ShortLink http://wp.me/pDB7k-99 Comments in green Taken from Haaretz
Netanyahu’s speech at the UN General Assembly 24th September 2009 – full text
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, nearly 62 years ago, the United Nations recognized the right of the Jews, an ancient people 3,500 years-old, to a state of their own in their ancestral homeland. I stand here today as the Prime Minister of Israel, the Jewish state, and I speak to you on behalf of my country and my people. The United Nations was founded after the carnage of World War II and the horrors of the Holocaust. It was charged with preventing the recurrence of such horrendous events. Nothing has undermined that central mission more than the systematic assault on the truth.
LIE 1: The power of the veto vote in the UNSC on UNSC resolutions against states in breech of the law, illegally acquiring territory by war, illegal annexation and not adhering to 223 UNSC resolutions, all undermine the power of the UN. Mere words spoken at a UNGA meeting do not.
Yesterday the President of Iran stood at this very podium, spewing his latest anti-Semitic rants. Just a few days earlier, he again claimed that the Holocaust is a lie.
LIE 2: Ahmadinejad claimed that ‘If the Holocaust happened in Europe, why are the Palestinians paying the price’. That claiming the Palestinian people, or for that matter the Arab states, had anything to do with the Holocaust, is a myth. Simple unbiased maths tells us that the Palestinians of today were CHILDREN when the Holocaust happened, none had anything what so ever to do with the Holocaust
Last month, I went to a villa in a suburb of Berlin called Wannsee. There, on January 20, 1942, after a hearty meal, senior Nazi officials met and decided how to exterminate the Jewish people. The detailed minutes of that meeting have been preserved by successive German governments. Here is a copy of those minutes, in which the Nazis issued precise instructions on how to carry out the extermination of the Jews. Is this a lie? A day before I was in Wannsee, I was given in Berlin the original construction plans for the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Those plans are signed by Hitler?s deputy, Heinrich Himmler himself. Here is a copy of the plans for Auschwitz-Birkenau, where one million Jews were murdered. Is this too a lie? This June, President Obama visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. Did President Obama pay tribute to a lie? And what of the Auschwitz survivors whose arms still bear the tattooed numbers branded on them by the Nazis? Are those tattoos a lie? One-third of all Jews perished in the conflagration. Nearly every Jewish family was affected, including my own. My wife’s grandparents, her father?s two sisters and three brothers, and all the aunts, uncles and cousins were all murdered by the Nazis. Is that also a lie?
No, the assertion about what Ahmadinejad said is a lie
Yesterday, the man who calls the Holocaust a lie spoke from this podium. To those who refused to come here and to those who left this room in protest, I commend you. You stood up for moral clarity and you brought honor to your countries.
It merely showed either their intolerance for a different opinion. An opinion shared BTW by 223 UNSC resolutions against Israel. Those who’d been enticed by lobbying to leave or those who believe the propaganda that has been spouted against Iran for the last three decades.
But to those who gave this Holocaust-denier a hearing, I say on behalf of my people, the Jewish people, and decent people everywhere: Have you no shame? Have you no decency?
Lying is against the basic tenets of Judaism. No decent Jew would. Yet Netinyahu has already lied in this very speech.
A mere six decades after the Holocaust, you give legitimacy to a man who denies that the murder of six million Jews took place and pledges to wipe out the Jewish state.
LIE 3: Ahmadinejad quoted a prediction made years before, which did not say Iran would do anything
What a disgrace! What a mockery of the charter of the United Nations.
LIE 4: Israel’s illegal acquisition of territory by war, it’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem, it’s illegal instituting Israeli Civil Law in “territories occupied”, it’s illegal building of civilian infrastructure in “territories occupied”, it’s illegal building of civilian dwellings in “territories occupied”, it’s illegal SELLING of land to illegal settlers in illegally acquired and illegally annexed land in “territories occupied” and having 223 UNSC resolutions against it, make a mockery of the UN Charter. Not mere rhetoric. Furthermore, SEE HERE
Perhaps some of you think that this man and his odious regime threaten only the Jews. You’re wrong. History has shown us time and again that what starts with attacks on the Jews eventually ends up engulfing many others.
LIE 5: There are 25,000 Jewish folk living in Iran who refuse to leave
LIE 6: Hitler’s ambitions did not start with threatening or exterminating Jewish people
This Iranian regime is fueled by an extreme fundamentalism that burst onto the world scene three decades ago after lying dormant for centuries. In the past thirty years, this fanaticism has swept the globe with a murderous violence and cold-blooded impartiality in its choice of victims. It has callously slaughtered Moslems and Christians, Jews and Hindus, and many others. Though it is comprised of different offshoots, the adherents of this unforgiving creed seek to return humanity to medieval times.
