ISRAEL IN FOCUS
Jerusalem’s Unity and the UN’s Boost toTerrorism
Excerpts from a September 22, 2009 CNN-TV interview of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyaho by CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer. The interview was conducted following a meeting in New York between Netanyahu, U.S. President Barrack Obama and Mahmoud Abbas, chairman of the Palestinian Authority:
Blitzer: Are you ready to talk about Jerusalem?
Netanyahu: We have certain views about Jerusalem. I think the fact that it’s been united under Israeli sovereignty has insured that for the last four decades all major faiths, Christianity, Islam and Judaism, all monotheistic faiths, have enjoyed the great freedom and access to their religious sites, something that hasn’t happened… since the rise of the monotheistic religions.
It’s only under Israeli sovereignty that this city has been open to all religions. Jerusalem for us is our eternal capital. We don’t want to redivide it and see a Berlin Wall in the center of it. So, obviously, that’s our position. The Palestinians will raise their
point of view. And that’s clear. We will talk about these things, but my position is well known.
Blitzer: You know this United Nations commission [“The UN Fact Finding Mission on Gaza”], which just came back with a scathing report suggesting that Israel, your military, committed war crimes or something close to that, crimes against humanity perhaps, during the fighting in Gaza. And I know you strongly disagree, but I want you to react to that United Nations report.
Netanyahu: Now you’re being a diplomat. I strongly disagree? I think this is preposterous. It’s absurd. Israel was rocketed, pummeled for eight years by thousands of rockets that came from Gaza. We evacuated Gaza , hoping that this thing would stop, and they fired not one rocket but thousands of rockets, after we left Gaza.
So what’s a country to do? I mean what would you do if thousands of rockets fell on…Washington, D.C. or any part of the United States? You know what the United States would do.
Blitzer: The argument. though, Mr. Prime Minister, in this UN report, is that you overreacted, and in the process, you killed a lot of civilians.
Netanyahu: We overreacted did we? Well let me tell you, after a million or so of our people were under rocket fire, progressively larger and larger circles of rockets falling on our cities, we did what every reasonable country would do. We tried to get at the rocketeers, those terrorists firing those missiles and rockets who placed themselves, embedded themselves, in homes and schools and mosques and you name it.
And we tried to target these people. We even sent them SMS text messages telling the Palestinian civilians, please get out of harm’s way. Cellular phones, you name it. So we did everything possible to minimize the loss of innocent civilian lives.
And yet the Hamas was actually committing a double war crime, firing on civilians while hiding behind civilians. That’s a double war crime. They’re the ones that sort of get a free bill out of this biased UN report, and Israel, that is defending itsel, is accused.
Blitzer: All right.
Netanyahu: So the terrorists are exonerated. The victims are accused. That’s an upside down world. And I think this does grievous harm to the battle against terrorism, because the terrorists are basically being told, you get a free ride. All you have to do is fire at a democracy from built-up areas, from residential quarters, and you will get a clean bill of health. And I think it does a great disservice to peace, too, because we’re asked to take risks for peace.. The international community says if you take risks for peace, we will support your right of self-defense. And yet we did just that. We evacuated Gaza in the hope that this would advance peace. And when we’re rocketed with thousands of rockets and missiles from the places we vacated, people say Israel is the war criminal
Blitzer: All right.
Netanyahu: Come on. I mean this is absurd.
Blitzer: If there is a trial at the International Court and the accusation is that Israel committed war crimes or crimes against humanity in Gaza, will you cooperate with that?
Netanyahu: Well the question is will any serious country cooperate with it? I took note of the fact that that the leading democracies that were in this UN commission, they opposed this. They were against this mandate, because it looked like a kangaroo court in the first place, where Israel was basically hanged, drawn and quartered morally and given an unfair trial to boot right at the start of these proceedings.
I think; this is wrong, but understand this: It’s not only we who will be damaged, it’s you, too. I mean American pilots, NATO pilots, let alone Russia and other countries that are fighting terrorists, are going to be put in the dock, too, because it’s said that you cannot fight terrorists.
It means that all the terrorists have to do is put themselves in a residential quarter, and they receive immunity. And that’s not something any country fighting terrorism can accept. And I don’t think you can accept it either.
