YouSaid · the spoken record

Benjamin Netanyahu

lines on the record: 291
first: 1998-09-24
most recent: 2023-09-24
sittings or episodes: 12
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“We hear mobs today in Europe calling for the gassing of Jews. We hear some national leaders compare Israel to the Nazis. This is not a function of Israel’s policies; it is a function of diseased minds, and that disease has a name. It is called anti-Semitism. It is now spreading in polite society where it masquerades as legitimate criticism of Israel. For centuries, the Jewish people have been demonized with blood libels and charges of deicide. Today, the Jewish State is demonized with the apartheid libel and charges of genocide. In what moral universe does genocide include warning the enemy civilian population to get out of harm’s way or ensuring that they receive tons of humanitarian aid each day, even as thousands of rockets are being fired at us, or setting up a field hospital to aid their wounded?”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We live in a world steeped in tyranny and terror, where gays are hanged from cranes in Tehran, political prisoners are executed in Gaza, young girls are abducted en masse in Nigeria and hundreds of thousands are butchered in Syria, Libya and Iraq, yet nearly half of the Human Rights Council’s resolutions focusing on a single country have been directed against Israel — the one true democracy in the Middle East; Israel, where issues are openly debated in a boisterous Parliament, where human rights are protected by independent courts, and where women, gays and minorities live in a genuinely free society. The biased treatment of Israel by the Human Rights Council — that is a misnomer, but I will use it just the same — is only one manifestation of the return of one of the world’s oldest prejudices.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Use them again and again and again.” And you know why? Because, sadly, it works. By granting international legitimacy to the use of human shields, the Human Rights Council has become a terrorist rights council, and it will have repercussions — it probably already has — in terms of the use of civilians as human shields. It is not just our interests and values that are under attack: it is the interests and values of all of us.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“As Israel’s children huddle in bomb shelters and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defence knocked Hamas rockets out of the sky, the profound moral difference between Israel and Hamas could not have been clearer. Israel was using its missiles to protect its children; Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles. By investigating Israel rather than Hamas for war crimes, the United Nations Human Rights Council has betrayed its noble mission to protect the innocent. In fact, what it is doing is to turn the laws of war upside down. Israel, which took unprecedented steps to minimize civilian casualties, is condemned; Hamas, which both targeted and hid behind civilians — that is a double war crime — is given a pass. The Human Rights Council is thus sending a clear message to terrorists everywhere: “Use civilians as a human shield.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“And just in case people did not get the message, they executed Palestinian civilians in Gaza who dared to protest. And, no less reprehensible, Hamas deliberately placed its rockets where Palestinian children live and play. Let me show the Assembly a photograph. It was taken by a France 24 crew during the recent conflict. It shows two Hamas rocket launchers, which were used to attack us. Three children can be seen playing next to them. Hamas deliberately put its rockets in hundreds of residential areas like this — hundreds of them. That is a war crime. I say to President Abbas, these are the crimes — the war crimes — committed by his Hamas partners in the national unity Government which he heads and for which he is responsible. These are the real war crimes he should have investigated or spoken out against from this rostrum last week.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies. Such concern for Palestinian life was all the more remarkable given that Israeli civilians were being bombarded by rockets, day after day, night after night. And as their families were being rocketed by Hamas, Israel’s citizen army, the brave soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces, our young boys and girls, upheld the highest moral values of any army in the world. Israel’s soldiers deserve not condemnation but admiration — admiration from decent people everywhere. Here is what Hamas did. Hamas embedded its missile batteries in residential areas and told Palestinians to ignore Israel’s warnings to leave.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“As Israel surgically struck at the rocket launchers and at the tunnels, Palestinian civilians were tragically but unintentionally killed. There are heartrending images that resulted, and these fuelled libellous charges that Israel was deliberately targeting civilians. We were not. We deeply regret every single civilian casualty. And the truth is, Israel was doing everything to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television — all this to enable Palestinian civilians to evaluate targeted areas.