Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed by Sky News last week and as expected from media outlets in Britain, the interviewer pushed Netanyahu hard on a number of issues.
The British media often treats Israeli politicians differently to Palestinian ones and it is galling when you see Israel’s prime minister being interrupted and belittled by an interviewer who would never dare to question Mahmoud Abbas in such a manner.
Despite this, Netanyahu held his own and expertly defended Israel. And there were a number of things we gleaned from the interview.
Israel is prepared to face Iran
On Iran, Netanyahu said that Israel was prepared to do whatever it takes to stop the regime.
“I think diplomacy can only work if it’s coupled with a credible military threat or the willingness to apply the military option if deterrence fails,” Netanyahu said.
“Iran is openly committed to destroying, repeating the Holocaust and destroying the six or seven million Jews of Israel and we’re not going to sit by, idly by and let them do it.
“(If) these Ayatollahs think that they could threaten us with a nuclear holocaust they’re wrong. We will do whatever we need to do to defend ourselves,” he added.
Netanyahu wants peace with Saudi Arabia
On peace with Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu said: “Our hand is extended to all Arab States and certainly to Saudi Arabia which is vitally important.”
“We have great opportunities to advance the peace in our region, peace between our two countries, the wellbeing of our peoples. I think it would change history.”
“I mean we have already made one historic turning point with the four peace treaties of The Abraham accords which Israel made under my leadership with UAE (United Arab Emirates), with Bahrain, with Morocco, with Sudan.
“Obviously Saudi Arabia would be a quantum leap forward because it’s the most influential Arab country not only in the Arab world I think also in the Muslim world, so it would fashion I think the possibility of ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, and I think that it would also help us solve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Netanyahu added.
Netanyahu challenges the lie that ‘settlements’ are an obstacle to peace
The biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the Arab rejection to accept the Jewish people living in their homeland. The lie, spread by politicians and the media, is that Israel’s so-called ‘settlements’ are the biggest barrier to peace.
The prime minister also pushed back when the interviewer began reeling off phrases that Israeli communities in Judea and Samaria (West Bank) are both an “obstacle to peace” and “contravene international law.”
Netanyahu said, “There’s never been an international decision that says Jews cannot live in Judea – that’s where we come from.”
The prime minister added that it is permissible to build on land defined as “disputed territory – which [Judea and Samaria] is. You call it occupied, we call it disputed.”
“It’s part of our ancestral homeland, we’ve only been attached to it for three thousand years. King David established our capital here in Jerusalem only three thousand years ago.
“We’re not the Belgians in Congo or the Dutch in Indonesia. For God’s sake, this is the land of Israel – it’s our country.”
“So I completely disagree with that, but I think one thing is true, the Palestinians are here and we’re not going to push them out. Israel is here and they’re not going to push us out,” Netanyahu said.
The real reason successive Israeli governments have never been able to make peace with the Palestinians, Netanyahu insisted, is because “The Palestinians have been commandeered by a leadership that doesn’t want peace with Israel, they want peace without Israel. They don’t want a state next to Israel, they want a state instead of it.”
You can watch the full interview here:
