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Full text of Netanyahu’s speech at Bar
Ilan University Translation: Times of Israel (7 October 2013) ► HIR’s analysis of this speech Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: I
recently read a hundred-page book by a wonderful American historian who
passed away nearly 50 years ago. His name was Will Durant and he wrote many
books. He wrote an eleven volume history of civilization, but at the end of
his life, he wrote a hundred-page book, The Lessons of History. You should
read it. Every line is carved from the stone of truth, and I will give you
the bad news and the good news. The bad news is that when you finish reading
this book, you understand that in history, greater numbers rule. They matter.
But here is the good news. On page 17, if I am not
mistaken, he mentions that there may be exceptions to this rule and that
through the unification of a cultural force, that’s what he called it, the
odds could be overcome. He gives the State of Israel as an example of such an
exception. I think that we have proven in the 65 years of Israel’s existence
that we are exceptional, but we must continue to be so, also by preserving
our spiritual foundations. Two weeks ago, archaeologists found a gold
medallion near the Western Wall. The archaeologists dated it to the beginning
of the seventh century and there is a menorah on the medallion – our national
symbol. On one side, a Torah scroll and on the other a shofar. The entire
Torah on one medallion and of course, this was after 2,000 years of Jewish
existence in the Land of Israel. This existence has lasted for nearly 4,000
years. Apparently there is something special about this exception of ours, in
our unique combination of our past heritage and the way that we look to the
future with our full force and talents and I would even say genius. There is
no doubt that this university is part of our national and international
effort to preserve our heritage and of course combine it with the future. I thank you for your invitation to speak here, on
the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Begin-Sadat Center. Many things
have happened to us during those years. On the political front, we signed a
peace agreement with Jordan. During all that time, exactly 20 years, we have
been conducting negotiations with the Palestinians, trying to achieve a peace
agreement, and despite ups and downs during these two decades, we managed to
maintain the peace accords with Egypt. This is not insignificant. However, without a doubt, the most significant
developments in the Middle East during this entire period are those of the
past few years, and they overshadow all the rest when taking a broad view.
Two of these developments include the historic unrest taking place in the
Arab world – unrest that is at its height and far from over if such a thing
can actually end; and of course Iran’s ongoing efforts to develop nuclear
weapons. Iran’s goal is to take over the entire Middle East and beyond, and
to destroy the State of Israel. This is not speculation; this is their goal. Israel and the United States agree that Iran must be
prevented from arming itself with nuclear weapons. Just days ago, the Iranian
president said at the UN that Iran is only interested in civilian nuclear
power. That’s what he said. I do not believe him, but anyone interested in
examining his statement should ask the Iranian regime one simple question –
if you only want peaceful nuclear energy, why do you insist on centrifuges to
enrich uranium and on plutonium reactors? Neither of these things is
necessary to produce peaceful nuclear energy. There is no need for them;
however they are the essential components for producing fissile material for
nuclear weapons. This must be understood – they are not needed at all for
peaceful purposes. Seventeen countries, including some of the leading countries
in the world – Canada, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Indonesia with a
quarter of a million people – and many others produce nuclear energy without
centrifuges, without plutonium reactors. Only someone who wants to produce fissile material
for nuclear bombs insists on these components – not only insists, but is
willing to inflict great suffering on his people because this insistence
involves sanctions and dictates by the Security Council. Why do they do this?
Perhaps they are lacking energy resources? They have gas and oil. I mention
natural gas on purpose because it is immediately available for industry and
for everything else. They have so many resources that they can provide for
the needs of considerable areas of the world for many years with what they
have, certainly for the needs of their own country. Therefore, the
international community should take the following position vis-à-vis Iran –
we are ready to reach a diplomatic resolution, but only one that dismantles
Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons. In other words, no centrifuges or
enriched uranium, no plutonium reactor. As long as Iran does not dismantle its centrifuges
and plutonium reactors, the sanctions must not be eased at all. On the
contrary, they should be increased. The truth is simple, it is clear, it cuts like a razor through the fog they are
trying to create. If their intentions are peaceful, they will agree. If they
are not peaceful, they will not agree. But perhaps the formula should be put
simply as follows: they dismantle, they receive; they don’t dismantle, they
don’t receive. And this is a difficult struggle because it is human nature to
hope, to believe, to try – we are willing to try but not to conduct an open
experiment without criteria and certainly not without a realistic and
clear-sighted view. Parallel with the attempt to stop Iran’s nuclear
armament and preserve the peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, we are
interested in bringing the conflict with the Palestinians to an end.