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Let them imagine millions of their citizens having seconds at most to scramble to bomb shelters, day after day. Members would not let terrorists fire rockets at their cities with impunity, nor would they let terrorists dig dozens of terror tunnels under their borders to infiltrate their towns in order to murder and kidnap their citizens. Israel justly defended itself against both rocket attacks and terror tunnels. Yet Israel faced another challenge. We faced a propaganda war because, in an attempt to win the world’s sympathy, Hamas cynically used Palestinian civilians as human shields. It used schools — not just schools, United Nations schools — private homes, mosques and even hospitals to store and fire rockets at Israel.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Iran’s nuclear military capabilities must be fully dismantled. Make no mistake — ISIS must be defeated, but to defeat ISIS and leave Iran as a threshold nuclear Power is to win the battle and lose the war. The fight against militant Islam is indivisible. When militant Islam succeeds anywhere, it is emboldened everywhere. When it suffers a blow in one place, it is set back in every place. That is why Israel’s fight against Hamas is not just our fight; it is everyone’s fight. Israel is fighting a fanaticism today that other countries may be forced to fight tomorrow. For 50 days this past summer, Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel, many of them supplied by Iran. I want members to think about what their countries would do if thousands of rockets were fired at their cities.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We can only imagine how much more dangerous the Islamic State — ISIS — would be if it possessed chemical weapons. Now, let us imagine how much more dangerous the Islamic State of Iran would be if it possessed nuclear weapons. Would you let ISIS enrich uranium? Would you let ISIS build a heavy-water reactor? Would you let ISIS develop intercontinental ballistic missiles? Of course you would not. Then you must not let the Islamic State of Iran do those things either, because if you do, here is what will happen. Once Iran produces atomic bombs, all the charm and all the smiles will suddenly disappear — they will just vanish. It is then that the ayatollahs will show their true face and unleash their aggressive fanaticism on the entire world. There is only one responsible course of action to address this threat.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“That would effectively cement Iran’s place as a threshold military nuclear Power. In the future, at the time of its choosing, Iran, the world’s most dangerous regime, in the world’s most dangerous region, would obtain the world’s most dangerous weapons. Allowing that to happen would pose the gravest threat to us all. It is one thing to confront militant Islamists on pickup trucks armed with Kalashnikov rifles. It is another thing to confront militant Islamists armed with weapons of mass destruction. I remember that last year everyone here was rightly concerned about the chemical weapons in Syria, including the possibility that they would fall into the hands of terrorists. Well, that did not happen, and President Obama deserves great credit for leading the diplomatic effort to dismantle virtually all of Syria’s chemical weapons capability.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“This is because we are heirs to a global mission which is tied to our raison d’être”. A global mission which is tied to our very reason for being? Then Zarif asks a question — an interesting question, in my view. He says, “How come Malaysia” — referring to an overwhelmingly Muslim country — “does not have similar problems?” Then he answers: “Because Malaysia is not trying to change the international order”. That is our moderate. Let us not be fooled by Iran’s manipulative charm offensive. It is designed for one purpose and one purpose only — to have the sanctions lifted and the obstacles to Iran’s path to the bomb removed. The Islamic Republic is now trying to bamboozle its way to an agreement that will remove the sanctions it still faces and leave it with the capacity of thousands of centrifuges to enrich uranium.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“The bemoaning by the Iranian President of the spread of terrorism has got to be one of history’s greatest displays of double talk. Some argue that Iran’s global terror campaign — its subversion of countries throughout the Middle East and well beyond the Middle East — is the work of the extremists. They say that things are changing. They point to last year’s election in Iran. They claim that Iran’s smooth-talking President and Foreign Minister have changed not only the tone of Iran’s foreign policy but also its substance. They believe that Rouhani and Zarif generally want to reconcile with the West, that they have abandoned the global mission of the Islamic Revolution. Really? Let us look at what Foreign Minister Zarif wrote in his book just a few years ago: “We have a fundamental problem with the West, and especially with America.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Let us listen to its current commander, General Mohammad Ali Jafari, who clearly stated that goal: “Our Imam did not limit the Islamic Revolution to this country. Our duty is to prepare the way for an Islamic world Government.” Iran’s president, Mr. Rouhani, stood here last week and shed crocodile tears over what he called the globalization of terrorism. Maybe he should spare us those phony tears and have a word instead with the commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. He could ask them to call off Iran’s global terror campaign, which has included attacks in two dozen countries on five continents since 2011 alone. To say that Iran does not practice terrorism is like saying Derek Jeter never played shortstop for the New York Yankees.