Text
Of Israel PM Netanyahu UN Speech On Iran Nuclear Weapons, Red
Lines
By
Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency
New
York, New York --- September 27, 2012 ... The following was transmitted
by the Israel Government Press Office to the Israel News Agency.
Thank
you very much Mr. President.
It's a pleasure
to see the General Assembly presided by the Ambassador from Israel,
and it's good to see all of you, distinguished delegates.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
Three thousand
years ago, King David reigned over the Jewish state in our eternal
capital, Jerusalem. I say that to all those who proclaim that
the Jewish state has no roots in our region and that it will soon
disappear.
Throughout
our history, the Jewish people have overcome all the tyrants who
have sought our destruction. It's their ideologies that have been
discarded by history.
The people
of Israel live on. We say in Hebrew Am Yisrael Chai, and the Jewish
state will live forever.
The Jewish
people have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years.
Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jews continued
to live in the land of Israel throughout the ages. The masses
of our people never gave up the dreamed of returning to our ancient
homeland.
Defying the
laws of history, we did just that. We ingathered the exiles, restored
our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people
have come home.
We will never
be uprooted again.
Yesterday
was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.
Every year,
for over three millennia, we have come together on this day of
reflection and atonement. We take stock of our past. We pray for
our future. We remember the sorrows of our persecution; we remember
the great travails of our dispersion; we mourn the extermination
of a third of our people, six million, in the Holocaust.
But at the
end of Yom Kippur, we celebrate.
We celebrate
the rebirth of Israel. We celebrate the heroism of our young men
and women who have defended our people with the indomitable courage
of Joshua, David, and the Maccabees of old. We celebrate the marvel
of the flourishing modern Jewish state.
In Israel,
we walk the same paths tread by our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. But we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine,
agriculture.
In Israel,
the past and the future find common ground.
Unfortunately,
that is not the case in many other countries. For today, a great
battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval.
The forces
of modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of all are
protected, in which an ever-expanding digital library is available
in the palm of every child, in which every life is sacred.
The forces
of medievalism seek a world in which women and minorities are
subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, in which not life
but death is glorified.
These forces
clash around the globe, but nowhere more starkly than in the Middle
East.
Israel stands
proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect the rights of
all our citizens: men and women, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians
all are equal before the law.
Israel is
also making the world a better place: our scientists win Nobel
Prizes. Our know-how is in every cell-phone and computer that
you're using. We prevent hunger by irrigating arid lands in Africa
and Asia.
Recently,
I was deeply moved when I visited Technion, one of our technological
institutes in Haifa, and I saw a man paralyzed from the waist
down climb up a flight of stairs, quite easily, with the aid of
an Israeli invention.
And Israel's
exceptional creativity is matched by our people's remarkable compassion.
When disaster strikes anywhere in the world in Haiti, Japan,
India, Turkey Indonesia and elsewhere Israeli doctors are
among the first on the scene, performing life-saving surgeries.
In the past
year, I lost both my father and my father-in-law. In the same
hospital wards where they were treated, Israeli doctors were treating
Palestinian Arabs. In fact, every year, thousands of Arabs from
the Palestinian territories and Arabs from throughout the Middle
East come to Israel to be treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli
doctors.
I know you're
not going to hear that from speakers around this podium, but that's
the truth. It's important that you are aware of this truth.
Its
because Israel cherishes life, that Israel cherishes peace and
seeks peace.
We seek to
preserve our historic ties and our historic peace treaties with
Egypt and Jordan. We seek to forge a durable peace with the Palestinians.
President
Abbas just spoke here.
I say to him
and I say to you:
We won't solve
our conflict with libelous speeches at the UN. That's not the
way to solve it. We won't solve our conflict with unilateral declarations
of statehood.
We have to
sit together, negotiate together, and reach a mutual compromise,
in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the one
and only Jewish State.
