Israeli Voices on Iran Part 1: Hawks

 

            Netanyahu also called for additional pressure on Iran to ensure a peaceful resolution to the nuclear dispute. The Obama administration, in contrast, has repeatedly argued that additional pressure, such as new sanctions, could derail talks and push Washington closer to war.

            Israel is concerned that a final diplomatic deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers—the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—could allow Iran to reemerge as a regional powerhouse. Jerusalem fears an agreement that could allow Tehran to improve its military capabilities, ramp up support for extremist groups and gain international legitimacy. The following are hawkish remarks by Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders on Iran.  

 

 

            “World leaders are talking about leaving Iran with capability to enrich. This would enable Iran to rapidly develop nuclear weapons. If we allow this outlaw terrorist state to enrich uranium, how can we seriously demand that other country not enrich uranium?

 

            “We must dismantle their heavy water reactor, underground enrichment facilities, get rid of stockpiles of enriched uranium and their centrifuges.

 

            “I've come here to draw a clear line. The line between life and death, right and wrong, between the blessings of a brilliant future and the curses of a dark past.

 

            “Israel is humane, Israel is compassionate, Israel is a force for good. On the other side of the moral divide stand the forces of terror, Iran, Assad, Hezbollah, al-Qaida and others.

 

            “Listen to [Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah, he says 'Iran and Hezbollah love death and Israel loves life, that's why Iran and Hezbollah will win'. He's right about the first part, but he's dead wrong on the second point, it's because we love life that Israel shall win.

 

            “Iran's radical regime has tried to blur this moral divide. It wheels out its smiling president and smooth talking foreign minister, but they don't square with Iran's aggressive actions.”

 

            “I'm often asked whether Israel truly wants diplomacy to succeed - of course we do. No country has a greater interest in the peaceful elimination of the Iranian nuclear threat. But this will only be done with an agreement making Iran fully dismantle its nuclear capabilities… Pressure is what brought Iran to negotiating table, only more will get them to abandon [it].

           

            “Greater pressure won't make war more likely, but less likely. The greater the pressure on Iran and the more credible the threat of force, the stronger the chance force will never have to be used."

            March 4, 2014 at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee conference

 

            “I know it is not fashionable, but we need more pressure on Iran - not less.

 

            The goal of the talks with Tehran “should be zero centrifuges and zero enrichment” to prevent it from attaining “the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon.”

 

            Iran is developing new centrifuges “50 times better than the ones they have now” and intercontinental ballistic missiles that could “target Europe and the U.S. and… carry a nuclear payload.”

 

 

            A final deal that allows Iran to retain centrifuges for uranium enrichment ultimately would allow the development of nuclear weapons in Iran, encourage a Sunni-Shiite arms race in the Middle East and weaken counterproliferation efforts worldwide…

 

            The chances of Iran developing the bomb as a “threshold country” are considerable: North Korea did so after signing a similar deal in 2007. Becoming a nuclear power was the ayatollahs’ initial objective and the reason Tehran invested around $50 billion in this project. Yes, there are other countries on the nuclear threshold, but unlike Germany and Japan, Iran is unlikely to maintain its threshold status.

 

            The ayatollahs’ regime poses a threat to its Sunni neighbors. Tehran calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state and sponsors terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and Islamic Jihad, all of which sparks fear in other countries. Sooner or later, Tehran’s anxiety over potential retaliatory actions against its regime, including its nuclear project, would increase pressures within Iran to dash toward a fait accompli nuclear weapon…

 

            Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s “charm offensive” has had a dramatic effect in the West, but no one in the Middle East buys Iran’s projection of pacifism. Indeed, Tehran’s direct involvement in Sunni-Shiite carnage in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq has sharpened its image. Iran’s breakout capability will be pivotal in regional assessments, with most governments likely to conclude that if the deal leaves Iran only a year or two away from the bomb Tehran ultimately will go nuclear.

 

            “The impending agreement with Iran is a historical fiasco. Iran will no longer feel any pressure – political, military or economic. It will spend the next three years arguing semantics, while at the same time it will advance its nuclear capabilities and become a true nuclear threshold state. From that point on Iran will be able to fully develop nuclear weapons whenever it chooses. A nuclear Iran is the number one global threat – Iran must be stopped.

 

            “Let us not be confused, Iran wants regional, international hegemony. They want to obtain a nuclear umbrella for their activities and perhaps over time will use of force as well.”

            Jan. 28, 2014 at the annual Institute for National Security Studies conference in Tel Aviv

 

             “The new missile tests conducted by Iran yesterday are further proof its intentions have not changed and the Iranians are not even hiding their being a warmongering state.

 

             “The only change in Iran is that now they threaten world peace behind a mask of smiles.”

 

             “As we speak, the centrifuges continue to spin and to enrich uranium, and they intend to replace the old centrifuges with new ones that have the ability to produce five times more than the existing ones. Most of the countries that produce energy for civilian purposes from atomic power plants do not need enriched uranium…

 

             “American expert Bob Einhorn once said that the Iranian demand to enrich large quantities of uranium to 20% in order to produce electricity is like asking for a 30-cm-long commando knife to spread jam on bread. Not only that, but the claim that they need a stockpile of enriched uranium because they plan to build a lot of nuclear power stations in the future is as ridiculous as saying that we are building a petrol station next to our house because in 20 years we intend to buy a car.

 

             “Also, Iran’s involvement in terrorism, its active aid to Assad and to Hezbollah, reveals the true nature of the regime. Iran hasn’t changed in relation to human rights: Iran holds second place in the world in the absolute numbers of executions it carries out, and first place for the number of executions relative to the population. In 2013, more than 600 people were executed. Since Rouhani’s election last June, 367 people have been executed. Among these were 18-year-olds who committed the crimes when they were minors; after they were sentenced to death, Iran waited until they reached the age when they could be hanged. In short, charm notwithstanding, Iran is the same Iran.

             “So, we will follow the implementation of the Geneva agreement that was reached with the Iranians, but in the end, responsibility for the security of Israel’s citizens and the future of the state is entirely in the hands of the Israeli government. We will not hesitate to make decisions according to developments.”

             The interim nuclear deal is “unacceptable to me and the Israelis… We are in the beginning of a nuclear arms race...[whose] consequences are even more serious than a horror movie in Hollywood.

 

             “The real center of power, it's not the new political leaders. It's not Rouhani, it's not Zarif, it's still the Revolutionary Guard and the Supreme Leader.

 

             “We hope for real change in Iran… We enjoyed really friendly relations with the Iranian people for hundreds, maybe thousands of years. “[Today] of course we have some dialogue with the Iranian people through mass media, but it's not enough."

 

             “Obviously when you look at the smiles of the Iranians over there in Geneva, you realize that this is the Iranians’ greatest victory, maybe since the Khomeini revolution, and it doesn’t really change the situation within Iran.”

 

           

             “Israel does not see itself as bound by this bad, this very bad agreement that has been signed.”

 

 

            “As soon as you reach an interim agreement, it can be extended later for another six months. Then what happens? As soon as I stop the momentum [of sanctions against Iran], the consensus is cracked. It’s like a wall with cracks. The wheels of economy start spinning again.

 

            “Of course [negotiations are an exercise in deception]. They [Iranians] have missiles, they have military research for the project and they have resources. The men of the Revolutionary Guard are in control of all of this. They invest constantly in defensive measures. What we see here is a military project being conducted by a very dangerous regime, and that combination creates a very significant danger.”