Netanyahu: Herzl and Churchill were Alone a Lot More than I Am

by Shlomo Cesana and Dan Lavie

Prime minister tells The New York Times he will not allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons: "I'm not going to let that happen. ... It's not going to happen" • Netanyahu tells French president, British PM that sanctions are working and should not be relaxed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the United Nations General Assembly | Photo credit: Reuters

Israel and the entire Middle East, except for Iran and Syria, are united in their desire to curb the Iranian nuclear program, and the international community needs to remain vigilant about compromises with Tehran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told various world leaders over the last two weeks.

Ahead of scheduled negotiations this week between representatives from six Western powers and Iran, Netanyahu spoke with French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron by telephone. He asked the two to resist easing sanctions at the negotiations stage. 

"The sanctions are taking a bite out of Iran's economy ... unfortunately they have not stopped the Iranian program," Netanyahu told Hollande, according to The Associated Press. 

"Until Iran dismantles its military nuclear program, sanctions must not be eased - on the contrary. Only the pressure brought Iran to this point, and only the continuation of pressure and its strengthening can bring them to dismantle their nuclear program," he was quoted as telling the leaders, according to Reuters. 

"Given the history of the Jewish people, I would not sit by and write off a threat by those who say they are going to annihilate us," Netanyahu told reporters. He said Arab nations, too, would be "relieved" if Iran were militarily prevented from obtaining nuclear arms.

Speaking at Netanyahu's side, Hollande said Iran's acquiring a nuclear weapon is "a threat that cannot be accepted by France. The French president warned that a nuclear-armed Iran would be a danger to the region and the world.

France, Hollande said, "is ready to vote for other sanctions, as many as necessary."

"We must make sure that through pressure, sanctions and later through negotiations, Iran renounces its intention to have access to nuclear weapons. I am working in that spirit," he said.

An official in Jerusalem said that when Israel says Iran needs to dismantle its program, it means Tehran needs to remove centrifuges for enriching uranium, while aborting any alternative plutonium projects, the goal of which is to produce nuclear weapons. There are other ways to develop a civilian nuclear energy program, as is done in other nations worldwide, the official added.

Despite a chilly relationship with The New York Times, Netanyahu sat with the newspaper for an interview in his Jerusalem office. Speaking about the potential of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, he said "I'm not going to let that happen ... It's not going to happen."

The Times described the prime minister as a great believer in history, someone who complains a great deal to his closest associates because "people have a historical memory that goes back to breakfast."

But the Times writes "that the Israeli leader risks seeming frozen in the past amid a shifting geopolitical landscape."

Netanyahu himself sees things differently. He says that "history is a map." 

"You know what a map is? A map is a crystallization of the main things you need to know to get from one place to another."

Speaking to a pair of pictures on his wall, one of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the other of Theodore Herzl, Netanyahu says, "They were alone a lot more than I am."

Meanwhile, several prominent voices in Iran seemed to cast a dim light on Iran's recently conciliatory approach with the West and a soft Tehran. During Friday prayers at the University of Tehran, Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami led the emblematic Iranian chants of "America is the Great Satan" and "Death to USA." 

The chants could cast a pall over the upcoming talks between Tehran and Western powers, set to start on Friday.

Shlomo Cesana and Dan Lavie

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=12545

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