Achieving a genuine and secure peace, with real security and not just on
paper but on the ground – for us, our children, our grandchildren – this is
the greatest wish of all citizens of Israel. In order to bring about an end
to the conflict, the root of the conflict must be understood. I bring this up because, in my opinion, in all the
discussions regarding the conflict with the Palestinians, at least one thing
has been achieved and that is that whoever believed that it was the core of
the conflict in the Middle East – well, now it is difficult to say such a
thing without sounding absurd. It is not the core of the conflict – not what
is happening in Libya or Tunisia or Algeria or Egypt or Yemen or Syria or
Iraq and so on and so forth. But for years they told us that the core of the
conflict in the Middle East was the Palestinian matter and… how shall I put
this? That sacred cow is one of the victims of the Arab revolution. However, there is a second sacred cow in equal
measure. When people are asked what the root of the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict is – since if you want to provide a solution or fix a certain
problem, first you must correctly diagnose the illness. Well, when asked what
the root of the conflict is, people usually have an answer at the ready: the
occupation, the territories, the settlements and so
on – it is all the same. Israel “taking control of the territories”, the area
of Judea and Samaria after the Six Day War, the settlements – this is what
sustains the conflict, this is what created the
conflict for the most part. And I ask, is it really? In my opinion, if one must choose a process by which
the conflict started in actual fact, I would set the date at 1921 on the day
on which the Palestinian Arabs attacked the immigration hostel in Jaffa. And even before 1967, for 19 years, they had us in a
chokehold; there was a stranglehold around us with the sole goal of uprooting
us, of extinguishing our lives. What was that about? There were no
territories then either. There was no occupation, unless Tel Aviv is occupied
and Jaffa is occupied. There were no settlements for 46 years, from 1921 to
1967, nearly half a century. We were excoriated by the Arab public unrelated
to settlements, unrelated to what is presented as the historic heart of the
struggle. I say these things because I can – well, so it ended there, but
later everything changed. Later on, events developed as they developed. We
withdrew from Gaza, every last centimeter. We uprooted communities and the
attacks against us continued – approximately 10,000 missiles were fired at us
from Gazan territory, from territories from which
we withdrew. And when we ask those who launch the missiles and those who
stand behind them: why do you fire at Jews? They say: in order to free
Palestine. And what is Palestine? Judea and Samaria? No. Of course, they are
part of it, but they say: Beer Sheva and Ashkelon, Majdal and Acre and Jaffa. Fine, those who say such
things belong to Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but the more moderate elements in
Judea and Samaria, the Palestinian Authority – it is true that they do not
engage in terror and this is an important distinction. They do not engage in
terror, but when they are asked to say: Well, do you recognize? Not in Judea
and Samaria, not in the West Bank, but are you ready finally to recognize the
Jewish state? They answer: We are prepared to recognize the Israeli people;
we are ready to recognize Israel. I say, that is not the question I am
asking: are you prepared to recognize the Jewish state, the nation state of
the Jewish people? And the answer so far has been no. Why not? During my speech here four years ago, I said that
the solution is a demilitarized Palestinian state. The reason for
demilitarization is clear to everyone in light of our experience – true and
ongoing demilitarization with very clear security arrangements and no
international forces. But a Jewish state – recognize the Jewish state. Why
are you not willing to recognize the Jewish state? We are willing to
recognize your nation state, and that is at great cost – it involves
territories, our ancestral lands, which is not insignificant. And I say this
as well – this is a very difficult thing. But you need to make a series of
concessions too and the first concession is to give up your dream of the
right of return. We will not be satisfied with recognition of the Israeli
people or of some kind of binational state which
will later be flooded by refugees. This is the nation state of the Jewish
people. If they want, Jews immigrate to this country. Palestinian Arabs, if
they want, will go there. Recognize the Jewish state. As long as you refuse
to do so, there will never be peace. Recognize our right to live here in our
own sovereign state, our nation state – only then will peace be possible. I emphasize this here – this is an essential
condition. There are other conditions important for concluding the
negotiations – not for conducting negotiations, but for concluding them, but
I mention this because the political process with the Palestinians involves
resolving complicated problems. It will be deemed successful only if it is
built on the foundations of truth, the truth of the present and historic
truth and unfortunately, the truth that is under constant attack from our
enemies and opponents. They try to undermine the ancient connection of our
people with the Land of Israel and obfuscate the basic facts of the conflict
between us and the Palestinians in the 20th century. For example, several days ago, I heard Iran’s representative
half-heartedly comment on the Nazi crimes – it is difficult for them to say
Holocaust – but immediately he added vigorously that one shouldn’t allow the
Zionists to take advantage of the Nazi crimes, i.e. the Holocaust, in order
to harm the Palestinians. Iran’s representatives repeat time and again the
familiar trope that the Holocaust occurred without any connection to the
Palestinian question and only later the Zionist leaders came along and made
use of the Holocaust to repress the Palestinians. Well, what are the facts?
