LIVE THREAD: Netanyahu to speak before Congress

Speech by PM Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress

May 24, 2011

Speech by PM Netanyahu to a Joint Meeting of the U.S. Congress
http://www.pmo.gov.il/PMOEng/Communication/PMSpeaks/speechcongress240511.htm

I am deeply honored by your warm welcome. And I am deeply honored that you
have given me the opportunity to address Congress a second time.

Mr. Vice President, do you remember the time we were the new kids in town?

And I do see a lot of old friends here. And I do see a lot of new friends of
Israel here. Democrats and Republicans alike.

Israel has no better friend than America. And America has no better friend
than Israel. We stand together to defend democracy. We stand together to
advance peace. We stand together to fight terrorism. Congratulations
America, Congratulations, Mr. President. You got bin Laden. Good riddance!

In an unstable Middle East, Israel is the one anchor of stability. In a
region of shifting alliances, Israel is America’s unwavering ally. Israel
has always been pro-American. Israel will always be pro-American.

My friends, you don’t need to do nation building in Israel. We’re already
built. You don’t need to export democracy to Israel. We’ve already got it.
You don’t need to send American troops to defend Israel. We defend
ourselves. You’ve been very generous in giving us tools to do the job of
defending Israel on our own. Thank you all, and thank you President Obama,
for your steadfast commitment to Israel’s security. I know economic times
are tough. I deeply appreciate this.

Support for Israel’s security is a wise investment in our common future.
For an epic battle is now unfolding in the Middle East, between tyranny and
freedom. A great convulsion is shaking the earth from the Khyber Pass to the
Straits of Gibraltar. The tremors have shattered states and toppled
governments. And we can all see that the ground is still shifting. Now this
historic moment holds the promise of a new dawn of freedom and opportunity.
Millions of young people are determined to change their future. We all look
at them. They muster courage. They risk their lives. They demand dignity.
They desire liberty.

These extraordinary scenes in Tunis and Cairo, evoke those of Berlin and
Prague in 1989. Yet as we share their hopes, but we also must also remember
that those hopes could be snuffed out as they were in Tehran in 1979. You
remember what happened then. The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut
short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered
Lebanon’s democratic Cedar Revolution, and inflicted on that long-suffering
country, the medieval rule of Hezbollah.

So today, the Middle East stands at a fateful crossroads. Like all of you, I
pray
that the peoples of the region choose the path less travelled, the path of
liberty. No one knows what this path consists of better than you. This
path is not paved by elections alone. It is paved when governments permit
protests in town squares, when limits are placed on the powers of rulers,
when judges are beholden to laws and not men, and when human rights cannot
be crushed by tribal loyalties or mob rule.

Israel has always embraced this path, in the Middle East has long rejected
it. In a region where women are stoned, gays are hanged, Christians are
persecuted, Israel stands out. It is different.

As the great English writer George Eliot predicted over a century ago, that
once established, the Jewish state will “shine like a bright star of freedom
amid the despotisms of the East.” Well, she was right. We have a free
press, independent courts, an open economy, rambunctious parliamentary
debates. You think you guys are tough on one another in Congress? Come spend
a day in the Knesset. Be my guest.

Courageous Arab protesters, are now struggling to secure these very same
rights for their peoples, for their societies. We’re proud that over one
million Arab citizens of Israel have been enjoying these rights for decades.
Of the 300 million Arabs in the Middle East and North Africa, only Israel’s
Arab citizens enjoy real democratic rights. I want you to stop for a second
and think about that. Of those 300 million Arabs, less than one-half of
one-percent are truly free, and they’re all citizens of Israel!

This startling fact reveals a basic truth: Israel is not what is wrong about
the Middle East. Israel is what is right about the Middle East.

Israel fully supports the desire of Arab peoples in our region to live
freely. We long for the day when Israel will be one of many real democracies
in the Middle East.

Fifteen years ago, I stood at this very podium, and said that democracy must
start to take root in the Arab World. Well, it’s begun to take root. This
beginning holds the promise of a brilliant future of peace and prosperity.
For I believe that a Middle East that is genuinely democratic will be a
Middle East truly at peace.

