Israel Prime Minister Returns a Deafening Silence

The Prime Minister railed against the United Nations’ silence

1 Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returns the United Nations' deafening silence. October 1, 2015. (Screen capture: YouTube)

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly yesterday. As expected, he blasted the recent nuclear deal with Iran and highlighted its threat to Israel.

The Prime Minister railed against the United Nations’ silence over Iran’s most recent threats against Israel. He accused the UN of “deafening silence” in the face of Iran’s public and blatant communications of its intentions to destroy Israel. Netanyahu then delivered a profound, 45-second “deafening silence” of his own to the assembly.

Leading up to the dramatic moment, the Prime Minister noted:

We see a world celebrating this bad deal, rushing to embrace and do business with a regime openly committed to our destruction.

Last week Major General Salehi, commander of Iran’s army, proclaimed this: quote, ‘We will annihilate Israel for sure. We are glad that we are in the forefront of executing the Supreme Leader’s order to destroy Israel,’ end quote.

And as for the Supreme Leader himself, a few days after the nuclear deal was announced, he released his latest book. Here it is (YouTube).

Holding up a copy of the Khamenei’s book, Netanyahu continued:

"It’s a 400-page screed detailing his plan to destroy the State of Israel. Last month, Khamenei once again made his genocidal intentions clear. Before Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts, he spoke about Israel, home to over six billion Jews. He pledged, quote ‘there will be no Israel in 25 years’ end quote. Seventy years after the murder of 6 million Jews, Iran’s rulers promised to destroy my country, murder my people, and the response from this body, the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here, has been absolutely nothing. Utter silence. Deafening silence (YouTube, time mark 14:32-15:49)."

Perhaps you can now understand why Israel is not joining you in celebrating this deal.

For nearly a minute of uncomfortable quiet, a stern-faced Netanyahu gazed around the assembly hall, letting the deafening silence of the moment highlight the seriousness of his point (YouTube, time mark 15:49–16:34).  After 45 seconds, he continued:

"Perhaps you can now understand why Israel is not joining you in celebrating this deal. If Iran’s rulers were working to destroy your country, perhaps you’d be less enthusiastic about the deal. If Iran’s terror proxies were firing thousands of rockets at your cities, perhaps you’d be more measured in your praise. And if this deal were unleashing a nuclear arms race in your neighborhood, perhaps you’d be more reluctant to celebrate (YouTube)."

Netanyahu went on to warn that Iran is a danger to more than Israel alone, pointing out that they are building intercontinental missiles to carry nuclear warheads meant for Europe and America.  He noted that Iran already has missiles that can reach Israel, adding, “so those intercontinental ballistic missiles that Iran is building, they’re not for us; they’re for you. For Europe. For America” (YouTube).

He noted that “the Jewish People have learned the heavy price of silence” throughout their history, and he received applause and a standing ovation when he emphatically declared, “As Prime Minister of the Jewish State…I refuse to be silent” (YouTube).

“The days when the Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies – those days are over,” Netanyahu stated, adding that not being passive means both speaking up and defending itself against the dangers.  “Israel will not allow Iran to break in, to sneak in, or to walk into the nuclear weapons club” (YouTube).

Acknowledging the international community’s goal to prevent a nuclear Iran, Netanyahu followed with, “But no one should question Israel’s determination to defend itself against those who seek our destruction” (YouTube). The Times of Israel notes, “In a message to Iran’s leaders, Netanyahu says ‘Your plan to destroy Israel will fail. Israel will not permit any force on earth to threaten its future’” (Times of Israel).

The PM’s speech went on to affirm Israel’s common ground with its ally the United States, to call for “lasting partnerships” with its Arab neighbors (Times of Israel), and to declare his readiness to “immediately resume peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority without preconditions” (Times of Israel).

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