Posted on 09/12/2001 6:59:19 AM PDT by SJackson
JERUSALEM (September 12) - Former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu called upon all democratic nations of the world to join an international coalition to crush the terrorist organizations and the regimes that sponsor them.
Netanyahu warned last night that the attacks could be a harbinger of worse tragedies that could kill millions of people once Iran or Iraq acquire nuclear weapons.
"We must build a coalition against terror today, when our power is unmatched, because tomorrow it could be matched," Netanyahu said in a news conference at Jerusalem's King David Hotel. "It's times to take on militant Islamic regimes with a great deal of strength. We should crush the terrorist infrastructure that threatens the entire free world."
Netanyahu predicted that yesterday would be a turning point in the history of the United States, similar to Pearl Harbor. He called upon the United States to lead the effort against "the Bin Ladens, Arafats, and Saddam Husseins of the world."
The former prime minister said he predicted massive attacks on the World Trade Center shortly after the last attack on the building, and in his 1995 book Fighting Terrorism.
"After an interlude of several years in which the vigil against terrorism was relaxed, new forces of domestic and international terror have emerged," Netanyahu wrote in the book's prelude. "Chief among them are the various strains of militant Islam, which likewise see their ultimate destiny as leading to a final confrontation with the Great Satan, the United States."
Netanyahu scoffed at former prime minister Ehud Barak's plan for separation from the West Bank, saying that Israel cannot build a fence taller than the Twin Towers. He warned that terror attacks on Israel are only a preparation for more serious attacks against the US.
The fact that no organization took responsibility for the attacks is irrelevant, Netanyahu said, because the root cause of the attacks are "terrorist states like Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian entity" that want to "devour the West."
"For them, our free civilization is satanic - an abomination that should be wiped off the face of the earth," Netanyahu said.
The former prime minister added that there is not a people in the world that identifies with the agony the Americans are going through more than Israel, and that he "speaks for all Israelis" in saying the hearts of Israelis are broken by the tragedy.
Barak said that Saudi-born terrorist Osama bin Laden was most likely behind the series of plane attacks on two major US cities yesterday.
Speaking to Britain's Sky Television in London, Barak said governments needed to make a concerted effort to combat terrorism.
"Most obviously my guess is a bin Laden organization...We have to stand firm against such terrorism," Barak said. "We have to coordinate to launch the same kind of fight that our forefathers gave to the fight against piracy on the high seas - mainly terrorists should not be allowed to land at any port or airport," he said.
Barak called for a summit between the United States, the European Union, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Israel and "some Islamic" states, but not those seen to "be hosting terrorists."
"The leadership of the world should be able to take action. It is time for action. The world is not going to be the same place as before," he said.
US authorities have not accused anyone of orchestrating the attacks, but bin Laden has been accused by Washington of masterminding the almost simultaneous destruction of two US embassies in Africa in 1998 that killed more than 200 people.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
Why?
I have to agree with everything Netanyahu said. It is time for the free world to put down terrorism and those nations which harbor them.
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