But while we hope and work for the best, we must also recognize that
powerful forces oppose this future. They oppose modernity. They oppose
democracy. They oppose peace.

Foremost among these forces is Iran. The tyranny in Tehran brutalizes its
own people. It supports attacks against American troops in Afghanistan and
Iraq. It subjugates Lebanon and Gaza. It sponsors terror worldwide.

When I last stood here, I spoke of the dire consequences of Iran developing
nuclear weapons. Now time is running out, and the hinge of history may soon
turn. For the greatest danger facing humanity could soon be upon us: A
militant Islamic regime armed with nuclear weapons.

Militant Islam threatens the world. It threatens Islam. I have no doubt
that it will ultimately be defeated. It will eventually succumb to the
forces of freedom and progress. But like other fanaticisms that were doomed
to fail, militant Islam could exact a horrific price from all of us before
its inevitable demise.

A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. It
would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella. It would make the nightmare of
nuclear terrorism a clear and present danger throughout the world. I want
you to understand what this means. They could put the bomb anywhere. They
could put it on a missile. It could be on a container ship in a port, or in
a suitcase on a subway.

Now the threat to my country cannot be overstated. Those who dismiss it are
sticking their heads in the sand. Less than seven decades after six million
Jews were murdered, Iran’s leaders deny the Holocaust of the Jewish people,
while calling for the annihilation of the Jewish state.

Leaders who spew such venom, should be banned from every respectable forum
on the planet. But there is something that makes the outrage even greater:
The lack of outrage. In much of the international community, the calls for
our destruction are met with utter silence. It is even worse because there
are many who rush to condemn Israel for defending itself against Iran’s
terror proxies.

But not you. Not America. You have acted differently. You’ve condemned the
Iranian regime for its genocidal aims. You’ve passed tough sanctions against
Iran. History will salute you America.

President Obama has said that the United States is determined to prevent
Iran from developing nuclear weapons. He successfully led the Security
Council to adopt sanctions against Iran. You in Congress passed even
tougher sanctions. These words and deeds are vitally important.

Yet the Ayatollah regime briefly suspended its nuclear program only once, in
2003, when it feared the possibility of military action. That same year,
Muammar Qadaffi gave up his nuclear weapons program, and for the same
reason. The more Iran believes that all options are on the table, the less
the chance of confrontation. This is why I ask you to continue to send an
unequivocal message: That America will never permit Iran to develop nuclear
weapons.

As for Israel, if history has taught the Jewish people anything, it is that
we must take calls for our destruction seriously. We are a nation that rose
from the ashes of the Holocaust. When we say never again, we mean never
again. Israel always reserves the right to defend itself.

My friends, while Israel will be ever vigilant in its defense, we will never
give up on our quest for peace. I guess we’ll give it up when we achieve it.
Israel wants peace. Israel needs peace. We’ve achieved historic peace
agreements with Egypt and Jordan that have held up for decades.

I remember what it was like before we had peace. I was nearly killed in a
firefight inside the Suez Canal. I mean that literally. I battled terrorists
along both banks of the Jordan River. Too many Israelis have lost loved
ones. I know their grief. I lost my brother.

So no one in Israel wants a return to those terrible days. The peace with
Egypt and Jordan has long served as an anchor of stability and peace in the
heart of the Middle East.

This peace should be bolstered by economic and political support to all
those who remain committed to peace.

The peace agreements with Egypt and Jordan are vital. But they’re not
enough. We must also find a way to forge a lasting peace with the
Palestinians. Two years ago, I publicly committed to a solution of two
states for two peoples: A Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state.

I am willing to make painful compromises to achieve this historic peace. As
the leader of Israel, it is my responsibility to lead my people to peace.

This is not easy for me. I recognize that in a genuine peace, we will be
required to give up parts of the Jewish homeland. In Judea and Samaria, the
Jewish people are not foreign occupiers. We are not the British in India.
We are not the Belgians in the Congo.