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“They just disagree as to who among them will be the master of the master faith. That is what they truly disagree about. Therefore, the question before us is whether militant Islam will have the power to realize its unbridled ambitions. There is one place where that could soon happen — the Islamic State of Iran. For 35 years, Iran has relentlessly pursued the global mission that was set forth by its founding ruler, Ayatollah Khomeini, with the following words: “We will export our revolution to the entire world, until the cry ‘There is no God but Allah’ will echo throughout the world over”. Ever since, the regime’s brutal enforcers, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, have done exactly that.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Others want to trigger the apocalyptic return of an imam from the ninth century. They operate in different lands. They target different victims. They even kill each other in their battle for supremacy. But they all share a fanatic ideology. They all seek to create ever expanding enclaves of militant Islam, where there is no freedom and no tolerance, where women are treated as chattel, Christians are decimated and minorities are subjugated, and sometimes given the stark choice: convert or die. For them, anyone can be consider an infidel, including fellow Muslims. Militant Islam’s ambition to dominate the world seems mad, but so too did the global ambitions of another fanatic ideology that swept into power eight decades ago. The Nazis believed in a master race. The militant Islamists believe in a master faith.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Hamas shares the global ambitions of its fellow militant Islamists, and that is why its supporters cheered wildly in the streets of Gaza when thousands of Americans were murdered on 9/11. That is why its leaders condemned the United States for killing Osama Bin Laden, whom they praised as a holy warrior. When it comes to their ultimate goals, therefore, Hamas is ISIS and ISIS is Hamas. And what they share in common, all militant Islamists share in common — Boko Haram in Nigeria, Al-Shabaab in Somalia, Hizbullah in Lebanon, Al-Nusra in Syria, the Al-Mahdi Army in Iraq and the Al-Qaida branches in Yemen, Libya, the Philippines, India and elsewhere. Some are radical Sunnis, some are radical Shiites. Some want to restore a pre-medieval caliphate from the seventh century.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“ISIS and Hamas share a fanatical creed that they both seek to impose well beyond the territory under their control. Let us listen to what ISIS’s self-declared Caliph, Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, said two months ago. He said that the day would soon come when the Muslim would walk everywhere as a master, and that Muslims would cause the world to hear and understand the meaning of terrorism, and destroy the idol of democracy. Now let us listen to Khaled Mashal, the leader of Hamas. He proclaims a similar vision of the future. “We say this to the West”, he says. “By Allah it will be defeated, and tomorrow our nation will sit on the throne of the world”. As its Charter makes clear, Hamas’s immediate goal is to destroy Israel; but it has a broader objective. It also wants a caliphate.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“For the militant Islamists, all politics is global, because their ultimate goal is to dominate the world. Now that threat might seem exaggerated to some, since it starts out small, like a cancer that attacks a particular part of the body. But left unchecked, the cancer grows, metastasizing over wider and wider areas. To protect the peace and security of the world, we must remove that cancer before it is too late. Last week, many of the countries represented here rightly applauded President Obama for leading the effort to confront the Islamic State in Iraq and the Sham (ISIS); and yet weeks before, some of those same countries — the same countries that now support confronting ISIS — opposed Israel for confronting Hamas. Evidently, they do not understand that ISIS and Hamas are branches of the same poisonous tree.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“I come here from Jerusalem to speak on behalf of my people, the people of Israel. I have come to speak about the dangers we face and about the opportunities we seek. I have come to expose the brazen lies spoken from this very rostrum about my country and the brave soldiers who defend it. The people of Israel pray for peace, but our hopes for peace, and those of the world, are in danger, because everywhere we look militant Islam is on the march. It is not militants; it is not Islam; it is militant Islam, and typically, its first victims are other Muslims. But it spares no one. Christians, Jews, Yazidis, Kurds — no creed, no faith, no ethnic group is beyond its sights, and it is rapidly spreading in every part of the world. We know the famous American saying “All politics is local”.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Together we have transformed a bludgeoned Jewish people, left for dead, into a vibrant, thriving nation, defending itself with the courage of modern Maccabees, developing limitless possibilities for the future. In our time, the Biblical prophecies are being realized. As the prophet Amos said, “They shall rebuild ruined cities and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and drink their wine. They shall till gardens and eat their fruit. And I will plant them upon their soil never to be uprooted again.” The people of Israel have come home, never to be uprooted again.