Netanyahu Speaks… On Threat of Annihilation That Israel Faces from Iran

“It was not said only then, it is being said today. Iran’s ruler today says that ‘Israel is a cancerous tumor that must be removed from the Middle East.’ The murderous hatred that follows our people’s history has not vanished but [has been] replaced by a hatred against the Jewish state. What has changed since the Holocaust is our determination and ability to defend ourselves.

“We appreciate the international community’s efforts to stop Iran’s nuclear program but at no point will we place our fate in the hands of others, not even in the hands of our greatest friends.”

—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking at a ceremony on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day

Netanyahu Speaks… on Peace with Palestinians

“Israel seeks a peace with our Palestinian neighbors—a peace that will end our conflict once and for all. That peace must be grounded in reality; and it must be grounded in security. Israel withdrew from Lebanon; we withdrew from Gaza; we gave up territory. We got terror. We cannot allow that to happen a third time.

“Israel is prepared for a meaningful compromise. But as Israel’s Prime Minister, I will never compromise on our security. We must work together to find a realistic path forward—and I think that path has to be a measured step-by-step process in which we work to advance to a verifiable, durable and defensible peace.

“It has to be defensible, because in the Middle East, especially in this Middle East, a peace you cannot defend will not hold for five minutes. It has to be verifiable, because as we move from one step to another, we have to make sure that we can not only defend ourselves but also that our neighbors are actually telling their people, educating their children to live in peace.

“This is something we desperately want. We yearn for peace, we pray for peace, and with President Obama, we shall work for peace.”

—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee

Netanyahu Speaks… on Syrian Situation

“Over the last two years, over 70,000 Syrians have been killed. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded and maimed. Millions have been forced to flee their homes.

“Besides this humanitarian crisis of great tragedy, Syria could soon become a strategic crisis. Syria is a very poor country, but it has chemical weapons, anti-aircraft weapons, and many other of the world’s most deadly and sophisticated arms. As the Syrian regime collapses, the danger of these weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups is very real. Terror groups such as Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are trying to seize these weapons as we speak.

“These terror groups are committed to Israel’s destruction. They have repeatedly attacked the United States. They are global terrorist organizations that can perpetrate terror attacks anywhere in the world. We’ve just seen that, in Cyprus, in Bulgaria, everywhere. This is why we have a common interest in preventing them from obtaining these deadly weapons.”

—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, addressing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee

“I’ll Donate Compensation to Hamas”

A Turkish citizen, who was a passenger on the Mavi Marmara flotilla, announced that he will donate any compensation from Israel to Hamas and Islamic Jihad. Mehmet Tunc declared that he would not touch even “one Turkish lira.”

Tunc told reporters in Istanbul that nine of his friends had been “martyred” by the Israeli forces when Israeli Defense Forces [IDF] soldiers acted “against international law.” Last month Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to Erdogan [Turkish prime minister] over the deaths of nine Turkish citizens in the IDF raid on the Gaza-bound Marmara ship.

The sides agreed to normalize relations and halt legal proceedings against IDF commanders and soldiers. It was also agreed that Israel would transfer funds to a humanitarian fund that would compensate the victims’ families.

—Excerpts of an article by Roi Kais, Ynetnews.com