Britannia Radio

The relevant question is at what stage can we no longer stop 

 Iran from getting the bomb.

The red line should be drawn right here - Before Iran 

completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to 

make a bomb.

PM Netanyahu's Speech to the United Nations General Assembly in New York 


27/09/2012


http://www.pmo.gov.il/English/MediaCenter/Speeches/Pages/speechUN270912.aspx


Thank you very much Mr. President.

It's a pleasure to see the General Assembly presided by the Ambassador from 
Israel, and it's good to see all of you, distinguished delegates.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Three thousand years ago, King David reigned over the Jewish state in our 
eternal capital, Jerusalem. I say that to all those who proclaim that the 
Jewish state has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear.

Throughout our history, the Jewish people have overcome all the tyrants who 
have sought our destruction. It's their ideologies that have been discarded 
by history.

The people of Israel live on. We say in Hebrew Am Yisrael Chai, and the 
Jewish state will live forever.

The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years. 
Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jews continued to live in 
the land of Israel throughout the ages. The masses of our people never gave 
up the dreamed of returning to our ancient homeland.

Defying the laws of history, we did just that. We ingathered the exiles, 
restored our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people 
have come home.

We will never be uprooted again.

Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year.

Every year, for over three millennia, we have come together on this day of 
reflection and atonement. We take stock of our past. We pray for our future. 
We remember the sorrows of our persecution; we remember the great travails 
of our dispersion; we mourn the extermination of a third of our people, six 
million, in the Holocaust.

But at the end of Yom Kippur, we celebrate.

We celebrate the rebirth of Israel. We celebrate the heroism of our young 
men and women who have defended our people with the indomitable courage of 
Joshua, David, and the Maccabees of old. We celebrate the marvel of the 
flourishing modern Jewish state.

In Israel, we walk the same paths tread by our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and 
Jacob. But we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine, 
agriculture.

In Israel, the past and the future find common ground.

Unfortunately, that is not the case in many other countries. For today, a 
great battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval.

The forces of modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of all are 
protected, in which an ever-expanding digital library is available in the 
palm of every child, in which every life is sacred.

The forces of medievalism seek a world in which women and minorities are 
subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, in which not life but death is 
glorified.

These forces clash around the globe, but nowhere more starkly than in the 
Middle East.

Israel stands proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect the rights of 
all our citizens: men and women, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians – 
all are equal before the law.

Israel is also making the world a better place: our scientists win Nobel 
Prizes. Our know-how is in every cell-phone and computer that you're using. 
We prevent hunger by irrigating arid lands in Africa and Asia.

Recently, I was deeply moved when I visited Technion, one of our 
technological institutes in Haifa, and I saw a man paralyzed from the waist 
down climb up a flight of stairs, quite easily, with the aid of an Israeli 
invention.

And Israel's exceptional creativity is matched by our people's remarkable 
compassion. When disaster strikes anywhere in the world – in Haiti, Japan, 
India, Turkey Indonesia and elsewhere – Israeli doctors are among the first 
on the scene, performing life-saving surgeries.

In the past year, I lost both my father and my father-in-law. In the same 
hospital wards where they were treated, Israeli doctors were treating 
Palestinian Arabs. In fact, every year, thousands of Arabs from the 
Palestinian territories and Arabs from throughout the Middle East come to 
Israel to be treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors.

I know you're not going to hear that from speakers around this podium, but 
that's the truth. It's important that you are aware of this truth.

It’s because Israel cherishes life, that Israel cherishes peace and seeks 
peace.

We seek to preserve our historic ties and our historic peace treaties with 
Egypt and Jordan. We seek to forge a durable peace with the Palestinians.

President Abbas just spoke here.

I say to him and I say to you:

We won't solve our conflict with libelous speeches at the UN. That's not the 
way to solve it. We won't solve our conflict with unilateral declarations of 
statehood.

We have to sit together, negotiate together, and reach a mutual compromise, 
in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the one and only 
Jewish State.