Israel wants
to see a Middle East of progress and peace. We want to see the
three great religions that sprang forth from our region
Judaism, Christianity and Islam coexist in peace and in
mutual respect.
Yet the medieval
forces of radical Islam, whom you just saw storming the American
embassies throughout the Middle East, they oppose this.
They seek
supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world conquest. They
want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They want to extinguish
freedom. They want to end the modern world.
Militant Islam
has many branches from the rulers of Iran with their Revolutionary
Guards to Al Qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in
every part of the globe.
But despite
their differences, they are all rooted in the same bitter soil
of intolerance. That intolerance is directed first at their fellow
Muslims, and then to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, secular
people, anyone who doesn't submit to their unforgiving creed.
They want
to drag humanity back to an age of unquestioning dogma and unrelenting
conflict.
I am sure
of one thing. Ultimately they will fail. Ultimately, light will
penetrate the darkness.
We've seen
that happen before.
Some five
hundred years ago, the printing press helped pry a cloistered
Europe out of a dark age. Eventually, ignorance gave way to enlightenment.
So too, a
cloistered Middle East will eventually yield to the irresistible
power of freedom and technology. When this happens, our region
will be guided not by fanaticism and conspiracy, but by reason
and curiosity.
I think the
relevant question is this: it's not whether this fanaticism will
be defeated. It's how many lives will be lost before it's defeated.
We've seen
that happen before too.
Some 70 years
ago, the world saw another fanatic ideology bent on world conquest.
It went down in flames. But not before it took millions of people
with it. Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long to
act. In the end they triumphed, but at an horrific cost.
My friends,
we cannot let that happen again.
At stake is
not merely the future of my own country. At stake is the future
of the world. Nothing could imperil our common future more than
the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons.
To understand
what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine
the world with a nuclear-armed Al-Qaeda.
It makes no
difference whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the
world's most dangerous terrorist regime or the world's most dangerous
terrorist organization. They're both fired by the same hatred;
they're both driven by the same lust for violence.
Just look
at what the Iranian regime has done up till now, without nuclear
weapons.
In 2009, they
brutally put down mass protests for democracy in their own country.
Today, their henchmen are participating in the slaughter of tens
of thousands of Syrian civilians, including thousands of children,
directly participating in this murder.
They abetted
the killing of American soldiers in Iraq and continue to do so
in Afghanistan. Before that, Iranian proxies killed hundreds of
American troops in Beirut and in Saudi Arabia. They've turned
Lebanon and Gaza into terror strongholds, embedding nearly 100,000
missiles and rockets in civilian areas. Thousands of these rockets
and missiles have already been fired at Israeli communities by
their terrorist proxies.
In the last
year, they've spread their international terror networks to two
dozen countries across five continents from India and Thailand
to Kenya and Bulgaria. They've even plotted to blow up a restaurant
a few blocks from the White House in order to kill a diplomat.
And of course,
Iran's rulers repeatedly deny the Holocaust and call for Israel's
destruction almost on a daily basis, as they did again this week
from the United Nations.
So I ask you,
given this record of Iranian aggression without nuclear weapons,
just imagine Iranian aggression with nuclear weapons. Imagine
their long range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, their
terror networks armed with atomic bombs.
Who among
you would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe in Europe?
Who would be safe in America? Who would be safe anywhere?
There are
those who believe that a nuclear-armed Iran can be deterred like
the Soviet Union.
That's a very
dangerous assumption.
Militant Jihadists
behave very differently from secular Marxists. There were no Soviet
suicide bombers. Yet Iran produces hordes of them.
Deterrence
worked with the Soviets, because every time the Soviets faced
a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose
their survival.
But deterrence
may not work with the Iranians once they get nuclear weapons.
There's a
great scholar of the Middle East, Prof. Bernard Lewis, who put
it best. He said that for the Ayatollahs of Iran, mutually assured
destruction is not a deterrent, it's an inducement.