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“And he then stood alone against the raging mob to slow it down. They beat him senseless. They left him for dead. Before he passed out, covered in his own blood, he said to himself: “What a disgrace! What a disgrace! The descendants of the Maccabees lie in the mud, powerless to defend themselves.” He promised himself then that if he lived, he would take his family to the Jewish homeland and help to build a future for the Jewish people. I stand here today as Israel’s Prime Minister because my grandfather kept that promise. So many other Israelis have a similar story: a parent or a grandparent who fled every conceivable oppression and went to Israel to start a new life in our ancient homeland.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“But so far, Palestinian leaders have not been prepared to offer the painful concessions they must make in order to end the conflict. For peace to be achieved, the Palestinians must finally recognize the Jewish State and Israel’s security needs must be met. I am prepared to make a historic compromise for a genuine and enduring peace. But I will never compromise on the security of my people and of my country — the one and only Jewish State. One cold day in the late nineteenth century, my grandfather, Nathan, and his younger brother, Judah, were standing in a railway station in the heart of Europe. They were seen by a group of anti-Semitic hoodlums, who ran towards them waving clubs, screaming, “Death to the Jews!” My grandfather shouted to his younger brother to flee and save himself.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“We hope that our common interests and common challenges will help us forge a more peaceful future. And Israel continues to seek a historic compromise with our Palestinian neighbours, one that ends our conflict once and for all. We want peace based on security and mutual recognition in which a demilitarized Palestinian State recognizes the Jewish State of Israel. I remain committed to achieving a historic reconciliation and building a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike. I have no illusions about how difficult it will be to achieve. Twenty years ago, the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians began. Six Israeli Prime Ministers — myself included — have not succeeded in achieving peace with the Palestinians. My predecessors were prepared to make painful concessions. So am I.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Israel will never acquiesce to nuclear arms in the hands of a rogue regime that repeatedly promises to wipe us off the map. Against such a threat, Israel will have no choice but to defend itself. I want there to be no confusion on this point: Israel will not allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone. Yet in standing alone, Israel will know that we will be defending many others. The dangers of a nuclear-armed Iran and the emergence of other threats in our region have led many of our Arab neighbours to finally recognize that Israel is not their enemy. That affords us the opportunity to overcome historic animosities and build new relationships, new friendships and new hopes. Israel welcomes engagement with the wider Arab world.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“A partial deal would lift the international sanctions that have taken years to put in place, in exchange for cosmetic concessions that will take only weeks for Iran to reverse. Thirdly, lift the sanctions only when Iran fully dismantles its nuclear-weapons programme. The international community has Iran on the ropes. If it wants to knock out Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme peacefully, do not let up on the pressure. Keep it up. We all want to give diplomacy with Iran a chance to succeed. But when it comes to Iran, the greater the pressure, the greater the chance. Three decades ago, President Ronald Reagan famously advised “trust but verify”. When it comes to Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme, here is my advice: distrust, dismantle and verify.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I advise them to pay close attention to what Rouhani said in a speech to Iran’s Supreme Cultural Revolutionary Council published in 2005. This is what he said: “A country that can enrich uranium to about 3.5 per cent will also have the capability to enrich it to about 90 per cent. Having fuel-cycle capability virtually means that a country that possesses this capability is able to produce nuclear weapons.” Precisely: that is why Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme must be fully and verifiably dismantled. That is why the pressure on Iran must continue. Here is what the international community must do. First, keep up the sanctions. If Iran advances its nuclear- weapons programme during negotiations, strengthen the sanctions. Secondly, do not agree to a partial deal.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“President Obama rightly said that Iran’s conciliatory words must be matched by transparent, verifiable and meaningful action; and to be meaningful, a diplomatic solution would require Iran to do four things; first, cease all uranium enrichment, as called for by several Security Council resolutions; secondly, remove from Iran’s territory the stockpiles of enriched uranium; thirdly, dismantle the infrastructure for a nuclear-breakout capability, including the underground facility near Qom and the advanced centrifuges in Natanz; and, fourthly, stop all work at the heavy water- reactor in Arak aimed at the production of plutonium. Those steps would put an end to Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme and eliminate its breakout capability. There are those who would readily agree to leave Iran with a residual capability to enrich uranium.