This is the land of our forefathers, the Land of Israel, to which Abraham
brought the idea of one God, where David set out to confront Goliath, and
where Isaiah saw a vision of eternal peace. No distortion of history can
deny the four thousand year old bond, between the Jewish people and the
Jewish land.

But there is another truth: The Palestinians share this small land with us.
We seek a peace in which they will be neither Israel’s subjects nor its
citizens. They should enjoy a national life of dignity as a free, viable
and independent people in their own state. They should enjoy a prosperous
economy, where their creativity and initiative can flourish.

We’ve already seen the beginnings of what is possible. In the last two
years,
the Palestinians have begun to build a better life for themselves. Prime
Minister Fayad has led this effort. I wish him a speedy recovery from his
recent operation.

We’ve helped the Palestinian economy by removing hundreds of barriers and
roadblocks to the free flow of goods and people. The results have been
nothing short of remarkable. The Palestinian economy is booming. It’s
growing by more than 10% a year.

Palestinian cities look very different today than they did just a few years
ago. They have shopping malls, movie theaters, restaurants, banks. They
even have e-businesses. This is all happening without peace. Imagine what
could happen with peace. Peace would herald a new day for both peoples. It
would make the dream of a broader Arab-Israeli peace a realistic
possibility.

So now here is the question. You have to ask it. If the benefits of peace
with the Palestinians are so clear, why has peace eluded us? Because all
six Israeli Prime Ministers since the signing of Oslo accords agreed to
establish a Palestinian state. Myself included. So why has peace not been
achieved? Because so far, the Palestinians have been unwilling to accept a
Palestinian state, if it meant accepting a Jewish state alongside it.

You see, our conflict has never been about the establishment of a
Palestinian state. It has always been about the existence of the Jewish
state. This is what this conflict is about. In 1947, the United Nations
voted to partition the land into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The Jews
said yes. The Palestinians said no. In recent years, the Palestinians
twice refused generous offers by Israeli Prime Ministers, to establish a
Palestinian state on virtually all the territory won by Israel in the Six
Day War.

They were simply unwilling to end the conflict. And I regret to say this:
They continue to educate their children to hate. They continue to name
public squares after terrorists. And worst of all, they continue to
perpetuate the fantasy that Israel will one day be flooded by the
descendants of Palestinian refugees.

My friends, this must come to an end. President Abbas must do what I have
done. I stood before my people, and I told you it wasn’t easy for me, and I
said… “I will accept a Palestinian state.” It is time for President Abbas to
stand before his people and say… “I will accept a Jewish state.”

Those six words will change history. They will make clear to the
Palestinians that this conflict must come to an end. That they are not
building a state to continue the conflict with Israel, but to end it. They
will convince the people of Israel that they have a true partner for peace.
With such a partner, the people of Israel will be prepared to make a far
reaching compromise. I will be prepared to make a far reaching compromise.

This compromise must reflect the dramatic demographic changes that have
occurred since 1967. The vast majority of the 650,000 Israelis who live
beyond the 1967 lines, reside in neighborhoods and suburbs of Jerusalem and
Greater Tel Aviv.

These areas are densely populated but geographically quite small. Under any
realistic peace agreement, these areas, as well as other places of critical
strategic and national importance, will be incorporated into the final
borders of Israel.

The status of the settlements will be decided only in negotiations. But we
must also be honest. So I am saying today something that should be said
publicly by anyone serious about peace. In any peace agreement that ends
the conflict, some settlements will end up beyond Israel’s borders. The
precise delineation of those borders must be negotiated. We will be very
generous on the size of a future Palestinian state. But as President Obama
said, the border will be different than the one that existed on June 4,
1967. Israel will not return to the indefensible lines of 1967.

We recognize that a Palestinian state must be big enough to be viable,
independent and prosperous. President Obama rightly referred to Israel as
the homeland of the Jewish people, just as he referred to the future
Palestinian state as the homeland of the Palestinian people. Jews from
around the world have a right to immigrate to the Jewish state.
Palestinians from around the world should have a right to immigrate, if they
so choose, to a Palestinian state. This means that the Palestinian refugee
problem will be resolved outside the borders of Israel.

As for Jerusalem, only a democratic Israel has protected freedom of worship
for all faiths in the city. Jerusalem must never again be divided.
Jerusalem must remain the united capital of Israel. I know that this is a
difficult issue for Palestinians. But I believe with creativity and goodwill
a solution can be found.

This is the peace I plan to forge with a Palestinian partner committed to
peace. But you know very well, that in the Middle East, the only peace that
will hold is a peace you can defend.

So peace must be anchored in security. In recent years, Israel withdrew from
South Lebanon and Gaza. But we didn’t get peace. Instead, we got 12,000
thousand rockets fired from those areas on our cities, on our children, by
Hezbollah and Hamas. The UN peacekeepers in Lebanon failed to prevent the
smuggling of this weaponry. The European observers in Gaza evaporated
overnight. So if Israel simply walked out of the territories, the flow of
weapons into a future Palestinian state would be unchecked. Missiles fired
from it could reach virtually every home in Israel in less than a minute. I
want you to think about that too. Imagine that right now we all had less
than 60 seconds to find shelter from an incoming rocket. Would you live
that way? Would anyone live that way? Well, we aren’t going to live that
way either.

The truth is that Israel needs unique security arrangements because of its
unique size. Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world. Mr.
Vice President, I’ll grant you this. It’s bigger than Delaware. It’s even
bigger than Rhode Island. But that’s about it. Israel on the 1967 lines
would be half the width of the Washington Beltway.

Now here’s a bit of nostalgia. I first came to Washington thirty years ago
as a young diplomat. It took me a while, but I finally figured it out: There
is an America beyond the Beltway. But Israel on the 1967 lines would be only
nine miles wide. So much for strategic depth.

So it is therefore absolutely vital for Israel’s security that a Palestinian
state be fully demilitarized. And it is vital that Israel maintain a
long-term military presence along the Jordan River. Solid security
arrangements on the ground are necessary not only to protect the peace, they
are necessary to protect Israel in case the peace unravels. For in our
unstable region, no one can guarantee that our peace partners today will be
there tomorrow.

And when I say tomorrow, I don’t mean some distant time in the future. I
mean — tomorrow. Peace can be achieved only around the negotiating table.
The Palestinian attempt to impose a settlement through the United Nations
will not bring peace. It should be forcefully opposed by all those who want
to see this conflict end.

I appreciate the President’s clear position on this issue. Peace cannot be
imposed. It must be negotiated. But it can only be negotiated with
partners committed to peace.

And Hamas is not a partner for peace. Hamas remains committed to Israel’s
destruction and to terrorism. They have a charter. That charter not only
calls for the obliteration of Israel, but says ‘kill the Jews wherever you
find them’. Hamas’ leader condemned the killing of Osama bin Laden and
praised him as a holy warrior. Now again I want to make this clear. Israel
is prepared to sit down today and negotiate peace with the Palestinian
Authority. I believe we can fashion a brilliant future of peace for our
children. But Israel will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed
by the Palestinian version of Al Qaeda.

So I say to President Abbas: Tear up your pact with Hamas! Sit down and
negotiate! Make peace with the Jewish state! And if you do, I promise you
this. Israel will not be the last country to welcome a Palestinian state as
a new member of the United Nations. It will be the first to do so.

My friends, the momentous trials of the last century, and the unfolding
events of this century, attest to the decisive role of the United States in
advancing peace and defending freedom. Providence entrusted the United
States to be the guardian of liberty. All peoples who cherish freedom owe a
profound debt of gratitude to your great nation. Among the most grateful
nations is my nation, the people of Israel, who have fought for their
liberty and survival against impossible odds, in ancient and modern times
alike.

I speak on behalf of the Jewish people and the Jewish state when I say to
you, representatives of America, Thank you. Thank you for your unwavering
support for Israel. Thank you for ensuring that the flame of freedom burns
bright throughout the world. May God bless all of you. And may God forever
bless the United States of America.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.