Iran's apocalyptic
leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in the
wake of a devastating Holy War, thereby ensuring that their brand
of radical Islam will rule the earth.
That's not
just what they believe. That's what is actually guiding their
policies and their actions.
Just listen
to Ayatollah Rafsanjani who said, I quote: "The use of even
one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything, however
it would only harm the Islamic world."
Rafsanjani
said: "It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality."
Not irrational.
And that's
coming from one of the so-called moderates of Iran.
Shockingly,
some people have begun to peddle the absurd notion that a nuclear-armed
Iran would actually stabilize the Middle East.
Yeah, right.
That's like
saying a nuclear-armed Al-Qaeda would usher in an era of universal
peace.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
I've been
speaking about the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear
weapons for over 15 years.
I spoke about
it in my first term in office as Prime Minister, and then I spoke
about it when I left office. I spoke about it when it was fashionable,
and I spoke about it when it wasn't fashionable.
I speak about
it now because the hour is getting late, very late. I speak about
it now because the Iranian nuclear calendar doesn't take time
out for anyone or for anything. I speak about it now because when
it comes to the survival of my country, it's not only my right
to speak; it's my duty to speak. And I believe that this is the
duty of every responsible leader who wants to preserve world peace.
For nearly
a decade, the international community has tried to stop the Iranian
nuclear program with diplomacy.
That hasn't
worked.
Iran uses
diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy time to advance its
nuclear program.
For over seven
years, the international community has tried sanctions with Iran.
Under the leadership of President Obama, the international community
has passed some of the strongest sanctions to date.
I want to
thank the governments represented here that have joined in this
effort. It's had an effect. Oil exports have been curbed and the
Iranian economy has been hit hard.
It's had an
effect on the economy, but we must face the truth. Sanctions have
not stopped Iran's nuclear program either.
According
to the International Atomic Energy Agency, during the last year
alone, Iran has doubled the number of centrifuges in its underground
nuclear facility in Qom.
At this late
hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting
atomic bombs. That's by placing a clear red line on Iran's nuclear
weapons program.
Red lines
don't lead to war; red lines prevent war.
Look at NATO's
charter: it made clear that an attack on one member country would
be considered an attack on all. NATO's red line helped keep the
peace in Europe for nearly half a century.
President
Kennedy set a red line during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That red
line also prevented war and helped preserve the peace for decades.
In fact, it's
the failure to place red lines that has often invited aggression.
If the Western
powers had drawn clear red lines during the 1930s, I believe they
would have stopped Nazi aggression and World War II might have
been avoided.
In 1990, if
Saddam Hussein had been clearly told that his conquest of Kuwait
would cross a red line, the first Gulf War might have been avoided.
Clear red
lines have also worked with Iran.
Earlier this
year, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormouz. The United
States drew a clear red line and Iran backed off.
Red lines
could be drawn in different parts of Iran's nuclear weapons program.
But to be credible, a red line must be drawn first and foremost
in one vital part of their program: on Iran's efforts to enrich
uranium. Now let me explain why:
Basically,
any bomb consists of explosive material and a mechanism to ignite
it.
The simplest
example is gunpowder and a fuse. That is, you light the fuse and
set off the gunpowder.
In the case
of Iran's plans to build a nuclear weapon, the gunpowder is enriched
uranium. The fuse is a nuclear detonator.
For Iran,
amassing enough enriched uranium is far more difficult than producing
the nuclear fuse.
For a country
like Iran, it takes many, many years to enrich uranium for a bomb.
That requires thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in very
big industrial plants. Those Iranian plants are visible and they're
still vulnerable.
In contrast,
Iran could produce the nuclear detonator the fuse
in a lot less time, maybe under a year, maybe only a few months.
The detonator
can be made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. It may
be very difficult to find and target that workshop, especially
in Iran. That's a country that's bigger than France, Germany,
Italy and Britain combined.
The same is
true for the small facility in which they could assemble a warhead
or a nuclear device that could be placed in a container ship.