Israel wants to see a Middle East of progress and peace. We want to see the 
three great religions that sprang forth from our region – Judaism, 
Christianity and Islam – coexist in peace and in mutual respect.

Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, whom you just saw storming the 
American embassies throughout the Middle East, they oppose this.

They seek supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world conquest. They 
want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They want to extinguish freedom. 
They want to end the modern world.

Militant Islam has many branches – from the rulers of Iran with their 
Revolutionary Guards to Al Qaeda terrorists to the radical cells lurking in 
every part of the globe.

But despite their differences, they are all rooted in the same bitter soil 
of intolerance. That intolerance is directed first at their fellow Muslims, 
and then to Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, secular people, anyone who 
doesn't submit to their unforgiving creed.

They want to drag humanity back to an age of unquestioning dogma and 
unrelenting conflict.

I am sure of one thing. Ultimately they will fail. Ultimately, light will 
penetrate the darkness.

We've seen that happen before.

Some five hundred years ago, the printing press helped pry a cloistered 
Europe out of a dark age. Eventually, ignorance gave way to enlightenment.

So too, a cloistered Middle East will eventually yield to the irresistible 
power of freedom and technology. When this happens, our region will be 
guided not by fanaticism and conspiracy, but by reason and curiosity.

I think the relevant question is this: it's not whether this fanaticism will 
be defeated. It's how many lives will be lost before it's defeated.

We've seen that happen before too.

Some 70 years ago, the world saw another fanatic ideology bent on world 
conquest. It went down in flames. But not before it took millions of people 
with it. Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long to act. In the 
end they triumphed, but at an horrific cost.

My friends, we cannot let that happen again.

At stake is not merely the future of my own country. At stake is the future 
of the world. Nothing could imperil our common future more than the arming 
of Iran with nuclear weapons.

To understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just 
imagine the world with a nuclear-armed Al-Qaeda.

It makes no difference whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the 
world's most dangerous terrorist regime or the world's most dangerous 
terrorist organization. They're both
fired by the same hatred; they're both driven by the same lust for violence.

Just look at what the Iranian regime has done up till now, without nuclear 
weapons.

In 2009, they brutally put down mass protests for democracy in their own 
country. Today, their henchmen are participating in the slaughter of tens of 
thousands of Syrian civilians, including thousands of children, directly 
participating in this murder.

They abetted the killing of American soldiers in Iraq and continue to do so 
in Afghanistan. Before that, Iranian proxies killed hundreds of American 
troops in Beirut and in Saudi Arabia.

They've turned Lebanon and Gaza into terror strongholds, embedding nearly 
100,000 missiles and rockets in civilian areas. Thousands of these rockets 
and missiles have already been fired at Israeli communities by their 
terrorist proxies.

In the last year, they've spread their international terror networks to two 
dozen countries across five continents – from India and Thailand to Kenya 
and Bulgaria. They've even plotted to blow up a restaurant a few blocks from 
the White House in order to kill a diplomat.

And of course, Iran's rulers repeatedly deny the Holocaust and call for 
Israel's destruction almost on a daily basis, as they did again this week 
from the United Nations.

So I ask you, given this record of Iranian aggression without nuclear 
weapons, just imagine Iranian aggression with nuclear weapons. Imagine their 
long range missiles tipped with nuclear
warheads, their terror networks armed with atomic bombs.

Who among you would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe in 
Europe? Who would be safe in America? Who would be safe anywhere?

There are those who believe that a nuclear-armed Iran can be deterred like 
the Soviet Union.

That's a very dangerous assumption.

Militant Jihadists behave very differently from secular Marxists. There were 
no Soviet suicide bombers. Yet Iran produces hordes of them.

Deterrence worked with the Soviets, because every time the Soviets faced a 
choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose their survival.

But deterrence may not work with the Iranians once they get nuclear weapons.

There's a great scholar of the Middle East, Prof. Bernard Lewis, who put it 
best. He said that for the Ayatollahs of Iran, mutually assured destruction 
is not a deterrent, it's an inducement.

Iran's apocalyptic leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in 
the wake of a devastating Holy War, thereby ensuring that their brand of 
radical Islam will rule the earth.

That's not just what they believe. That's what is actually guiding their 
policies and their actions.

Just listen to Ayatollah Rafsanjani who said, I quote: "The use of even one 
nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything, however it would only 
harm the Islamic world."

Rafsanjani said: "It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality."

Not irrational…

And that's coming from one of the so-called moderates of Iran.

Shockingly, some people have begun to peddle the absurd notion that a 
nuclear-armed Iran would actually stabilize the Middle East.

Yeah, right…

That's like saying a nuclear-armed Al-Qaeda would usher in an era of 
universal peace.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I've been speaking about the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear 
weapons for over 15 years.

I spoke about it in my first term in office as Prime Minister, and then I 
spoke about it when I left office. I spoke about it when it was fashionable, 
and I spoke about it when it wasn't fashionable.

I speak about it now because the hour is getting late, very late. I speak 
about it now because the Iranian nuclear calendar doesn't take time out for 
anyone or for anything. I speak about
it now because when it comes to the survival of my country, it's not only my 
right to speak; it's my duty to speak. And I believe that this is the duty 
of every responsible leader who wants to preserve world peace.

For nearly a decade, the international community has tried to stop the 
Iranian nuclear program with diplomacy.

That hasn't worked.

Iran uses diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy time to advance its 
nuclear program.

For over seven years, the international community has tried sanctions with 
Iran. Under the leadership of President Obama, the international community 
has passed some of the strongest sanctions to date.

I want to thank the governments represented here that have joined in this 
effort. It's had an effect. Oil exports have been curbed and the Iranian 
economy has been hit hard.

It's had an effect on the economy, but we must face the truth. Sanctions 
have not stopped Iran's nuclear program either.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, during the last year 
alone, Iran has doubled the number of centrifuges in its underground nuclear 
facility in Qom.

At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from 
getting atomic bombs. That's by placing a clear red line on Iran's nuclear 
weapons program.

Red lines don't lead to war; red lines prevent war.

Look at NATO's charter: it made clear that an attack on one member country 
would be considered an attack on all. NATO's red line helped keep the peace 
in Europe for nearly half a century.

President Kennedy set a red line during the Cuban Missile Crisis. That red 
line also prevented war and helped preserve the peace for decades.
In fact, it's the failure to place red lines that has often invited 
aggression.

If the Western powers had drawn clear red lines during the 1930s, I believe 
they would have stopped Nazi aggression and World War II might have been 
avoided.
In 1990, if Saddam Hussein had been clearly told that his conquest of Kuwait 
would cross a red line, the first Gulf War might have been avoided.

Clear red lines have also worked with Iran.

Earlier this year, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormouz. The 
United States drew a clear red line and Iran backed off.

Red lines could be drawn in different parts of Iran's nuclear weapons 
program. But to be credible, a red line must be drawn first and foremost in 
one vital part of their program: on Iran's efforts to enrich uranium. Now 
let me explain why:

Basically, any bomb consists of explosive material and a mechanism to ignite 
it.

The simplest example is gunpowder and a fuse. That is, you light the fuse 
and set off the gunpowder.

In the case of Iran's plans to build a nuclear weapon, the gunpowder is 
enriched uranium. The fuse is a nuclear detonator.

For Iran, amassing enough enriched uranium is far more difficult than 
producing the nuclear fuse.

For a country like Iran, it takes many, many years to enrich uranium for a 
bomb. That requires thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in very big 
industrial plants. Those Iranian plants are visible and they're still 
vulnerable.

In contrast, Iran could produce the nuclear detonator – the fuse – in a lot 
less time, maybe under a year, maybe only a few months.

The detonator can be made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. It 
may be very difficult to find and target that workshop, especially in Iran. 
That's a country that's bigger than France, Germany, Italy and Britain 
combined.

The same is true for the small facility in which they could assemble a 
warhead or a nuclear device that could be placed in a container ship. 
Chances are you won't find that facility either.

So in fact the only way that you can credibly prevent Iran from developing a 
nuclear weapon, is to prevent Iran from amassing enough enriched uranium for 
a bomb.

So, how much enriched uranium do you need for a bomb? And how close is Iran 
to getting it?

Let me show you. I brought a diagram for you. Here's the diagram.

**************

This is a bomb; this is a fuse.

In the case of Iran's nuclear plans to build a bomb, this bomb has to be 
filled with enough enriched uranium. And Iran has to go through three 
stages.

The first stage: they have to enrich enough of low enriched uranium.

The second stage: they have to enrich enough medium enriched uranium.

And the third stage and final stage: they have to enrich enough high 
enriched uranium for the first bomb.

Where's Iran? Iran's completed the first stage. It took them many years, but 
they completed it and they're 70% of the way there.

Now they are well into the second stage. By next spring, at most by next 
summer at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium 
enrichment and move on to the final stage.

From there, it's only a few months, possibly a few weeks before they get 
enough enriched uranium for the first bomb.

*****************

Ladies and Gentlemen,

What I told you now is not based on secret information. It's not based on 
military intelligence. It's based on public reports by the International 
Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can read them. They're online.

So if these are the facts, and they are, where should the red line be drawn?

The red line should be drawn right here
...

Before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to 
make a bomb.

Before Iran gets to a point where it's a few months away or a few weeks 
away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon.

Each day, that point is getting closer. That's why I speak today with such a 
sense of urgency. And that's why everyone should have a sense of urgency.

Some who claim that even if Iran completes the enrichment process, even if 
it crosses that red line that I just drew, our intelligence agencies will 
know when and where Iran will make the fuse, assemble the bomb, and prepare 
the warhead.

Look, no one appreciates our intelligence agencies more than the Prime 
Minister of Israel. All these leading intelligence agencies are superb, 
including ours. They've foiled many attacks.

They've saved many lives.

But they are not foolproof.

For over two years, our intelligence agencies didn't know that Iran was 
building a huge nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain.

Do we want to risk the security of the world on the assumption that we would 
find in time a small workshop in a country half the size of Europe?

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The relevant question is not when Iran will get the bomb. The relevant 
question is at what stage can we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb.

The red line must be drawn on Iran's nuclear enrichment program because 
these enrichment facilities are the only nuclear installations that we can 
definitely see and credibly target.

I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down.

This will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to 
dismantle its nuclear weapons program altogether.

Two days ago, from this podium, President Obama reiterated that the threat 
of a nuclear-armed Iran cannot be contained.

I very much appreciate the President's position as does everyone in my 
country. We share the goal of stopping Iran's nuclear weapons program. This 
goal unites the people of Israel. It unites Americans, Democrats and 
Republicans alike and it is shared by important leaders throughout the 
world.

What I have said today will help ensure that this common goal is achieved.

Israel is in discussions with the United States over this issue, and I am 
confident that we can chart a path forward together.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The clash between modernity and medievalism need not be a clash between 
progress and tradition.

The traditions of the Jewish people go back thousands of years. They are 
the source of our collective values and the foundation of our national 
strength.

At the same time, the Jewish people have always looked towards the future. 
Throughout history, we have been at the forefront of efforts to expand 
liberty, promote equality, and advance human rights.

We champion these principles not despite of our traditions but because of 
them.

We heed the words of the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah to treat 
all with dignity and compassion, to pursue justice and cherish life and to 
pray and strive for peace.

These are the timeless values of my people and these are the Jewish people's 
greatest gift to mankind.

Let us commit ourselves today to defend these values so that we can defend 
our freedom and protect our common civilization.

Thank you.

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IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il