Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Blasts United Nations - "Have You No Shame?" - Video 9/24/09
Here is video (CH: short but excellent clip, 1:40 minutes) of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasting the United Nations for giving a forum to Iranian thug-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad yesterday.
"The man who called the Holocaust a lie spoke at this podium. To those who refused to come and to those who left in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries. But to those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere -- have you no shame? Have you no decency?"
by Maayana Miskin Tishrei 6, 5770 / September 24, '09 http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133588
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Binyamin “Bibi” Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday night. Netanyahu slammed Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the recent UN report on Gaza. He defended Jewish rights in the land of Israel while expressing willingness to create a Palestinian Authority-led Arab state in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu began by taking Ahmadinejad to task for his denial of the Holocaust. He criticized those who remained seated during Ahmadinejad's speech the night before, asking, “Do those who listened to Ahmadinejad have no shame, no decency?” (CH: Netanyahu had in his hands the blueprints for one of the concentration camps, authorized with a signature by Himmler y"s - He went on to ask , "Is Himmler a liar?")
'Will You Accept this Farce?'
Netanyahu then turned to the subject of the recent UN report condemning Israel for its counter-terror offensive in Gaza in December 2008 and January 2009. The UN is undermining its own legitimacy by siding with terrorists over their victims, he accused.
"What a perversion of truth. What a perversion of justice,” Netanyahu said of the report.
There is only comparable instance in history in which a civilian populace was targeted by thousands of rockets, he said – the German bombardment of England during the Second World War. Allied troops responded to those attacks by flattening German cities, killing hundreds of thousands of people, he reminded those present. “I'm not here to judge,” he added, “I'm just stating facts.”
Today's UN would have condemned then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, he said.
UN Bias Hurts Chances for Peace
The UN's criticism of Israeli self-defense does more than just undermine the UN's status, Netanyahu said. By accusing Israel of war crimes over its response to years of rocket attacks, the UN is seriously harming the chances for peace between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, he warned.
In 2005, Israel withdrew from Gaza, Netanyahu recalled. Many Israelis agreed to the withdrawal only because they believed that by leaving the territory, Israel would gain international support when fighting aggression from Gaza terrorists, he said. By demonstrating that concessions do not bring international support for Israel's right to self-defense, the UN weakens the chances for similar concessions in the future, he concluded.
Peace – and Effective Demilitarization
As his speech drew to a close, Netanyahu told those present that Israel is willing to make peace with the PA and with any country that genuinely seeks peace. He pointed to Israel's treaties with Jordan and Egypt as proof of the nation's willingness to compromise for peace.
Peace with the PA will be based on the principle of “two states for two peoples,” he said, a principle outlined by the UN more than 60 years ago. However, he said, the PA must accept “two states for two peoples” as well – by accepting that Israel is the state for the Jewish people.
Jewish rights in Israel must be recognized, he said. "The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the land of Israel,” Netanyahu declared.
Finally, Netanyahu declared that Israel is seeking only genuine peace, which means a genuinely demilitarized PA state. A PA state “must be effectively demilitarized. I say effectively because we don't want another Gaza, another south Lebanon, another Iranian terror base... we want peace.”
NEW YORK (JTA) -- Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.N. General Assembly that the Goldstone report on the Gaza war presents the United Nations with a choice: Support Israel or terrorists.
“The jury’s still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging,” Israel’s prime minister said Thursday in his speech, the last of the General Assembly addresses by world leaders. “Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here in the United Nations have condemned their victims. This is exactly what a recent U.N. report on Gaza did, falsely equating terrorists with those they targeted.”
Netanyahu was referring to the report by South African jurist Richard Goldstone on the 2009 Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, which accused both Israel and Hamas of war crimes for targeting civilians. Israel said it went to great lengths to spare the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza during the war.
Noting that the United Nations failed to issue a resolution condemning Palestinian rocket fire from Gaza after Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005, Netanyahu said U.N. members must dismiss the Goldstone recommendations if Israel is to take further risks for peace.
“This biased and unjust report provides a clear-cut test for all governments: Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?” Netanyahu said. “We must know the answer to that question now, not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow. Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risk for peace.”
The Palestinian representative in the plenum walked out midway through Netanyahu’s address. Someone else yelled at Netanyahu after he concluded his speech, as he was exiting the General Assembly.
During his address, Netanyahu garnered applause when he said Israel wants to live beside the Palestinians in peace, prosperity and dignity. “As deeply connected as we are to our homeland, we also recognize that the Palestinians also live there and they want a home of their own. We want to live side by side with them,” he said.
The Israeli prime minister also used his speech to press U.N. member nations to take a stand against Iran, calling the “marriage between religious fundamentalism and weapons of mass destruction” the most dangerous threat the world faces today.
Referring to the Iranian regime as the “tyrants of Tehran” and “dictators who stole an election in broad daylight,” Netanyahu concluded, “The question for the international community is whether it’s prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them.”
September 24, 2009 http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/09/24/netanyahu-condemns-allowing-ahmadinejad-deliver-address/
Holding aloft evidence of Hitler's Final Solution, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday railed against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his denial of the Holocaust and scolded the United Nations for allowing Ahmadinejad to speak during its opening session of the 64th U.N. General Assembly.
With detailed reminders in hand of the war that sent 6 million Jews to their deaths in concentration camps, including construction blueprints for Auschwitz, Netanyahu took his turn at the dais to recall the agreement within the world body to create the Jewish state and express astonishment at what he witnessed a day earlier in that organization's great hall.
He commended those who boycotted Ahmadinejad's speech, but condemned those who allowed it.
"To those who gave this Holocaust denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people. ... Have you no shame? Have you no decency?" Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also scolded the United Nations for giving the Iranian president "legitimacy" just six decades after the Holocaust. Ahmadinejad addressed the body Wednesday, and in the run-up to the session repeated his belief that the Holocaust is a myth.
"What a disgrace," Netanyahu said. "What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations."
Netanyahu challenged the international community to step up and prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, but expressed broad disappointment with the United Nations.
He accused the United Nations of remaining silent on attacks on Israelis from Hamas, and blasted the U.N. Human Rights Council for its "twisted standards."
The Human Rights Council issued a recent report that condemned Israel for its offensive in the Gaza Strip last January. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice last week called the report, conducted by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, "unbalanced, one sided and basically unacceptable," but the White House on Wednesday corrected a report that it would not allow the findings to reach the International Criminal Court.
"What a travesty," Netanyahu said. "Israel justly defended itself against terror."
He said the latest report presents a test to the international community: "Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists?"
Netanyahu drew applause only when he talked about the need for a Palestinian state and when he finished his speech.
The day before, President Obama also drew heavy applause when he declared that "America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." Obama called for Palestinians to end their "incitement of Israel" as well, but that line did not trigger a response from the audience.
Obama earlier met with Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in a bid to re-start peace talks. It's unclear how Israel will respond to the U.S. president's firm declaration on the settlements. Netanyahu, while suggesting Israel is open to a temporary freeze on West Bank settlements, told FOX News Tuesday that the settlers must be allowed to extend the "possibility of normal life."
He said the settlers need schools, health clinics and other buildings, and that he believes the issue should come at the end of negotiations -- not the beginning.
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