Joe Biden's Political Aphasia Finally Presents Itself
A Palestinian Unwrapped a US Aid Package. It Didn't Go Well.
Netanyahu to Biden: I'm Taking Rafah, Destroying Hamas, And You Can’t Do Anything...
Nation’s Largest Corporate Mega-Stores Lobbying for Billions, Small Businesses & Consumers...
A Truth and Reality ‘Bloodbath’
CAIR Says Biden Will Lose, 'Allah Willing'
Israel As 'A Pariah' Among the Nations
Trump Romps Among Battleground Catholics
Biden's Speech Was Not the Win the Political Class Thought It Was
The Smell of Mendacity
'Bloodbath' and Pure Evil
Pathway to Victory
The Cautionary Legal Tale of Roundup
FDNY Won't Investigate Those Who Booed Letitia James, But Don't Expect Love for...
Joe Biden Is Back to Pretending His Granddaughter Doesn't Exist
OPINION

Netanyahu at the UN: Iran and Al Qaeda "Are All Rooted in the Bitter Soil of Intolerance"

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just wrapped up his remarks at the 2012 United Nations General Assembly in New York City which included literally drawing a red line for Iran, showing the world the status of Iran’s nuclear program and pointing out  the dangers of radical Jihad. Netanyahu also solidified, once again, Israel’s right to exist.

Advertisement

“Three thousand years ago, King David reined over the Jewish state in our eternal capital of Jerusalem,” he said opening his speech. “I say that to all of those who proclaim that the Jewish State has no roots in the region and that it will soon disappear.”

The Obama adminstration hasn’t said Israel will disappear, but it has refused to acknowledge Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish State. Not to mention, delegates at the 2012 Democratic National Convention  booed the reinstatement of the word “Jerusalem” when it was placed back into the Demcratic Party platform after being initially taken out.

“The masses of our people never gave up the dream of returning top our ancient homeland,” he said. “We will never be uprooted again.”

Netanyahu layed out two visions for his country, the Middle East and the world as a whole when it comes to fighting radical Jihad. He talked about the battle between modernity and medievalism, arguing radical Muslims want to take the world back to a time of intolerance, violence and hate.

“Women and minorities are subjugated and in which knowledge is suppressed and where death, not life is celebrated,” he said in describing the current state of radical and outdated Islam. “Israel stands proudly with the forces of modernity.”

He praised his country as the opposite of what Jihadists want, pointing out how much Israel has overcome through wars, fighting enemies, rebuilding after the Holocaust and how the Jewish people are living in a thriving modern state. He addressed the Isreali-Palestinean conflict, pointing out that every year thousands of Palestinean Arabs are treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors.

“That's something you won’t hear about,” he said.

But despite Israel’s generosity toward Palestineans who feel like enemies much of the time, the threat from terrorist groups in the region persists. Some ask why, others like Netanyahu understand why.

“It’s because Israel cherishes life that Israel cherishes peace and seeks peace,” he said, addressing the ongoing attacks on U.S. embassies. “They want to extinguish freedom.”

Netanyahu’s criticism of radical Jihad was in reference to long time foe Iran as well, going so far as saying al Qaeda and Iran have the same goals and same ideology when it comes to how they see the world.

“Just imagine the world with nuclear weapons in the hands of al Qaeda, “ he said. “They’re both fired from the same [Iran and al Qaeda] hatred”

Thousands of rockets are launched into Israel each year from the Iranian funded terrorist group Hamas.

“They want to drag humanity to an age of unquestioning dogma,” he said. “They are all rooted in the bitter soil of intolerance.

But the problems with Iran don’t stop with Israel. They have an effect on the entire world.

“It’s stake is the future of the world,” he said. “Nothing could imperil our future more than the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons.”

Iran has been engaged in terrorism activity for more than 30 years. Hamas is the largest terrorism network in the world spanning from the Middle East to South America. Hamas enters the United States through the southern border with Mexico and works with Mexican cartel members for intelligence and access to the country.

“Given this record of Iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine Iranian aggression with nuclear aggression,” he said. “Imagine their terror networks armed with atomic bombs.”
.
Netanyahu addressed the comparison of a nuclear Iran to the Cold War and the Former Soviet Union, saying a nuclear standoff and the possibility of complete annihilation or mutual destruction between countries wouldn’t stop Iran because the radicals operate on Earth with a goal of getting to the afterlife and believe in martyrdom in the name of Allah.

“Militant Jihadists behave very differently that secular Marxists,” he said. “There were no soviet suicide bombers.”

The fact is, time is running out to stop Iran and the world has been hearing about the need to stop Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons for years now.

“I’ve been speaking about the need to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons for 15 years,” he said. “I speak about it now because the hour is getting late.”

Netanyahu stressed that sanctions with Iran aren’t working and won’t work in the future to stop Iran’s nuclear program, pointing out the international community has put harsh sanctions for seven years, acknowledging those sanctions have had an effect on the economy but not on stopping Iran’s nuclear goals. Since the sanctions were put into place, Iran has doubled its underground centrifuges in order to enrich uranium. The IAEA says Iran is closer than ever before to building a bomb.

“There is only one peaceful way….and that is by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear program,” he said. “It’s the failure to place red lines that has invited aggression.”

Interestingly, Netanyahu’s focus seemed to be not on Iran’s nuclear program as a whole, but specifically on their ability to enrich uranium.

“It’s not whether this radicalism is defeated, it’s how many lives will have to be lost before it is defeated”

Advertisement

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Recommended

Trending on Townhall Videos