportunities,†the former Prime Minister and present head of the Knesset opposition said. “Today we have both. The great threat of the spread of militant Islam around the world, and the opportunity of globalization, which can bring a great blessing to mankind and especially to small countries like us – if we are smart enough to take advantage of this opportunity.
“First, the dangers: For years, I have been warning about the dangers of Islam. Ten years ago, after I was elected PM and I went to speak before both houses of Congress. I recently looked up my speech and I saw that I said the same things – the dangers of Iran arming with nuclear power and its becoming a menace to humanity. I can’t say I was successful in convincing many people: I tried to convince Clinton and Yeltsin and the President of China, but they just didn’t see the dangers.
“A few months ago, I said that it is now 1938 and Iran is Germany. I was told that things are different now, and that the world now has a different approach. So I say: ‘Great, if it’s different, let’s see how it’s different!’ The difference is not that then it was a ‘race superiority’ issue and now it’s a ‘religious superiority’ issue – that’s not the point. The only difference is that Hitler first tried to conquer the world and only afterwards was going to try for atomic power, while now, Ahmadinajad is trying first for nuclear power and only then will he try to conquer the world! That’s the whole difference! This is a tidal wave that threatens to engulf first Israel, and then the rest of the world. They are talking openly about a new Reich – except that they call it a Khalifate; that’s what they want to establish in the world. But for this to happen, they need a cataclysmic event to bring it on – and they are working on that.
“The question is what have we learned from 1939? If, as everyone says, we didn’t act in time to stop Hitler – so let’s see if they act in time now! The way to do this is first by exerting economic pressure on Iran, to which it is very vulnerable. They have 20% unemployment, and we can take advantage of this in order to cause a destabilization of the government. Of course, we must also enact sanctions against the 400 companies that do business with Iran, among them some very big ones such as the French oil company Total. We need a world coalition against genocide! This is what I tell the world: If we’re not in the 30s now, then let’s prove it! Sanctions against Iran are a good idea for a few months or a year – let’s see if they work – but not longer than that! Iran must not be allowed to obtain nuclear power!
“There is a simple principle that governs negotiations with our neighbors, as we have learned ever since 1993 [the signing of the Oslo Accords –ed.]. We thought that we had to demand Arab acceptance and an erasure of their desire to destroy us. Yet then came the actual talks, and we found ourselves making concessions – including some very painful ones – and all without receiving our basic demand of an erasure of their intention to destroy us. They have not abandoned this plan! So what we have learned is that this cannot be part of the negotiations; it must be made clear that this cannot be negotiated – whether in the form of our very existence, or in the form of a demand for the “right of return” and the deluge of millions of Arabs, which can destroy us in the same way! If they don’t understand that at the outset, they cannot be our partners for negotiations! It’s very nice that our government is happy that the Mecca Agreement doesn’t demand the right of return right now at – what time is it? 11:05? – right now. But what about a bit later on?
“I also mentioned that this is a time for great opportunities. The fact is that in the coming decades, we are going to need to defend ourselves – we are a small country – in many ways, on land, air, and by sea. Where will all the money for this come from? No one is going to give it to us. It can come, however, from our own ingenuity, with which we are blessed in abundance. The decades-long argument over whether socialism-communism or capitalism is better has been decided – communism has been shown to be a total failure. It had great education, but people lived in abject poverty, and the societal gaps grew larger and larger as the ruling classes took all the wealth for themselves. The walls finally fell, and here, too, they will fall. We are coming around to realize this. Why is it that countries that were way behind us economically are now ahead of us – countries such as Spain, Ireland, and Singapore? Because they did three things: they reduced the public sector, and expanded the private sector – cutting taxes which then brought to more production and more taxes – and allowed competition. We have to do the same. We can’t have one phone company, or to sell it off to one owner who will continue to run it as a monopoly, but rather have competition. There was fear that Bezeq would lose jobs, but in the end, many thousand more jobs were created in the competing companies, and those who lost jobs with Bezeq received jobs there as well! At the same time, this gives us many more markets, and more competition for jobs, thus raising wages – and then we have from where to give elderly benefits, and school lunches, and the like. We added 270,000 more jobs – that’s not social welfare?! We gave 150,000 school lunches – that’s not social welfare?
Netanyahu ended his address on a resounding optimistic note: “In short, with G-d’s help, and with the help of our realization that we are struggling for an ancient cause of the renewal of the Jewish People on our land in our renewed country, we will prevail.”