Chances are you won't find that facility either.
So in fact
the only way that you can credibly prevent Iran from developing
a nuclear weapon, is to prevent Iran from amassing enough enriched
uranium for a bomb.
So, how much
enriched uranium do you need for a bomb? And how close is Iran
to getting it?
Let me show
you. I brought a diagram for you. Here's the diagram.
This is a
bomb; this is a fuse
In the case
of Iran's nuclear plans to build a bomb, this bomb has to be filled
with enough enriched uranium. And Iran has to go through three
stages.
The first
stage: they have to enrich enough of low enriched uranium.
The second
stage: they have to enrich enough medium enriched uranium.
And the third
stage and final stage: they have to enrich enough high enriched
uranium for the first bomb.
Where's Iran?
Iran's completed the first stage. It took them many years, but
they completed it and they're 70% of the way there.
Now they are
well into the second stage. By next spring, at most by next summer
at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium
enrichment and move on to the final stage.
From there,
it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get enough
enriched uranium for the first bomb.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
What I told
you now is not based on secret information. It's not based on
military intelligence. It's based on public reports by the International
Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can read them. They're online.
So if these
are the facts, and they are, where should the red line be drawn?
The red line
should be drawn right here.
Before Iran
completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to
make a bomb.
Before Iran
gets to a point where it's a few months away or a few weeks away
from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.
Each day,
that point is getting closer. That's why I speak today with such
a sense of urgency. And that's why everyone should have a sense
of urgency.
Some who claim
that even if Iran completes the enrichment process, even if it
crosses that red line that I just drew, our intelligence agencies
will know when and where Iran will make the fuse, assemble the
bomb, and prepare the warhead.
Look, no one
appreciats our intelligence agencies more than the Prime Minister
of Israel. All these leading intelligence agencies are superb,
including ours. They've foiled many attacks. They've saved many
lives.
But they are
not foolproof.
For over two
years, our intelligence agencies didn't know that Iran was building
a huge nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain.
Do we want
to risk the security of the world on the assumption that we would
find in time a small workshop in a country half the size of Europe?
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The relevant
question is not when Iran will get the bomb. The relevant question
is at what stage can we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb.
The red line
must be drawn on Iran's nuclear enrichment program because these
enrichment facilities are the only nuclear installations that
we can definitely see and credibly target.
I believe
that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down.
This will
give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to
dismantle its nuclear weapons program altogether.
Two days ago,
from this podium, President Obama reiterated that the threat of
a nuclear-armed Iran cannot be contained.
I very much
appreciate the President's position as does everyone in my country.
We share the goal of stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program.
This goal unites the people of Israel. It unites Americans, Democrats
and Republicans alike and it is shared by important leaders throughout
the world.
What I have
said today will help ensure that this common goal is achieved.
Israel is
in discussions with the United States over this issue, and I am
confident that we can chart a path forward together.
Ladies and
Gentlemen,
The clash
between modernity and medievalism need not be a clash between
progress and tradition.
The traditions
of the Jewish people go back thousands of years. They are the
source of our collective values and the foundation of our national
strength.
At the same
time, the Jewish people have always looked towards the future.
Throughout history, we have been at the forefront of efforts to
expand liberty, promote equality, and advance human rights.
We champion
these principles not despite of our traditions but because of
them.
We heed the
words of the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah to treat
all with dignity and compassion, to pursue justice and cherish
life and to pray and strive for peace.
These are
the timeless values of my people and these are the Jewish people's
greatest gift to mankind.
Let us commit
ourselves today to defend these values so that we can defend our
freedom and protect our common civilization.
Thank you.
Israel:
Canada An Example To Global Democracy In Cutting Diplomatic Ties
With Iran
Joel Leyden,
journalist, media consultant, social media and SEO pioneer
working with both the Israel Defense Forces and the US Army in
Haiti.
Joel Leyden,
journalist, Digital PR and SEO consultant
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