Netanyahu Warns: Iran is Accelerating its Nuclear Program
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu addressed on Monday ambassadors from the European Union who were visiting Jerusalem.
During his speech, Netanyahu addressed the Iranian nuclear program and said that pressure should be put on Iran to prevent it from completing its nuclear weapons program.
“[Iran’s] weapons program is not only being continued, it is being accelerated,” said Netanyahu, who noted that “Because of the convulsions that are taking place in the entire Middle East, Iran is exempted also, or at least the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program has lessened.”
Netanyahu added that pressures on Iran “are essential if we are to ensure that democracy and not tyranny wins.”
The Prime Minister also addressed the latest escalation in the south, including last Thursday’s attack on a school bus with an anti-tank rocket.
“A direct attack on a yellow school bus with an anti-tank rocket is a war crime,” said Netanyahu. “It’s a criminal act of the highest order…no country can accept such attacks. We do not accept it. We have acted to defend our people. We will continue to act to defend our people; that is our right.”
Netanyahu also addressed the new flotilla to Gaza which is being planned for next month.
“We are aware that there is an attempted provocation in late May, possibly early June of a another so-called flotilla, not a peace flotilla but a deliberate provocation to seek to ignite this part of the Middle East,” he said. “I think it’s in our common interest, and I think it’s something that you should transmit to your governments, that this flotilla must be stopped.”
Netanyahu ended by noting that negotiations with the Palestinian Authority must resume.
“We can’t complete peace negotiations if we don’t engage with them,” he said. “The Palestinians seek to avoid them. They seek to go to an international forum and avoid negotiations.”
He asked the ambassadors for their help in calling on the PA to sit down and talk. “We’re here in Jerusalem, you’re there in Ramallah. It is very easy to go either to Ramallah or to Jerusalem and immediately engage in negotiations. We’re prepared to do so; the Palestinians so far are not prepared to do so. I think you should tell them: ‘Start negotiations.’ That’s the simplest message for peace.”