Nitzan Chen, the Director of the Government Press Office.
I want to thank you and all the staff at the Government Press Office
for all that you do, not only for tonight, but throughout the year.
I also want to recognize most especially Moshe Milner. Moshe retired
after decades of service as one of the GPO's most prominent
photographers. He has documented Israel through his photographs over
many years, and I think he actually produced an invaluable pictorial
record the country, the country as it really is – not as it's often
portrayed but as it really is. And I want to thank you, Moshe, for your
many, many years of service. For this you have our profound gratitude.
Thank you.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Today we witnessed a
series of examples of European naivety, and may I add, hypocrisy: the
decision of the European court in Luxembourg on Hamas, the resolution of
the EU Parliament in Brussels on Palestinian statehood, and the call
from Switzerland to investigate Israel for supposed violations of the
Geneva Convention. Now all these point in the same direction. They point
to a spirit of appeasement in Europe of the very forces that threaten
Europe itself. Too many in Europe are calling on Israel to make
concessions that would endanger not only the security of Israel, but
also paradoxically, the security of Europe itself because Israel is the
forward position of European civilization. Israel is the bulwark of
European values. Israel is a pluralist, vibrant multi-party democracy.
In Israel there is equality before the law. The rights of all are
vigorously protected – of minorities, of women, of gays, of everyone.
Only in Israel. In Israel there is a true separation of powers. Our
judiciary is fiercely independent and we're proud of this. And you as
journalists know something that applies to your profession: In a very,
very large expanse, Israel is the only country in the Middle East and
beyond with a truly free press. No one is incarcerated. No one is
pressed. No one is harassed. You could write what you want. You do. You
can say what you want. You do. And you can just about photograph
anything you want and you do that too. Only in Israel and it stands in
sharp contrast to what we see in the region around us, in the horrors
that afflict human beings there, in the horrors that afflict journalists
who cover these savageries.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Israel
is an embattled democracy in a region plagued by totalitarianism,
tyranny and Islamist terrorism; a region where human rights are trampled
upon; where basic human freedoms ignored; where arbitrary violence is
par-for-the-course. Israel is forced to defend itself against terrorists
who time and again try to target our civilians. This summer they fired
thousands of rockets on our cities and while they were doing this, these
terrorists committed a double war crime. They deliberately targeted our
civilians. That's a war crime. And they used their civilians as human
shields. That's a second war crime.
Yet the focus in Geneva today
was that Israel must be investigated for war crimes. What hypocrisy.
What a travesty. I ask, where is elementary European integrity? Now I
know that some in Europe say that they are frustrated with the situation
in the Middle East. Well let me tell you a secret. We in Israel are
frustrated with the situation in the Middle East. We are frustrated that
our Palestinian neighbors refuse to recognize the right of the Jewish
people to a state of their own at the time that they're asking for us to
recognize their right to have one. We're frustrated that our
Palestinian neighbors continue to incite against Jews and the Jewish
state, creating a climate of hatred and violence. We're frustrated that
they refuse to negotiate seriously about our legitimate security
concerns. And I think all of you know that in this part of the world,
there can be no genuine peace without security for peace will not last
if it cannot be defended.
The simple truth is that half of
Palestinian society has been taken over by Islamist extremists who
openly call for Israel's destruction, while the other half refuses to
confront the first half. So when Europeans say that they are frustrated,
we say, "Join the club". And I don't believe that frustration can be an
excuse for wrong policy. Removing the terrorist designation of Hamas is
a grave mistake. Hamas is a ruthless terrorist organization with a
proven track record of brutal terror attacks against innocent civilians –
by the way, not only Israelis: hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of
Palestinians who have been murdered by them. Just this year, Hamas
kidnapped and murdered three Israeli teenagers. It launched thousands of
rocket attacks indiscriminately at our children, at our civilians. And
it celebrated just recently the murder of innocent worshippers massacred
at a Jerusalem synagogue, and called upon its followers to commit more
such terrorist atrocities.
Some erroneously believe that Hamas
terror is a function of a failed peace process. Well, I will remind all
of you that in the heyday of Oslo, when leaders across the globe were
excited about the new momentum in the peace process, hundreds of
Israelis were the victims of one of Hamas's most brutal terror
campaigns. Now, it was said then that Hamas uses terror to destroy the
peace, and it is said now that Hamas uses terror because there is no
peace.
Well, the truth is that Hamas uses terrorism against
Israel because it's a terrorist organization committed to Israel's
destruction. It's as simple as that. That's the nature of this
organization and that's its fundamental goal. Now if anyone had any
illusions about that, you could hear one of the leaders of Hamas this
weekend, Mahmoud al-Zahar. He reminded us that Hamas's goal isn't to
rule over Gaza or to rule over Judea/Samaria in the West Bank. He said
it clearly: Hamas's goal is the total and complete annihilation of
Israel and the murder of Israel's citizens.
Well, do the
self-proclaimed Palestinian moderates confront Hamas and the other
Islamist extremists? Unfortunately, they often seem to be trying to
compete with them over who can use the most inflammatory language and
who can summon wells of anti-Jewish sentiment and anti-Israel sentiment.
It was President Abbas himself who spoke seriously, slanderously of a
Jewish threat to the Muslim holy sites. There is no such threat. We keep
the status quo rigorously. That's not going to change. We guard the
holy sites of all the religions. That's not going to change. And by the
way, again, in the broad Middle East, we're the only ones who do so –
for Jews, for Christians, for Muslims. In fact, the only place where
Christian communities are not persecuted, where Christian communities
have not shrunk – they've actually grown four-fold since the founding of
the State of Israel – is Israel. It's the only place.
So to
speak about our "attack" on the holy sites is not merely a lie, it's
just wrong. It's wrong because it creates the wrong impression among
Palestinian youngsters, among Palestinians at large and it produces
these waves of attacks from people who seriously believe that we would
destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque. There was just a poll taken in Palestinian
society. About 90% believe, 85% believe that Israel seeks to achieve
such a goal so this rhetoric has consequences. It forces a change in
people's minds and it forces radical and violent behavior. It has to
stop. It was Abbas who actually called the Palestinians to use "all
means" to fight this fabricated threat; and it was Abbas who accused the
Jews of "contaminating" – that was his word – "contaminating" the
Temple Mount.
Now, the question I raise for you tonight is where
is Europe in all of this? Does it hold the Palestinian leadership
accountable for its coddling of extremism? Does it demand that the
Palestinian Authority break its signed pact with Hamas? Does Europe call
for an end to outrageous official Palestinian incitement against Jews
and the Jewish state?
The sad truth is that Europe is largely
silent on these questions and when it raises its voice, it's typically
in the other direction. In fact, the European Parliament and some
parliaments of EU member states have been calling for the recognition of
a Palestinian state. And I ask you, why should the Palestinian
leadership demonstrate responsible behavior? Why should the Palestinian
leadership jettison its maximalist and extreme positions? Why should it
abandon its call to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians? Why
should the PA do any of this if its extremist and irresponsible behavior
is rewarded time and again by European parliaments? Let there be no
mistake: parliamentary recognitions do nothing to advance peace. Quite
the contrary. These declarations merely reinforce Palestinian
intransigence, pushing peace further away.
And the point that I
came here tonight to make, this is the point I close with: There is a
simple truth that cannot be ignored. Peace will only come when the
Palestinians are willing to confront their own extremists. Instead of
embracing the militants, the PA should fight them. And instead of
rewarding Palestinian intransigence, the European democracies should
support the one and only democracy in the Middle East and that, ladies
and gentlemen, is the State of Israel.
Photo: Kobi Gideon, GPO
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