Israel

It is a pleasure to see the General Assembly presided over by the Ambassador from Israel, and it is good to see all of the representatives here. Three thousand years ago, King David reigned over the Jewish State in our eternal capital, Jerusalem. I say that to all those who proclaim that the Jewish State has no roots in our region and that it will soon disappear. Throughout our history, the Jewish people have overcome all the tyrants who have sought our destruction. It is their ideologies that have been discarded by history. The people of Israel live on. We say in Hebrew, the Jewish State will live forever. The Jewish people have lived in the land of Israel for thousands of years. Even after most of our people were exiled from it, Jews continued to live in the land of Israel throughout the ages. The masses of our people never gave up the dream of returning to our ancient homeland. Defying the laws of history, we did just that. We ingathered the exiles, restored our independence and rebuilt our national life. The Jewish people have come home. We will never be uprooted again. Yesterday was Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish year. Every year, for over three millennia, we have come together on this day of reflection and atonement. We take stock of our past. We pray for our future. We remember the sorrows of our persecution; we remember the great travails of our dispersion; we mourn the extermination of a third of our people, 6 million, in the Holocaust. But at the end of Yom Kippur, we celebrate. We celebrate the rebirth of Israel. We celebrate the heroism of our young men and women who have defended our people with the indomitable courage of Joshua, David and the Maccabees of old. We celebrate the marvel of the flourishing modern Jewish State. In Israel we walk the same paths as those trodden by our patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. But we blaze new trails in science, technology, medicine and agriculture. In Israel the past and the future find common ground. Unfortunately, that is not the case in many other countries. For today, a great battle is being waged between the modern and the medieval. The forces of modernity seek a bright future in which the rights of all are protected, in which an ever-expanding digital library is available in the palm of every child, in which every life is sacred. The forces of medievalism seek a world in which women and minorities are subjugated, in which knowledge is suppressed, in which not life but death is glorified. Those forces clash around the globe, but nowhere more starkly than in the Middle East. Israel stands proudly with the forces of modernity. We protect the rights of all our citizens, men and women, Jews and Arabs, Muslims and Christians — all are equal before the law. Israel is also making the world a better place. Our scientists win Nobel Prizes. Our know-how is in every cell phone and computer that every one of us uses. We prevent hunger by irrigating arid lands in Africa and Asia. Recently, I was deeply moved when I visited Technion, one of our technological institutes in Haifa, and I saw a man paralysed from the waist down climb up a f light of stairs, quite easily, with the aid of an Israeli invention. And Israel’s exceptional creativity is matched by our people’s remarkable compassion. When disaster strikes anywhere in the world — in Haiti, Japan, India, Turkey, Indonesia and elsewhere — Israeli doctors are among the first on the scene, performing lifesaving surgeries. In the past year, I lost both my father and my father-in-law. In the same hospital wards where they were treated, Israeli doctors were treating Palestinian Arabs. In fact, every year, thousands of Arabs from the Palestinian territories and Arabs from throughout the Middle East come to Israel to be treated in Israeli hospitals by Israeli doctors. I know that that is not going to be spoken by speakers at this podium, but it is the truth. It is important that the world be aware of that truth. It is because Israel cherishes life that Israel cherishes peace and seeks peace. We seek to preserve our historic ties and our historic peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan. We seek to forge a durable peace with the Palestinians. President Abbas just spoke here. I say to him and I say to the Assembly: we will not solve our conflict with libellous speeches at the United Nations. That is not the way to solve it. We will not solve our conflict with unilateral declarations of statehood. We have to sit together, negotiate together and reach a mutual compromise, in which a demilitarized Palestinian State recognizes the one and only Jewish State. Israel wants to see a Middle East of progress and peace. We want to see the three great religions that sprang forth from our region — Judaism, Christianity and Islam — coexist in peace and in mutual respect. Yet the medieval forces of radical Islam, which the world just saw storming American Embassies throughout the Middle East, oppose that. They seek supremacy over all Muslims. They are bent on world conquest. They want to destroy Israel, Europe, America. They want to extinguish freedom. They want to end the modern world. Militant Islam has many branches, from the rulers of Iran with their Revolutionary Guards to Al-Qaida terrorists to the radical cells lurking in every part of the globe. But despite their differences, they are all rooted in the same bitter soil of intolerance. That intolerance is directed first at their fellow Muslims and then at Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, secular people, and anyone who does not submit to their unforgiving creed. They want to drag humankind back to an age of unquestioning dogma and unrelenting conflict. I am sure of one thing. Ultimately, they will fail. Ultimately, light will penetrate the darkness. We have seen that happen before. Some 500 years ago, the printing press helped pry a cloistered Europe out of a dark age. Eventually, ignorance gave way to enlightenment. So too, a cloistered Middle East will eventually yield to the irresistible power of freedom and technology. When that happens, our region will be guided not by fanaticism and conspiracy but by reason and curiosity. I think the relevant question is not whether this fanaticism will be defeated. It is how many lives will be lost before it is defeated. We have seen that happen before too. Some 70 years ago, the world saw another fanatic ideology bent on world conquest. It went down in flames, but not before it took millions of people with it. Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long to act. In the end they triumphed, but at a horrific cost. My friends, we cannot let that happen again. At stake is not merely the future of my own country. At stake is the future of the world. Nothing could imperil our common future more than the arming of Iran with nuclear weapons. To understand what the world would be like with a nuclear-armed Iran, just imagine the world with a nuclear-armed Al-Qaida. It makes little difference whether these lethal weapons are in the hands of the world’s most dangerous terrorist regime or the world’s most dangerous terrorist organization. They are both fired by the same hatred; they are both driven by the same lust for violence. Just look at what the Iranian regime has done up until now, without nuclear weapons. In 2009, they brutally put down mass protests for democracy in their own country. Today, their henchmen are participating in the slaughter of tens of thousands of Syrian civilians, including thousands of children — directly participating in those murders. They abetted the killing of American soldiers in Iraq and continue to do so in Afghanistan. Before that, Iranian proxies killed hundreds of American troops in Beirut and in Saudi Arabia. They have turned Lebanon and Gaza into terror strongholds, embedding nearly 100,000 missiles and rockets in civilian areas. Thousands of such rockets and missiles have already been fired at Israeli communities by their terrorist proxies. In the past year, they have spread their international terror networks to two dozen countries across five continents, from India and Thailand to Kenya and Bulgaria. They have even plotted to blow up a restaurant a few blocks from the White House in order to kill a diplomat. And of course, Iran’s rulers repeatedly deny the Holocaust and call for Israel’s destruction almost on a daily basis, as they did again this week from the United Nations. So I ask, given this record of Iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine Iranian aggression with nuclear weapons. Imagine their long- range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads, their terror networks armed with atomic bombs. Who here would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe in Europe? Who would be safe in America? Who would be safe anywhere? There are those who believe that a nuclear-armed Iran can be deterred like the Soviet Union. That is a very dangerous assumption. Militant jihadists behave very differently from secular Marxists. There were no Soviet suicide bombers. Yet Iran produces hordes of them. Deterrence worked with the Soviets, because every time the Soviets faced a choice between their ideology and their survival, they chose their survival. But deterrence may not work with the Iranians once they get nuclear weapons. A great scholar of the Middle East, Professor Bernard Lewis, put it best. He said that for the ayatollahs of Iran mutually assured destruction is not a deterrent, it is an inducement. Iran’s apocalyptic leaders believe that a medieval holy man will reappear in the wake of a devastating holy war, thereby ensuring that their brand of radical Islam will rule the Earth. That is not just what they believe; it is what is actually guiding their policies and their actions. Just listen to Ayatollah Rafsanjani who said, “the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything, however it would only harm the Islamic world.” Rafsanjani said: “It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality”. “Not irrational” is what he said. And that is coming from one of the so-called moderates of Iran. Shockingly, some people have begun to peddle the absurd notion that a nuclear-armed Iran would actually stabilize the Middle East. That is like saying a nuclear- armed Al-Qaida would usher in an era of universal peace. I have been speaking about the need to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons for over 15 years. I spoke about it in my first term in office as Prime Minister, and then I spoke about it when I left office. I spoke about it when it was fashionable, and I spoke about it when it was not fashionable. I speak about it now because the hour is getting late, very late. I speak about it now because the Iranian nuclear calendar does not take time out for anyone or for anything. I speak about it now because when it comes to the survival of my country, it is not only my right to speak, it is my duty to speak. And I believe that it is the duty of every responsible leader who wants to preserve world peace. For nearly a decade, the international community has tried to stop the Iranian nuclear programme with diplomacy. That has not worked. Iran uses diplomatic negotiations as a means to buy time to advance its nuclear programme. For over seven years, the international community has tried sanctions with Iran. Under the leadership of President Obama, the international community has passed some of the strongest sanctions to date. I want to thank the Governments represented here that have joined in that effort. It has had an effect. Oil exports have been curbed and the Iranian economy has been hit hard. It has had an effect on the economy, but we must face the truth. Sanctions have not stopped Iran’s nuclear programme either. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, during the last year alone, Iran doubled the number of centrifuges in its underground nuclear facility in Qom. At this late hour, there is only one way to peacefully prevent Iran from getting atomic bombs. That is by placing a clear red line on Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. Red lines do not lead to war. Red lines prevent war. Look at NATO’s charter. It made clear that an attack on one member country would be considered an attack on all. NATO’s red line helped keep the peace in Europe for nearly half a century. President Kennedy set a red line during the Cuban missile crisis. That red line also prevented war and helped preserve the peace for decades. In fact, it is the failure to place red lines that has often invited aggression. If the Western Powers had drawn clear red lines during the 1930s, I believe they would have stopped Nazi aggression, and the Second World War might have been avoided. In 1990, if Saddam Hussein had been clearly told that his conquest of Kuwait would cross a red line, the first Gulf War