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“That fanatic regime must never be allowed to arm itself with nuclear weapons. I know that the world is weary of war. We in Israel know all too well the cost of war. But history has taught us that to prevent war tomorrow, we must be firm today. That raises the question: Can diplomacy stop that threat? The only diplomatic solution that would work is one that fully dismantles Iran’s nuclear- weapons programme and prevents it from having one in the future.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“A nuclear-armed Iran in the Middle East would not be another North Korea. It would be another 50 North Koreas. I know that some in the international community think that I am exaggerating that threat. Sure, they know that Iran’s regime leads these chants: “Death to America!”, “Death to Israel!”. Then it pledges to wipe Israel off the map. But they think that wild rhetoric is just bluster for domestic consumption. Have those people learned nothing from history? The last century has taught us that, when a radical regime with global ambitions gets awesome power, sooner or later its appetite for aggression knows no bounds. That is the central lesson of the twentieth century. And we cannot forget it. The world may have forgotten that lesson; the Jewish people have not. Iran’s fanaticism is not bluster. It is real.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“And yet North Korea agreed in principle this week to dismantle its nuclear-weapons programme, return to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, abide by the Treaty’s safeguards and admit international inspectors. “Diplomacy, it seems, does work after all.” (New York Times, 20 September 2005) A year later, North Korea exploded its first nuclear- weapon device. Yet as dangerous as a nuclear-armed North Korea is, it pales in comparison to the danger of a nuclear- armed Iran. A nuclear-armed Iran would have a chokehold on the world’s main energy supplies. It would trigger nuclear proliferation throughout the Middle East, turning the most unstable part of the planet into a nuclear tinderbox. And for the first time in history, it would make the spectre of nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“He has another reason to believe that he can get away with that, and that reason is called North Korea. Like Iran, North Korea also said its nuclear programme was for peaceful purposes. Like Iran, North Korea also offered meaningless concessions and empty promises in return for sanctions relief. In 2005, North Korea agreed to a deal that was celebrated the world over by many well-meaning people. Here is what a New York Times editorial had to say about it: “For years now, foreign policy insiders have pointed to North Korea as the ultimate nightmare ... a closed, hostile and paranoid dictatorship with an aggressive nuclear-weapons programme. Very few could envision a successful outcome.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Why does Rouhani think he can get away with that? Because he has gotten away with it before. Because his strategy of talking a lot and doing little has worked for him in the past. He even brags about it. Here is what he said in his 2011 book about his time as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator: “While we were talking to the Europeans in Tehran, we were installing equipment in Isfahan”. For those here who do not know, the Isfahan facility is an indispensable part of Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme. That is where uranium ore called yellowcake is converted into an enrichable form. Rouhani boasted: “By creating a calm environment, we were able to complete the work in Isfahan”. He fooled the world once; now he thinks he can fool it again. Rouhani thinks he can have his yellowcake and eat it too.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“As a result, the regime is under intense pressure from the Iranian people to get the sanctions removed. That is why Rouhani got elected in the first place. That is why he launched his charm offensive. He definitely wants to get the sanctions lifted — I guarantee the Assembly that — but he does not want to give up Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme in return. Here is the strategy to achieve that: first, smile a lot. Smiling never hurts. Secondly, pay lip service to peace, democracy and tolerance. Thirdly, offer meaningless concessions in exchange for lifting sanctions. Fourthly, and most important, ensure that Iran retains sufficient nuclear material and sufficient nuclear infrastructure to race to the bomb at a time that it chooses to do so. Why does Rouhani think he can get away with that? This is a ruse, a ploy.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“But Iran is positioning itself to race across that line in future, at a time of its choosing. Iran wants to be in a position to rush forward to build nuclear bombs before the international community can detect it, much less prevent it. Yet Iran faces one big problem, and that problem is summed up in one word: sanctions. I have argued for many years, including from this rostrum, that the only way to peacefully prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons is to combine tough sanctions with a credible military threat. That policy is today bearing fruit. Thanks to the efforts of many countries, many represented here, and under the leadership of the United States, tough sanctions have taken a big bite out of Iran’s economy. Oil revenues have fallen. The currency has plummeted. Banks are hard pressed to transfer money.