We cannot live in a situation where Iran has nuclear weapons… If Iran develops a nuclear weapon, that will be unacceptable to us and we will have to follow suit. —Senior Saudi Official and close friend of Prince Turki al-Faisal, June 29, 2011.
The Iranian nuclear issue has been getting worse… But I assure you,… that the South Korean government is committed to strongly support and participate in international efforts to resolve the issue of Iran’s nuclear development. —South Korean Deputy Foreign Minister Kim Jae-shin, January 17, 2012.
ϟ Oh, by the way, Iran’s leader said he wants to destroy Israel
And defeat the US, too.
From Israel HaYom:
Israel has, for years, cautioned against Iran’s intentions and the dangers of its nuclear ambitions, but on Wednesday former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar gave the world yet another reason to heed those warnings. Aznar, speaking to a crowd in Jerusalem, recalled a meeting with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in which he expressed his intention to destroy Israel.
“In a private discussion we held in Tehran in October of 2000, Ali Khamenei told me that Israel must be burned to the ground and made to disappear from the face of the Earth,” Aznar told the audience. The former Spanish prime minister went on to say that Iran’s spiritual leader also said that “Iran’s war against the United States and Israel is inevitable.”
Aznar was in Israel as a guest of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, currently headed by former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dr. Dore Gold.
Gold asked him, “When Khamenei was talking about wiping Israel off the map, was he referring to a gradual historical process involving the collapse of the Zionist state, or rather its physical-military termination?”
Aznar answered, “He meant physical termination through military force.” The former Spanish leader also told the crowd that Khamenei described Israel as “an historical cancer, an anomaly,” and said that he was “working toward Iran defeating the United States and Israel in an inevitable war against them.”
This is only surprising to Juan Cole’s acolytes, who won’t believe it anyway.
Iran not only wants to attain nuclear weapons but… has, compared to virtually all other holders of nuclear weapons in the past, far less fear of using them… [The Iranian regime] is a gross violator of human rights; …based on an extreme fundamentalist version of its particular religion; …makes threats to its neighbours; and, …is clearly and unequivocally moving towards, not just the production of nuclear weapons, but the acquisition of delivery systems for nuclear weapons. This is a very dangerous situation. —Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, February 3, 2012.
In addition to threatening Israel, a nuclear-armed Iran would embolden its terrorist clientele and would spark an arms race that could destabilize the region. This is unacceptable. It is unacceptable to the United States. It is unacceptable to Israel. It is unacceptable to the region and the international community. —U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, March 22, 2010.
We cannot live with a nuclear Iran. —United Arab Emirates ambassador to the U.S. Yousef al-Otaiba, July 6, 2010.
“In a world where nuclear weapons could soon be in the hands of a rogue nation like Iran, an Israeli preemptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities would be fully justified. Despite its ban on aggressive war, Article 51 of the United Nations Charter clearly recognizes a state’s inherent right to self-defense. Thus, Israel has full authority to act unilaterally or collectively in its self-defense.”
ϟ Netanyahu’s Holocaust Speech Devoted to Iran Threat
In hard hitting speech, Prime Minister says it is his duty to warn the people of Israel of existential danger.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu delivered a hard hitting speech centering on the Iranian threat, in the central Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony at Yad Vashem Wednesday. Such a direct reference to current events and politics in the Holocaust Memorial is unusual.
“On this day, we must realize a supreme obligation, and this obligation is not just to remember the past but also to learn its lessons, and most importantly – to implement these lessons, in order to continue to safeguard our nation’s future,” said Netanyahu. “This is especially true in our generation, which again faces the call to destroy the Jewish nation.”
Netanyahu took aim at unspecified critics who accuse him of spreading needless fear and panic. “I ask – have these people lost all faith in the people of Israel? Do they think that this nation, which overcame such great difficulties, does not have enough strength to overcome this new danger?”
Netanyahu stressed that the right way of facing danger is not by denying its existence. He reminded the audience that previous prime ministers did not hide the dangers facing Israel from the nation, in the periods before the wars in 1948 and 1967.
“I believe is our power to defend ourselves from those who seek to kill us,” he said. “People who make light of the Iranian threat have learned nothing from the Holocaust. There were always people among us who preferred to mock people who said uncomfortable truths. They did so with [Zionist leader Ze’ev] Jabotinsky who warned the Jews of Poland of the approaching Holocaust.”
“I will continue to tell the truth to the world – but first and foremost, to my nation. The truth is that a nuclear armed Iran is an existential threat to the State of Israel and also a grave threat to the rest of the world,” he said. “The memory of the Holocaust is not just a ceremonial matter. The memory of the Holocaust is a practical commandment to learn the lessons of the past in order to guarantee the foundations of the future. We will never bury our heads in the sand. The People of Israel lives and the Eternity of Israel shall not lie .”