The undisputed leader of the Palestinian national movement in the first half
of the 20th century was Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini. The Mufti was the living
spirit behind those same attacks I described, from 1921 in Jaffa through the
Second World War. All this is known, but here are some facts about the
Mufti’s activities that are less well known: On November 28, 1941, the Mufti flew to Berlin and
met with Hitler. He expressed to Hitler his readiness to cooperate with
Germany in any way. And he did so – both by recruiting Muslim fighters to
join the ranks of the S.S. in the Balkans and by broadcasting propaganda for
the Nazis. Here is a typical example of the propaganda broadcast by the Mufti
in 1942. I quote, “If England is defeated and its allies overwhelmed, it will
provide a final solution to the Jewish question, which in our mind is the
greatest danger”. Between 1942 and 1944, he worked from his base in Berlin
and tried to prevent Jews from being saved – in Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Croatia – countries which, despite being enslaved to
Hitler, allowed the Jews to escape to the Land of Israel and other places. The Mufti protested to the Nazis that they hadn’t
provided enough resources to prevent the escape of the refugee Jews from the
Balkans. In his testimony at the Nuremberg Trials on August 6, 1947, the
German commander Wilhelm Melchers said, “The Mufti made his protests known
everywhere, in the Bureau of the Foreign Minister and the State Minister and
in other headquarters of the S.S.” On May 13, 1943, for example, the Mufti
submitted a letter to the Nazi Foreign Minister Ribbentrop in which he
objected to the understandings Germany made which allowed for the deportation
of 4,000 Jewish children from Bulgaria. He asked to see, “everyone,” and I
quote, “everyone wiped out”. Eichmann’s deputy, Dieter Wisliceny,
provided the following chilling testimony at Nuremberg: “The Mufti played a
role in the decision to destroy the Jews of Europe. The importance of his
role cannot be ignored. The Mufti repeatedly proposed to the authorities with
whom he was in contact, first and foremost Hitler, Ribbentrop and Himmler, to
destroy the European Jews. He saw in that an appropriate solution to the
Palestinian question”. Wisliceny even provided hearsay
evidence that the Mufti was directly involved in the Final Solution. “The
Mufti was one of the initiators of the methodical destruction of the Jews of
Europe and was a partner and consultant to Eichmann and Hitler on how to
execute the plan. He was one of Eichmann’s best friends and constantly pushed
him to speed up the destruction. With my own ears,” he said, “I heard him say
that he visited the gas chambers of Auschwitz anonymously in the company of
Eichmann”. Ladies and Gentlemen, As opposed to the things being said by Iran’s
representatives and others, the Zionist leaders did not use the Holocaust to
destroy the Palestinian national movement. On the contrary, the most senior
Palestinian leader at the time, the Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini preached and
acted to implement the Holocaust in order to destroy the Zionist movement. It
almost worked. European Jewry was indeed wiped out, in part because of the
Mufti’s efforts, but Zionism was not wiped out and the State of Israel was
established. I mention these things here because these roots,
this poisonous tumor, must be uprooted. The Mufti is still an admired figure
in the Palestinian national movement. Go look at websites, go to schools, look at schoolbooks. This is the tumor that must be
removed, this is the root of the conflict, this is what keeps it alive and
the root of the conflict was and remains that which has been repeated for
over 90 years – the profound objection by the hard core of Palestinians to
the right of the Jewish people to its own country in the Land of Israel. In
order for the current process to be significant, in order for it to have a
real chance for success, it is essential that we finally hear from the
Palestinian leadership that it recognizes the right of the Jewish people to
its own country, the State of Israel. I very much hope that it will happen so
that we can move toward a real resolution of the conflict. There are many other subjects that we will of course
have to resolve during the negotiations. First and foremost, there must be a
real and sustainable solution to Israel’s security needs in the unstable and
dangerous region in which live, because even if we do achieve this
recognition, after years of incitement that still continues, we have no
assurance that this recognition will filter down into all levels of
Palestinian society and that is why we need very solid security arrangements,
so that we will be able to defend the peace and defend ourselves if the peace
is violated. This is a realistic and responsible approach, one that is ready
to move forward but not blindly. This reminds me of another issue. I think an
essential condition for reaching a genuine resolution clearly was and remains
the reversal of the refusal to recognize the right of the Jews to a nation
state of their own in the land of their ancestors and this too is the most