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Last year alone, Iran enriched three tons of uranium to 3.5 per cent, doubled its stockpile of 20 per cent-enriched uranium and added thousands of new centrifuges, including advanced centrifuges. It also continued work on the heavy-water reactor in Arak in order to have another route to the bomb — a plutonium path. Since Rouhani’s election — and I stress this — that vast and feverish effort has continued unabated. Underground nuclear facilities? Heavy water reactors? Advanced centrifuges? ICBMs? It is not that it is hard to find evidence that Iran has a nuclear-weapons programme; it is hard to find evidence that Iran does not have a nuclear-weapons programme. Last year, when I spoke here at the United Nations (see A/67/PV.12), I drew a red line. Iran has been very careful not to cross that line.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Why would a country with vast natural energy reserves invest billions in developing nuclear energy? Why would a country intent on merely having civilian nuclear programmes continue to defy multiple Security Council resolutions and incur the costs of crippling sanctions on its economy? And why would a country with a peaceful nuclear programme develop intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) whose sole purpose is to deliver nuclear warheads? You do not build ICBMs to carry TNT thousands of miles away. You build them for one purpose: to carry nuclear warheads. Iran is now building ICBMs that the United States says could reach this city in three or four years. Why would they do all that? The answer is simple. Iran is not building a peaceful nuclear programme. Iran is developing nuclear weapons.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The facts are that Iran’s savage record flatly contradicts Rouhani’s soothing rhetoric. Last Friday, Rouhani assured us that in pursuit of its nuclear programme, Iran had “never chosen deceit and secrecy.” Never chosen deceit and secrecy? In 2002, Iran was caught red-handed secretly building an underground centrifuge facility at Natanz. In 2009, Iran was again caught red-handed secretly building a huge underground nuclear facility for uranium enrichment in a mountain near Qom. Rouhani tells us not to worry. He assures us that all that is not intended for nuclear weapons. Does any here believe that? If so, here are a few questions to ask. Why would a country that claims to only want peaceful nuclear energy build hidden underground enrichment facilities?”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Yet Iran is actively destabilizing Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain and many other Middle Eastern countries. Rouhani promises “constructive engagement with other countries”. Yet two years ago, Iranian agents tried to assassinate Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador in Washington, D.C. Just three weeks ago, an Iranian agent was arrested while trying to collect information for possible attacks against the American Embassy in Tel Aviv. Some constructive engagement! I wish I could be moved by Rouhani’s invitation to join his “WAVE” — a world against violence and extremism. Yet the only waves Iran has generated in the past 30 years are waves of violence and terrorism that it has unleashed on the region and across the world. I wish I could believe Rouhani, but I do not because facts are stubborn things.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Rouhani stood at this very rostrum last week and praised Iranian democracy (see A/68/PV.6). Iranian democracy, he said. But the regime that he represents executes political dissidents by the hundreds and jails them by the thousands. Rouhani spoke of “the human tragedy in Syria”. Yet Iran directly participates in Al-Assad’s murder and massacre of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children in Syria, and that regime is propping up a Syrian regime that just used chemical weapons against its own people. Rouhani condemned the “violent scourge” of terrorism. Yet in the past three years alone Iran has ordered, planned or perpetrated terrorist attacks in 25 cities on five continents. Rouhani denounced “attempts to change the regional balance through proxies”.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Rouhani was also Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator between 2003 and 2005. He masterminded the strategy that enabled Iran to advance its nuclear-weapons programme behind a smokescreen of diplomatic engagement and very soothing rhetoric. I know that Rouhani does not sound like Ahmadinejad. But when it comes to Iran’s nuclear-weapons programme, the only difference between them is this: Ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf’s clothing, Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing — a wolf who thinks he can pull the wool over the eyes of the international community. Like everyone else, I wish we could believe Rouhani’s words, but we must focus on Iran’s actions. And it is the brazen contrast — that extraordinary contradiction between Rouhani’s words and Iran’s actions — that is so startling.