LIE 7: A) Even though one might despise the practice of terrorism, terrorists have been very specific in their aims and choice of victims. Terrorism, like all warfare, also unfortunately accrues collateral…. B) Iran is attempting to modernize, one only has to look at a few photos of Tehran and C) read the speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad D) The West has for over a hundred years visited the most awful atrocities on the peoples of the Middle East, slaughtering more people than terrorists could ever hope of inflicting
Wherever they can, they impose a backward regimented society where women, minorities, gays or anyone not deemed to be a true believer is brutally subjugated.
LIE 8: A) None of which, even though harsh, a threat to Israel or the world B) There are 25,000 Jews in Iraq who recently refused offers of compensation to immigrate to Israel
The struggle against this fanaticism does not pit faith against faith nor civilization against civilization. It pits civilization against barbarism, the 21st century against the 9th century, those who sanctify life against those who glorify death.
LIE 9: Iran is attempting to modernize, one only has to look at a few photos of Tehran and read the speech given by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
The primitivism of the 9th century ought to be no match for the progress of the 21st century. The allure of freedom, the power of technology, the reach of communications should surely win the day. Ultimately, the past cannot triumph over the future. And the future offers all nations magnificent bounties of hope. The pace of progress is growing exponentially. It took us centuries to get from the printing press to the telephone, decades to get from the telephone to the personal computer, and only a few years to get from the personal computer to the internet. What seemed impossible a few years ago is already outdated, and we can scarcely fathom the changes that are yet to come. We will crack the genetic code. We will cure the incurable. We will lengthen our lives. We will find a cheap alternative to fossil fuels and clean up the planet. I am proud that my country Israel is at the forefront of these advances, by leading innovations in science and technology, medicine and biology, agriculture and water, energy and the environment. These innovations the world over offer humanity a sunlit future of unimagined promise.
LIE 10: Israel has only advanced some technologies and research. By far the majority have come from other countries
But if the most primitive fanaticism can acquire the most deadly weapons, the march of history could be reversed for a time. And like the belated victory over the Nazis, the forces of progress and freedom will prevail only after an horrific toll of blood and fortune has been exacted from mankind. That is why the greatest threat facing the world today is the marriage between religious fanaticism and the weapons of mass destruction.
LIE 11: There are only un-proven accusations of Iran wanting or trying to acquire Nuclear Weapons
The most urgent challenge facing this body is to prevent the tyrants of Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Are the member states of the United Nations up to that challenge? Will the international community confront a despotism that terrorizes its own people as they bravely stand up for freedom? Will it take action against the dictators who stole an election in broad daylight and gunned down Iranian protesters who died in the streets choking in their own blood?
LIE 12: There is no hard evidence that the election was stolen. The protests were violent from the outset. All Governments have a duty to their wider civilian population to maintain civil order
Will the international community thwart the world’s most pernicious sponsors and practitioners of terrorism?
LIE 13: Alleged and thus far, the US has been the greatest sponsor of terrorism in the world
Above all, will the international community stop the terrorist regime of Iran from developing atomic weapons, thereby endangering the peace of the entire world?
LIE 14: There is no evidence that Iran is even seeking Nuclear Weapons
The people of Iran are courageously standing up to this regime. People of goodwill around the world stand with them, as do the thousands who have been protesting outside this hall. Will the United Nations stand by their side?
Ladies and Gentlemen, the jury is still out on the United Nations, and recent signs are not encouraging. Rather than condemning the terrorists and their Iranian patrons, some here have condemned their victims. That is exactly what a recent UN report on Gaza did, falsely equating the terrorists with those they targeted.
LIE 15: It condemned both Hamas and the IDF. This is not equating. Furthermore, earlier the claim was made that there was no condemnation of Hamas
For eight long years, Hamas fired from Gaza thousands of missiles, mortars and rockets on nearby Israeli cities.
LIE 16: The territory of Ashkelon was NEVER annexed to Israel, it was illegally acquired by war
Year after year, as these missiles were deliberately hurled at our civilians, not a single UN resolution was passed condemning those criminal attacks.
LIE 17: Hamas is not a State, not a UN Member. The UN cannot pass a resolution against them. The UN can only express condemnation, which they have done numerous times
We heard nothing, absolutely nothing, from the UN Human Rights Council, a misnamed institution if there ever was one.