Via - INN
While Israel marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, Iran is playing Holocaust-denying cartoons on public television, Channel 2 News reported on Wednesday night.
עם ישראל חי. אויבינו ניסו לקבור את העתיד היהודי, אבל עתידנו נולד מחדש בארץ אבותינו. כיום קורא ופועל המשטר האיראני בגלוי להשמדתנו. היום יש לנו מדינה וצבא. יש לנו היכולות, החובה והנחישות להגן על עצמנו.
לעולם לא נטמון את ראשנו בחול. עם ישראל חי. ונצח ישראל לא ישקר!
Our enemies tried to deny us our future, but we rose again, in the land of our forefathers. Today, the Iranian regime openly calls (and acts) for our destruction. This time however, we have our own country, our own army. We have the capability, the duty and the determination to defend ourselves. We will never bury our heads in the sand. The People of Israel live And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent
Benjamin Netanyahu speaking during the Yom HaShoah ceremony at Yad Vashem.
ϟ Menachem Begin on the Lessons of the Holocaust
In May 1981, then prime minister Menachem Begin, addressing 30 young American Jewish leaders visiting Israel, was asked what he thought the lesson of the Holocaust was.
This question was directed to Menachem Begin in 1981, while he served as Israel’s prime minister, by a group of young American Jews. Begin, one of the great Jewish leaders of the 20th century, experienced the horrors of the Holocaust first hand. His parents and older brother were murdered by the Germans, and he endured almost a year and a half as a prisoner in a USSR labor camp for Polish fighters
His answer (published recently by the Americans for a Safe Israel in their Outpost magazine, November 2010) is more than relevant today; it resonates with ideas and values that should be part of the upbringing of every Jew, and should inform the policies of current Jewish leaders regarding the Arabs of the land of Israel, Iran, and Jewish life across the globe. For sure, the week between Yom HaShoah and Yom Ha’atzmaut is an ideal time to reflect on these matters.
Begin’s words follow:
I believe the lessons of the Holocaust are these.
First, if an enemy of our people says he seeks to destroy us, believe him. Don’t doubt him for a moment. Don’t make light of it. Do all in your power to deny him the means of carrying out his satanic intent. (Note: one month later, Begin dispatched Israel’s Air Force to destroy the Iraqi nuclear facility at Osirak.)
Second, when a Jew anywhere in the world is threatened or under attack, do all in your power to come to his aid. Never pause to wonder what the world will think or say. The world will never pity slaughtered Jews. The world may not necessarily like the fighting Jew, but the world will have to take account of him.
Third, a Jew must learn to defend himself. He must forever be prepared for whenever threat looms.
Fourth, Jewish dignity and honor must be protected in all circumstances. The seeds of Jewish destruction lie in passively enabling the enemy to humiliate us. Only when the enemy succeeds in turning the spirit of the Jew into dust and ashes in life, can he turn the Jew into dust and ashes in death. During the Holocaust it was after the enemy had humiliated the Jews, trampled them underfoot, divided them, deceived them, afflicted them, drove brother against brother, only then could he lead them, almost without resistance, to the gates of Auschwitz. Therefore, at all times and whatever the cost, safeguard the dignity and honor of the Jewish people.
Fifth, stand united in the face of the enemy. We Jews love life, for life is holy. But there are things in life more precious than life itself. There are times when one must risk life for the sake of rescuing the lives of others. And when the few risk their own lives for the sake of the many, then they, too, stand the chance of saving themselves.
Sixth, there is a pattern to Jewish history. In our long annals as a nation, we rise, we fall, we return, we are exiled, we are enslaved, we rebel, we liberate ourselves, we are oppressed once more, we rebuild, and again we suffer destruction, climaxing in our own lifetime in the calamity of calamities, the Holocaust, followed by the rebirth of the Jewish State.
So, yes, we have come full circle, and with G-d’s help, with the rebirth of sovereign Israel we have finally broken the historic cycle: no more destruction and no more defeats, and no more oppression – only Jewish liberty, with dignity and honor. These, I believe, are the underlying lessons to be learned from the unspeakable tragedy of the Holocaust.”
Those were the words of Menachem Begin exactly 30 years ago. In the ensuing decades, historic enemies have continued to attack, and new enemies have risen with new challenges and old threats. The people of Israel have been bloodied and the land of Israel dissected. We have experienced unparalleled moments of national unity, as well as heartrending and anguished periods of national strife. We have heard the cries of some Jews and ignored the pleas of others.
Yet, the hope always remains that the fulfillment of Jewish destiny is quite near – as near, in the language of the Gemara (Sanhedrin 98a), as “today, if we but hearken to His voice.” Then, and only then, our past sorrows will be overwhelmed by the tidings of salvation, Jewish national life will reach its apogee and we will greet Moshiach and the dawn of a new era with joy and gratitude.
(Source: rabbipruzansky.com)