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“President Rouhani, like the presidents who came before him, is a loyal servant of the regime. He was one of only six candidates the regime permitted to run for office. Nearly 700 other candidates were rejected. What made him acceptable? Rouhani headed Iran’s Supreme National Security Council from 1989 through 2003. During that time, Iran’s henchmen gunned down opposition leaders in a Berlin restaurant. They murdered 85 people at the Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires. They killed 19 American soldiers by blowing up the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. Are we to believe that Rouhani, the national security adviser of Iran at the time, knew nothing about those attacks? Of course he did — just as 30 years ago Iran’s security chiefs knew about the bombings in Beirut that killed 241 American marines and 58 French paratroopers.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“He issued a famous edict in which he proclaimed the right of the Jews to return to the land of Israel and rebuild the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. That is a Persian decree, and thus began a historic friendship between the Jews and the Persians that lasted until modern times. But, in 1979, a radical regime in Tehran tried to stamp out that friendship. As it was busy crushing the Iranian people’s hopes for democracy, it also led wild chants of “Death to the Jews!” Since that time, presidents of Iran have come and gone. Some presidents were considered moderates, others hard-liners. But they have all served that same unforgiving creed, that same unforgiving regime — that creed that is espoused and enforced by the real power in Iran, the dictator known in Iran as the Supreme Leader, first Ayatollah Khomeini and now Ayatollah Khamenei.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I feel deeply honoured and privileged to stand here before the General Assembly today representing the citizens of the State of Israel. We are an ancient people. We date back nearly 4,000 years to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. We have journeyed through time. We have overcome the greatest of adversities. And we re-established our sovereign State in our ancestral homeland, the land of Israel. The Jewish people’s odyssey through time has taught us two things: never give up hope and always remain vigilant. Hope charts the future, vigilance protects it. Today our hope for the future is challenged by a nuclear-armed Iran that seeks our destruction. But I want members to know that that was not always the case. Some 2,500 years ago, the great Persian King Cyrus ended the Babylonian exile of the Jewish people.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“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. Those are the timeless values of my people, and they are the Jewish people’s greatest gift to humankind. Let us commit ourselves today to defending those values so that we can defend our freedoms and protect our common civilization.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“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. 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 foundations 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 those principles not in spite of our traditions but because of them.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“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 programme 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 programme altogether. Two days ago, from this podium, President Obama reiterated that the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran cannot be contained (see A/67/PV.6). I very much appreciate the President’s position, as does everyone in my country. We share the goal of stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. This goal unites the people of Israel. It unites Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“There are 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. No one appreciates our intelligence agencies more than the Prime Minister of Israel. All these leading intelligence agencies are superb, including ours. They have foiled many attacks, they have saved many lives, but they are not foolproof. For over two years, our intelligence agencies did not 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 a small workshop in a country half the size of Europe in time? The relevant question is not when Iran will get the bomb.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It is based on public reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can read them. They are online. So if these are the facts — and they are — where should a red line be drawn? A red line should be drawn right here, before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb and before Iran gets to a point where it is 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 is why I speak today with such a sense of urgency, and that is why everyone should have a sense of urgency.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“In the first stage they have to enrich enough low-enriched uranium; in the second stage they have to enrich enough medium-enriched uranium. And in the third, and final, stage they have to enrich enough high-enriched uranium for the first bomb. Where is Iran? Iran has completed the first stage. It took them many years, but they completed it, and they are 70 per cent 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 moved on to the final stage. From there, it is only a few months, possibly a few weeks, before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb. What I told the Assembly just now is not based on secret information. It is not based on military intelligence.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)