Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett addressed a sparsely-attended hall at the United Nations General Assembly on Monday morning, just a few hours before the start of the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah in the Jewish State.
The prime minister began his speech with a focus on the global coronavirus pandemic, and the ways in which Israel has been addressing the issue.
He segued from that directly into a substantial attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Following is an excerpt from Bennett’s remarks relating to Iran.
“Israel is quite literally surrounded by Hezbollah, Shia militias, Islamic Jihad and Hamas – on. our. borders. These terror groups seek to dominate the Middle East and spread radical Islam across the world.
What do they all have in common? They all want to destroy my country, (hand on heart) and they’re all backed by Iran.
They get their funding from Iran, they get their training from Iran; they get their weapons from Iran.
Iran’s great goal is crystal clear to anybody who cares to open their eyes. Iran seeks to dominate the region and seeks to do so under a nuclear umbrella…
For the past three decades Iran spread its carnage and destruction around the Middle East . . . Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Gaza.
What do all these places have in common? Well, they’re all falling apart, their citizens hungry and suffering, their economies collapsing.
Like the Midas Touch, Iran’s regime has the Mullah Touch. Every place Iran touches, fails.
And if you think Iranian terror is confined to Israel, you’re wrong. . . just this year, Iran made operational a new deadly terror unit, a startup.
Swarms of killer UAVs armed with lethal weapons that can attack any place at any time.
They plan to blanket the skies of the Middle East with this lethal force.
Iran has already used these UAVs, called “Shahid 136” to attack Saudi Arabia, American targets in Iraq, civilian ships at sea – most recently killing a Brit and a Romanian. Iran plans to arm is proxies in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon with hundreds and later on thousands of these deadly UAVs.
So you can ignore it, but experience tells us that what starts in the Middle East doesn’t stop there.
Over the past few years Iran has made a major leap forward in its nuclear R & D, its production capacity, its enrichment. Iran’s nuclear weapons program is at a critical point.
All red lines have been crossed. Inspections ignored. All wishful thinking proven false.
Iran is currently violating the IAEA’s safeguard agreements – and it’s getting away with it. They harass inspectors and sabotage their investigations – and they’re getting away with it. They enrich uranium to the level of 60 percent, which is only one step short of weapons grade material – and they’re getting away with it.
Evidence which clearly proves Iran’s intentions for nuclear weapons in secret sites in Turqusebad, Tehran and Marivan, is ignored.
Iran’s nuclear program has hit a watershed moment and so has our tolerance.
Words do not stop centrifuges from spinning.
There are those in the world who seem to view Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons as an inevitable reality, as a done deal; or, they’ve just become tired of hearing about it.
Israel doesn’t have that privilege. We cannot tire. We will not tire. Israel will not allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.”