LIE 18: There was nine pages of condemnation of Hamas in the Goldstone report
In 2005, hoping to advance peace, Israel unilaterally withdrew from every inch of Gaza.
LIE 19: Israel still occupies Gaza, it controls all boundary crossings under the 2005 agreement, airspace and territorial waters. Only an Occupying Power has these rights
It dismantled 21 settlements…
ALL of them ILLEGAL settlements
….and uprooted over 8,000 Israelis. We didn’t get peace. Instead we got an Iranian backed terror base fifty miles from Tel Aviv. Life in Israeli towns and cities next to Gaza became a nightmare.
LIE 20: (repeated) These towns are in territory that was acquired by war and never annexed
You see, the Hamas rocket attacks not only continued, they increased tenfold. Again, the UN was silent.
LIE 21: (repeated) The UN has condemned them on numerous occasions
Finally, after eight years of this unremitting assault, Israel was finally forced to respond.
LIE 22: Although any death is tragic, as of April 27, 2008, a total of 13 Israelis were killed by Qassam rockets since the attacks started in 2001. NONE on actual Sovereign Israeli soil
But how should we have responded? Well, there is only one example in history of thousands of rockets being fired on a country’s civilian population. It happened when the Nazis rocketed British cities during World War II. During that war, the allies leveled German cities, causing hundreds of thousands of casualties.
LIE 23: There is no comparison between the Nazi’s well armed forces and home made rockets. Hamas has no tanks, no aircraft, no warships
Israel chose to respond differently. Faced with an enemy committing a double war crime of firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians, Israel sought to conduct surgical strikes against the rocket launchers. That was no easy task because the terrorists were firing missiles from homes and schools, using mosques as weapons depots and ferreting explosives in ambulances. Israel, by contrast, tried to minimize casualties by urging Palestinian civilians to vacate the targeted areas. We dropped countless flyers over their homes, sent thousands of text messages and called thousands of cell phones asking people to leave. Never has a country gone to such extraordinary lengths to remove the enemy’s civilian population from harm’s way.
LIE 24: A) Where else do people being attacked defend themselves from other than where they live? B) It is illegal to bombard un-defended villages and townships, so Israel can only attack those places where there are fighters willing to fight back. C) Although it gave forewarning, Israel had all the crossings closed, under the 2005 agreement, (only possible to have such an agreement as an Occupying Power), BEFORE attacking, thereby preventing civilians from fleeing a war zone, which is illegal under Geneva Convention 1V…Section II..Occupied territories..Art49…The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand
Yet faced with such a clear case of aggressor and victim, who did the UN Human Rights Council decide to condemn? Israel. A democracy legitimately defending itself against terror is morally hanged, drawn and quartered, and given an unfair trial to boot. By these twisted standards, the UN Human Rights Council would have dragged Roosevelt and Churchill to the dock as war criminals. What a perversion of truth. What a perversion of justice.
LIE 25: A) The Goldstone report had nine pages of condemnation of Hamas B) The British and the US weren’t illegally acquiring German territory by war, Israel is illegally acquiring Palestinian territory by war and illegal annexation
Delegates of the United Nations, Will you accept this farce? Because if you do, the United Nations would revert to its darkest days, when the worst violators of human rights sat in judgment against the law-abiding democracies….
LIE 26: When did this ever happen in the UN, it was only resolution to issue a statement, which was later rescinded, BY THE UN
….when Zionism was equated with racism and when an automatic majority could declare that the earth is flat.
LIE 27: The UN was formed in the 1940’s, only nut cases thought the world was flat
If this body does not reject this report, it would send a message to terrorists everywhere: Terror pays; if you launch your attacks from densely populated areas, you will win immunity. And in condemning Israel, this body would also deal a mortal blow to peace.
LIE 28: The report condemned Hamas, nine pages of it
Here’s why. When Israel left Gaza, many hoped that the missile attacks would stop. Others believed that at the very least, Israel would have international legitimacy to exercise its right of self-defense. What legitimacy? What self-defense?
LIE 29: International Law and the UN Charter gives Israel the right to defend it’s ACTUAL sovereign territories form all comers according to the Laws of War and the Conventions Israel has ratified. As the Occupying Power over Gaza and the West Bank Israel has the right to conduct military operations inside the occupied territories in accordance with the UN Charter, Laws of War and the Geneva Conventions
The same UN that cheered Israel as it left Gaza and promised to back our right of self-defense now accuses us, my people, my country of war crimes? And for what? For acting responsibly in self-defense. What a travesty!
LIE 30: For allegedly exceeding what was necessary in order to put down an insurgency
Israel justly defended itself against terror. This biased and unjust report is a clear-cut test for all governments. Will you stand with Israel or will you stand with the terrorists? We must know the answer to that question now. Now and not later. Because if Israel is again asked to take more risks for peace, we must know today that you will stand with us tomorrow. Only if we have the confidence that we can defend ourselves can we take further risks for peace.
LIE 31: Israel is only being asked to abide by it’s UN obligations and the Law, under which it has every right to defend itself.
Ladies and Gentlemen, All of Israel wants peace. Any time an Arab leader genuinely wanted peace with us, we made peace. We made peace with Egypt led by Anwar Sadat.
LIE 32: It was demanded that Israel withdraw from Sovereign Egyptian territory Res 242
We made peace with Jordan led by King Hussein.
LIE 33: It was demanded Res 242
And if the Palestinians truly want peace, I and my government, and the people of Israel, will make peace. But we want a genuine peace, a defensible peace, a permanent peace. In 1947, this body voted to establish two states for two peoples, a Jewish state and an Arab state.
LIE 34: The UN voted only to give the opportunity, via res 181 putting forward recommendations, which either party could take up if they wished, in order to declare sovereignty, if they wished
The Jews accepted that resolution.
And the borders it recommended
The Arabs rejected it. We ask the Palestinians to finally do what they have refused to do for 62 years. Say yes to a Jewish state. Just as we are asked to recognize a nation-state for the Palestinian people, the Palestinians must be asked to recognize the nation state of the Jewish people.
There is no legal requirement for states to be recognized, especially by entities who have had 50% of their rightful territories illegally acquired by war and who are still are under the occupation of a Sovereign state like Israel after 42 years
The Jewish people are not foreign conquerors in the Land of Israel.
LIE 35: The ‘Land of Israel’ only extends to the actual sovereign territories of the Sovereign State of Israel. Furthermore, since 1948 Israel has acquired by war, 50% of the territory Israel did NOT declare Sovereignty over in 1948
This is the land of our forefathers.
It is also the land of other peoples’ forefathers
Inscribed on the walls outside this building is the great Biblical vision of peace: “Nation shall not lift up sword against nation. They shall learn war no more.” These words were spoken by the Jewish prophet Isaiah 2,800 years ago as he walked in my country, in my city, in the hills of Judea and in the streets of Jerusalem.
We are not strangers to this land. It is our homeland. As deeply connected as we are to this land, we recognize that the Palestinians also live there and want a home of their own. We want to live side by side with them, two free peoples living in peace, prosperity and dignity.
LIE 36: Israel has illegally acquired, by war 50% of the rightful territories of the Palestinians and refuses, despite it being illegal, to give it up. This is NOT a demonstration of wanting peace
But we must have security. The Palestinians should have all the powers to govern themselves except those handful of powers that could endanger Israel.
Automatically precludes them from declaring sovereignty, even statehood. In fact, they’d be nothing more than a protectorate
That is why a Palestinian state must be effectively demilitarized. We don’t want another Gaza, another Iranian backed terror base abutting Jerusalem and perched on the hills a few kilometers from Tel Aviv.
If Iran is backing them, why are Hamas using home made Qassams, antiquated small arms and simple mortars and the occasional RUSSIAN made Grad?
We want peace. I believe such a peace can be achieved. But only if we roll back the forces of terror, led by Iran, that seek to destroy peace, eliminate Israel and overthrow the world order. The question facing the international community is whether it is prepared to confront those forces or accommodate them. Over seventy years ago, Winston Churchill lamented what he called the “confirmed unteachability of mankind,” the unfortunate habit of civilized societies to sleep until danger nearly overtakes them. Churchill bemoaned what he called the “want of foresight, the unwillingness to act when action will be simple and effective, the lack of clear thinking, the confusion of counsel until emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong.” I speak here today in the hope that Churchill’s assessment of the “unteachibility of mankind” is for once proven wrong. I speak here today in the hope that we can learn from history — that we can prevent danger in time.
In the spirit of the timeless words spoken to Joshua over 3,000 years ago, let us be strong and of good courage. Let us confront this peril, secure our future and, God willing, forge an enduring peace for generations to come.
All in all, propaganda PLUS. Netanyahu seems to be completely oblivious to the truth. He delivered a self centered rant worthy of the propagandists at CiFWatch
First, find out what isn't true... 