might have been avoided. Clear red lines have also worked with Iran. Earlier this year, Iran threatened to close the Straits of Hormuz. The United States drew a clear red line and Iran backed off. Now, red lines could be drawn in different parts of Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, but to be credible, a red line must be drawn first and foremost in one vital part of their programme: on Iran’s efforts to enrich uranium. Now let me explain why. Basically, any bomb consists of explosive material and a mechanism to ignite it. The simplest example is gunpowder and a fuse — that is, you light the fuse and you set off the gunpowder. In the case of Iran’s plans to build a nuclear weapon, the gunpowder is enriched uranium. The fuse is a nuclear detonator. For Iran, amassing enough enriched uranium is far more difficult than producing the nuclear fuse. For a country like Iran, it takes many years to enrich uranium for a bomb. That requires thousands of centrifuges spinning in tandem in very big industrial plants. Those Iranian plants are visible and they are still vulnerable. In contrast, Iran could produce the nuclear detonator, the fuse, in a lot less time — maybe under a year, maybe only a few months. The detonator can be made in a small workshop the size of a classroom. It may be very difficult to find and target that workshop, especially in Iran. That is a country that is bigger than France, Germany, Italy and Britain combined. The same is true for the small facility in which they could assemble a warhead or a nuclear device that could be placed in a container ship. Chances are you will not find that facility either. So in fact, the only way that you can credibly prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, is to prevent Iran from amassing enough enriched uranium for a bomb. So how much enriched uranium do you need for a bomb, and how close is Iran to getting it? Let me show you. I brought a diagram for you. Here is the diagram. This is a bomb. This is a fuse. In the case of Iran’s nuclear plans to build a bomb, this bomb has to be filled with enough enriched uranium, and Iran has to go through three stages. In the first stage they have to enrich enough low-enriched uranium; in the second stage they have to enrich enough medium-enriched uranium. And in the third, and final, stage they have to enrich enough high-enriched uranium for the first bomb. Where is Iran? Iran has completed the first stage. It took them many years, but they completed it, and they are 70 per cent of the way there. Now they are well into the second stage. By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and moved on to the final stage. From there, it is only a few months, possibly a few weeks, before they get enough enriched uranium for the first bomb. What I told the Assembly just now is not based on secret information. It is not based on military intelligence. It is based on public reports of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Anybody can read them. They are online. So if these are the facts — and they are — where should a red line be drawn? A red line should be drawn right here, before Iran completes the second stage of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb and before Iran gets to a point where it is a few months away or a few weeks away from amassing enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear weapon. Each day, that point is getting closer. That is why I speak today with such a sense of urgency, and that is why everyone should have a sense of urgency. There are some who claim that even if Iran completes the enrichment process, even if it crosses that red line that I just drew, our intelligence agencies will know when and where Iran will make the fuse, assemble the bomb and prepare the warhead. No one appreciates our intelligence agencies more than the Prime Minister of Israel. All these leading intelligence agencies are superb, including ours. They have foiled many attacks, they have saved many lives, but they are not foolproof. For over two years, our intelligence agencies did not know that Iran was building a huge nuclear enrichment plant under a mountain. Do we want to risk the security of the world on the assumption that we would find a small workshop in a country half the size of Europe in time? The relevant question is not when Iran will get the bomb. The relevant question is at what stage can we no longer stop Iran from getting the bomb? The red line must be drawn on Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme because these enrichment facilities are the only nuclear installations that we can definitely see and credibly target. I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down. This will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy to convince Iran to dismantle its nuclear weapons programme altogether. Two days ago, from this podium, President Obama reiterated that the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran cannot be contained (see A/67/PV.6). I very much appreciate the President’s position, as does everyone in my country. We share the goal of stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons programme. This goal unites the people of Israel. It unites Americans, Democrats and Republicans alike. and it is shared by important leaders throughout the world. What I have said today will help ensure that this common goal is achieved. Israel is in discussions with the United States over this issue, and I am confident that we can chart a path forward together. The clash between modernity and medievalism need not be a clash between progress and tradition. The traditions of the Jewish people go back thousands of years. They are the source of our collective values and the foundations of our national strength. At the same time, the Jewish people have always looked towards the future. Throughout history, we have been at the forefront of efforts to expand liberty, promote equality and advance human rights. We champion those principles not in spite of our traditions but because of them. We heed the words of the Jewish prophets Isaiah, Amos and Jeremiah to treat all with dignity and compassion, to pursue justice and cherish life and to pray and strive for peace. Those are the timeless values of my people, and they are the Jewish people’s greatest gift to humankind. Let us commit ourselves today to defending those values so that we can defend our freedoms and protect our common civilization.