important key to resolving the conflict, recognition of this right. I believe in the power of the people of Israel and I
believe in the power of the State of Israel. What we have accomplished over
the last 65 years is indeed wondrous. Today we mark 40 years since the Yom
Kippur War. In the ensuing 40 years, the population of Israel has increased
two-and-a-half fold. Israel’s GNP has increased 25 times. That is like taking
25 economies of the State of Israel and placing them side by side. We can
mark achievements in all fields – in immigrant absorption, immigration,
technology, freeing up the economy, developing the Negev and the Galilee, in
the cyber city we are building in Beer Sheva, in
the biotech city which will be established now in Safed,
which is rising before our very eyes. These are tremendous things. We did not wait for our
neighbors in order to develop our country. We continue to do so. There is a
connection between the two things – as long as we continue to grow our power,
as long as we fortify our country, as long as we build our economy, as long
as we strengthen our society, as long as we are strong – there is a chance
that this change will also occur among our neighbors. We cannot give up on
this – it is essential for safeguarding our future and ensuring our safety. Thank you. _____________________________________________________ Footnotes and Further Reading [1] “The Real Netanyahu: Is he
defending Israel?”; Historical and
Investigative Research; 18 July, 2010; by Francisco Gil-White [2] Op-Ed: Whitewashing the Palestinian Leadership-Part
II; Israel National News; Tuesday,
June 17, 2003; by Francisco Gil White [3] Moshe Feiglin produced the
following two published mentions of Husseini’s role in the extermination of
the European Jews: http://www.hirhome.com/israel/manhigut.pdf http://www.hirhome.com/israel/manhigut_email.htm For more context, read: “Leaders
Lied, Jews died: Why have Israeli leaders been lying to their fellow citizens
about the PLO/Fatah?”; Historical and
Investigative Research; 10 July 2007; by Francisco Gil-White (with the
editorial assistance of Ted Belman) [4] “Fatah Declares War
over Temple Mount: ‘Green Light’ on Terror: While Fatah head Abbas talks to
Israel, Fatah’s armed wing declares war over Jewish visits to the Temple
Mount”; Israel National News; 10
September, 2013; by Maayana Miskin. [5] Newsday (New York, NY), September 8, 2002
Sunday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION, Pg. A05, 1333
words, WEST BANK; Inside the Crucible; An occasional series on te Israel-Palestine conflict; Militia Goes More Quietly;
Al-Aqsa changes tactics after losses, By Matthew McAllester.
MIDDLE EAST CORRESPONDENT [6] The quotation comes from the German Nazi minutes of
the meeting. (The link below reproduces the entire document.) Author:
Germany. Auswärtiges Amt
[Foreign Ministry]. Title: Documents on German foreign policy, 1918-1945,
from the archives of the German Foreign Ministry. Akten
zur deutschen auswärtigen Politik.
English Publisher: Washington, U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1949- Description:
Book v. fold. maps. 24 cm.;
Series D, Vol. XIII no. 515. NOTE: You may read the entire document at: [7] Barnett, D., & Karsh, E. (2011). Azzam's
Genocidal Threat. Middle East Quarterly,
18(4), 85-88. [8] “PLO/Fatah's Nazi
training was CIA-sponsored”; Historical
and Investigative Research; 22 July 2007; by Francisco Gil-White http://www.hirhome.com/israel/cia-fatah.htm [9] “The mufti [Hajj
Amin] barely escaped trial for [war crimes] by fleeing to Egypt in 1946.
There he made young Yasser Arafat, then living in Cairo, his protégé. The
mufti secretly imported a former Nazi commando officer into Egypt to teach
Mr. Arafat and other teenage recruits the fine points of guerrilla warfare
[NOTE: In fact, these Nazis
were sent to Egypt by the CIA]. Mr. Arafat
learned his lessons well; the mufti was so proud of him he even pretended the
two of them were blood relations.” SOURCE:
Washington Times; August 9, 2002; "Yasser Arafat: Nazi trained", by
David N. Bossie. [10] “By [1970]…the splinterization of the guerilla ranks largely dictated
the altered nature of their offensive against Israel. Nominally, most of them
belonged to an umbrella coordinating federation, the Palestine Liberation
Organization. Yet this prewar, Egyptian-dominated group had been seriously
crippled by the June debacle, and its leader, Ahmed Shukeiry,
had been forced into retirement. Since then, the PLO had experienced less a
revival than a total reincarnation of membership and purpose under
the leadership of Yasser Arafat. Consisting ostensibly of representatives
of all guerilla organizations, the PLO in its resurrected form was almost
entirely Fatah-dominated, and Arafat himself served as president of
its executive. In this capacity he was invited to attend meetings of the
Arab League, and won extensive subsidies from the oil-rich governments of
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf.” SOURCE: Sachar, H. 1982. A history of Israel: From the rise of
Zionism to our time. New York: Knopf. (p.698) |
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