(Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs) Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu - After meeting with President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu told the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in New York on July 7: "We don't want to govern the Palestinians and we don't want them to be either our subjects or citizens of the country. We also want to make sure that they have their own independent dignified life, but that they don't threaten the State of Israel....In addition, the Palestinians have to do something that they so far have not done. And that is to do what Anwar Sadat did - to come forward and say, 'It's over. The conflict is over. There is no more war, there is no more bloodshed and there will be no more conflict.'" "One thing that unites all of us is that we all know that we are not foreign interlopers in the Land of Israel....We have nearly a four-thousand-year connection to this land and the return of the Jewish people to Zion, the restoration of Jewish sovereignty in our ancestral homeland, is not just one of the great events of modern times, it's one of the greatest events of all time....For the Jews...Zion is only one place - Israel - and the connection between our people and the Land of Israel is as strong and enduring as any people's connection to any place on earth." "All responsible countries say that Israel has a right to defend itself, but virtually every time we seek to exercise that right, we are nearly universally condemned....So it seems that, even after six decades, many around the world are still uncomfortable with the idea of Jewish sovereignty. Perhaps they have not internalized the fact that the Jews will no longer be passive victims of history. We are now actors on the stage of history. We now chart our own collective destiny and that requires Israel to have a secure and unchallenged right of self-defense that is accorded to other nations as well." "For 2000 years, the Jews were the perfect victims. And perfect victims may be perfectly moral but they're still victims. The purpose of the Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives. And in that defense, the standard that must be applied to Israel is not perfection but a standard that is applied to any other country faced with similar circumstances." "What other country has suffered thousands and thousands of rockets rained on its cities?...Britain. And yet Israel's response to the rocketing of its cities is a fraction, a fraction, perhaps a percent or less of the response in terms of casualties inflicted by Britain on those who attacked it."
2010-07-12 10:04:51Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive