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1. General Praise for Netanyahu's Historic UN Speech
by Hillel Fendel
Rare wall-to-wall praise was heard in Israel and abroad for Netanyahu’s historic speech in the UN on Thursday - though Hamas didn't like it.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who was present in the hall, was restrained in his praise: “It was a very persuasive speech, the hall was filled, there was great interest, and he did it well.” Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who was also there, was more effusive: “The prime minister’s speech was a speech that will be imprinted in the world’s consciousness. He knows how to do it. The photograph of him with the plans for Auschwitz will be carved into international memory.”
President Shimon Peres and many government ministers called Netanyahu immediately afterwards to warmly congratulate him, and it took him some 40 minutes to exit the building because of all the well-wishers. He even received an embrace from a long-time guard at the UN who said he remembered Netanyahu from his days as Israel’s Ambassador from over 20 years ago.
Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Michael Oren, called the speech, “Successful and even historic.” Oren told Army Radio that the speech received across-the-board support in the UN, adding, “In general this was a good week for Israeli diplomacy. Netanyahu had a very full and successful week – a historic week in terms of American-Israeli relations.”
Netanyahu was applauded twice during his speech: When he said that though the Land of Israel belongs to the Jewish People, and despite the historic links between them, Israel is willing to allow a demilitarized PA state to be formed there; and when he concluded with quotes from Churchill and the Prophets.
Some criticism was leveled, both in Israel and in New York, at the fact that Netanyahu saw fit to go to such lengths to rebut Iranian President Ahmadinajad and prove the veracity of the Holocaust. On the other end of the spectrum, a Hamas spokesman lambasted Netanyahu's "crooked logic" and said he was merely trying to recruit the UN in his "Zionist-terrorist agenda."
The Palestinian Authority delegate walked out of the hall when Netanyahu spoke about Gaza, the thousands of rockets fired by Hamas, and Israel’s restrained response.
Netanyahu: We Have to Know if We Should Take Risks
Netanyahu blasted the international community for encouraging Israel to leave Gaza, and then condemning Israel in the Goldstone Report when it responded to the rocket attacks that resulted: “This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists? We must know the answer to that question now, and 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 risks for peace.”
The Mattot Arim grassroots organization did not like that implication: “A thousand risks have already been taken, a thousand Israelis have already lost their lives, and the Netanyahu government must not repeat this pointless approach.”
2. Benny Begin Denies He Let Down Voters
by Hagit Rotenberg, B'Sheva
After months of silence on the diplomatic front and lack of involvement in the development of a hard-line bloc within Likud, Minister Benny Begin showed up at the protest tent erected by officials from the Israeli heartland of Judea and Samaria (Shomron), to express support. Begin has been relatively quiet on divisive political questions ever since joining the Netanyahu government. This came as a disappointment for many nationalists who remember his fierce criticism of the first Netanyahu government in 1996-99.
He spoke with B'Sheva magazine this week.
What message did you give the council heads of Judea and Samaria?
I told my friends that they are fulfilling an important mission and realizing, on the ground, our natural right to settle in the Land of Israel, not just on the coastal plain but also in the cradle of our civilization, in Shomron and Judea... I noted the circumstances in which the three-way meeting in the U.S is being held, as evidence that the government said "no" to the attempt to dictate preconditions to the negotiations.
We see these conditions as illegitimate ones because they were based upon a basic denial of our right to dwell in our land. They concerned a complete stoppage [of constructio, without building another house in Judea and Shomron and Jerusalem from now to eternity.”
The heads of councils in Judea and Samaria report that in practice, they suffer from a complete building freeze in their communities.
This is not true. One must rely on the facts. Apartments are being built and will be built in Judea and Shomron in the coming months. We think that at the end of 5770 there will be thousands more Jews in Judea and Shomron than there are on Rosh HaShana Eve 5770... Of course I would like, like the other friends, to have a larger number of apartments constructed, and to let anyone who wishes to settle in Judea and Shomron to do so... This is one of the purposes of the dialogue with the United States, and we are trying to complete it in a positive way, but there is no agreement as of yet.
Do you see the summit [in New Yor as a success?
The very fact that it is convening against the express demands to freeze every single building in Judea and Shomron and Jerusalem is an accomplishment which signals to the heads of the PLO and to several Arab leaders that contrary to their expectations, the United States cannot make decisions instead of Israel on subjects pertaining to the security of Israel.
It seems that the right-wing voice you sounded in the past has gone silent since the elections, to the disappointment of your nationalist bloc voters.
I deny this. My voice is heard, I have participated in tours of the communities. Maybe I do not attract enough media attention but my voice is heard in public and the public knows my views. They have not changed.
So what, then, is your stand on the freeze?
I think the term freeze is inaccurate. We all oppose the freeze on natural life in the small and large communities of Judea and Shomron. This stand is common to all the government's ministers. That is why the construction is not frozen, but the rate of providing approvals is slower than what we would like.
It did not start with this government, but this limitation too is only for a temporary period.
(Translated and condensed by Gil Ronen from the original interview).
3. Shomron Council to State Department Snoop: Obama Doesn't Get It
by Gil Ronen
After a State Department official requested Jewish pioneers' reaction to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech at the United Nations General Assembly, the Shomron (Samaria) Liaison Office responded by explaining that the American leader failed to grasp the basic issues involved.
The American official, Cyndee Trinh of the Political Section of the U.S. Consulate-General in Jerusalem, sent an e-mail message Thursday to David HaIvri, Head of the Shomron Liaison Office, in which she asked him for a reaction to Obama's speech in New York on Wednesday. Obama said there that he “does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements" and called to "end the occupation that began in 1967."
Trinh asked HaIvri: “I was wondering if you saw, heard, or read about President Obama’s speech before the UN yesterday, and if so, if you have any opinions or reactions you would like to convey to Washington?”
She added: “Your opinions and thoughts are important to us” and wished him “Chatima Tovah.”
HaIvri responded by writing that “President Obama's speech reflects his failure to understand the basic issues,” which he went on to list:
(1) The Jewish "settlements" in Judea and Samaria are not illegal; Geneva IV is not applicable.
(2) Israel has not illegally "occupied" anyone else's land.
(3) The Armistice lines of 1949 were never accepted by any Arab country as Israel's borders; nor does Israel consider them as such.
(4) A second (or third) Arab Palestinian state will not resolve core issues ("refugees," Jerusalem, etc) -- the solution is regional and comprehensive, not local and piecemeal.
(5) Opposition to Jewish building in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria is rank discrimination.
(6) "Palestinian" terrorism and incitement are ongoing and officially sanctioned; it must stop immediately before anything else.
A source in the Liaison Office said that while Trinh is officially an adviser to the Consul, her actual assignment is to keep tabs on settlement growth. “They come out to visit and ask for our explanations regarding building efforts, etc.,” the source said. “Unofficially, she is a spy. I heard from knowledgeable sources that she reports directly to [U.S. Middle East Special Envoy Geor Mitchell.”
4. What if Iran had 'The Button'?
by IsraelNN TV staff
A video produced by the American Jewish Committee asks: given the damage Iran has wrought with the technology currently at its disposal, what would Iran do with "the button"?
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Can't see video player? Click here.
The AJC's Aaron Jacob spoke with Israel National TV and explains his organization's protests against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Jacob also discussed the United Nations' Goldstone report.
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Can't see video player? Click here.
5. Bibi, Abbas: No Talks in Sight
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas reiterated their demands on Thursday in interviews with Haaretz and Al-Hayyat, respectively. While Netanyahu expressed optimism following his meeting with Abbas and United States President Barack Obama this week, Abbas said he doubts the PA and Israel will restart talks in the foreseeable future.
Obama stated Wednesday that progress had been made in the three-way meeting. However, PA and Israeli officials have no current plans to hold negotiations. While both sides have agreed to meet with U.S. officials, it appears that they will not meet with each other.
Netanyahu said Thursday that he is willing to sit down to talk with Abbas with no preconditions, but will insist that under any peace deal the PA recognize Israel as the Jewish homeland. The PA has agreed to recognize Israel, but not as a Jewish state, and still demands that millions of foreign Arabs be granted Israeli citizenship.
Abbas repeated his demand that Israel cease all construction for Jews in Judea, Samaria or areas of Jerusalem east of the 1949 armistice line. The PA head rejected Netanyahu's proposed moratorium on the building of Jewish homes in Judea and Samaria, insisting that a construction freeze must include all buildings, not only homes, and must include Jerusalem.
Even a freeze on 95 percent of building “is still a continuation of settlement activities,” Abbas said.
Israeli officials have expressed surprise at Abbas's demands, noting that in the past, the PA head has not insisted on a cessation of building prior to negotiations. The PA held talks with Israel under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with no building freeze in place.
Abbas has also demanded that negotiations resume with the offer made by Olmert still on the table – a demand that Netanyahu has flatly refused. Olmert reportedly offered Abbas almost all land in Judea and Samaria, with land from west of the armistice line offered in trade for settlement blocs, as well as much of Jerusalem and a land bridge between Judea and Gaza.
6. Hamas Vocabulary Lesson: Many Ways to Say 'Slaughter the Jews'
by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz
A recent children's television program broadcast from Gaza teaches Muslim Arab children several different vocabulary words for "slaughtering" the Jews in the Land of Israel. The theme is hardly new for the Hamas-run station.
Al-Aqsa TV broadcasts a children's program called "Tomorrow's Pioneers" featuring a live child actor and an adult actor dressed in an animal costume. The current "animal" co-host is Nassur the Bear, introduced earlier this year, who follows in the footsteps of Nahoul the Bee, Assoud the Rabbit, and Farfour, who was a Mickey Mouse lookalike. Themes promoted by all the characters include Islamic triumphalism, anti-Semitism, self-sacrifice and violence.
As revealed by Palestinian Media Watch, the September 22 episode of the program includes exchanges between the co-hosts, and between them and a child caller, in which they discuss the "slaughter" necessary to rid the Land of Israel of Jews.
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Can't see the video player? Click here.
In the various conversations, three different Arabic expressions are used to describe the "slaughter" of the Jews. The following is adapted from a transcript of show excerpts provided by PMW.
Nassur: "There won't be any Jews or Zionists, if Allah wills. They'll be erased."
Saraa: "They'll be slaughtered." (manhurin naher in Arabic)
Later, a child whose father was killed as a member of a Hamas terrorist cell calls in to the program.
Nassur to child on phone: "What do you want to do to the Jews who shot your father?"
Child on phone: "I want to kill them."
Saraa: "We don't want to do anything to them, just expel them from our land."
Nassur: "We want to slaughter them, so they will be expelled from our land, right?" (nidbah-hom in Arabic)
Saraa: "Yes. That's right. We will expel them from our land using all means."
Nassur: "And if they don't want [to peacefully, by words or talking, we'll have to [do i by slaughter." (shaht in Arabic)
7. Bibi Addresses General Assembly, Takes on Iran, UN
by Maayana Miskin
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday night, and 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 demilitarized Palestinian Authority-led Arab state in Judea and Samaria.
Netanyahu began by taking Ahmadinejad to task, at length, for his denial of the Holocaust. He criticized those who remained seated during Ahmadinejad's speech the night before, asking, "Have you no shame, no decency?”
The prime minister went on to discuss Iran within the framework of worldwide terrorism. Terrorists wish to drag humanity back into the Middle Ages, he warned. “The struggle against Iran pits civilization against barbarism... History could be reversed if primitive fanaticism acquires deadly weapons,” he told delegates.
'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 forces 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 a fact.”
Today's UN would have condemned then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin Roosevelt as war criminals, 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.
We Must Know Now
"Will you stand with Israel," Netanyahu asked, "or will you stand with the terrorists? We must know the answer to that question now. Now and 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 risks for peace."
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.”
