(April 16, 2008)
„We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,“ Ma‘ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events „swung American public opinion in our favor.“
Netanyahu reportedly made the comments during a conference at Bar-Ilan University on the division of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
(12. September 2001)
Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, “It‘s very good.“ Then he edited himself: “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.“ He predicted that the attack would “strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we‘ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.“
(December 9, 2023)
Pro-Israeli lobbies have hijacked most western liberal democracies.
The whole world is now privy to the shameless pimping of western politicians previously documented in Congressman Paul Findley‘s 1985 book They Dare to Speak Out and reinforced by the 2007 book The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy, by political scientists John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt.
As an anonymous commentator wrote: “People think Gaza is occupied, but in reality, Gaza is free but the whole world is occupied.”
(04.03.2015)
The prime minister has been warning for over 20 years that Tehran is close to achieving its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
“I spent two months thinking about this and wrestling with it,” Schumer told me in an interview Friday. Far from being an attack on Israel, Schumer said, it was an attempt to shore up support for the Jewish state, particularly among young Americans who have known Israel only under Netanyahu’s leadership.
“In short, the longer he’s embroiled in war, the longer he can put off some kind of domestic political shift,” Zonszein said.
Netanyahu is playing up the challenges of holding elections during wartime and has made dramatic assertions like: “Hamas and Hezbollah want Israel to go to early elections, it would be a victory for them”.
However, the majority of Israelis still believe that Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making is primarily motivated by political interests, according to an opinion poll conducted by the Israeli Channel 13.
n the face of increasing pressure from the United States, Britain and Germany, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has doubled down on his opposition to what these allies see as the future of Gaza: an interim government overseen by the Palestinian Authority and an eventual Palestinian state existing alongside Israel.
Speaking only hours after the army admitted to shooting three Israeli hostages as they held up a white flag in Gaza, fueling consternation and anger among Israelis, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to be trying to change the subject, boasting that he had prevented the creation of a Palestinian state in the past and would continue to do so.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
At the Tel Aviv press conference, Netanyahu is asked by a reporter why he did not withdraw from the Oslo Accords, given that he keeps criticizing them.
“I inherited the Oslo Accords,” he says. “The decision to bring the PLO from Tunis, and plant it in the heart of Judea and Samaria [West Bank], and in Gaza, was a decision made and implemented before I became prime minister. I thought it was a terrible mistake and I still do.”
Turning on the reporter, he says: “You and your journalist friends have been blaming me for almost 30 years for putting the brakes on the Oslo Accords, and preventing the Palestinian state. That’s true,” he says.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
In a recorded statement published on X, Netanyahu said he will not let Israel repeat the “mistake” of the Oslo Accords, and that Gaza will neither be “Hamastan nor Fatahstan”.
Earlier, he was quoted on the Israeli public broadcaster as saying that Israel was preparing for a possible war with the PA in the West Bank.
“It can’t be that after the enormous sacrifice of our citizens and fighters, we will let into Gaza those who teach terror, support terror, finance terror,” he said.
Hussein al-Sheikh, a senior PA and Fatah leader, said Netnayhu’s remarks “confirm his war against all Palestinians”.
(Oct 28, 2023)
This symbiotic relationship between Netanyahu and Hamas has been remarked on for years, by both friends and enemies, hawks and doves.
Yuval Diskin, former head of Israel‘s Shin Bet security service, told the daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth in 2013 that „if we look at it over the years, one of the main people contributing to Hamas‘s strengthening has been Bibi Netanyahu, since his first term as prime minister.“
In August 2019, former prime minister Ehud Barak told Israeli Army Radio that Netanyahu‘s „strategy is to keep Hamas alive and kicking … even at the price of abandoning the citizens [of the south] … in order to weaken the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah.“
You can watch The Amanpour Archive on my new show #TheAmanpourHour on @CNN every Saturday at 11am ET.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
The independent human rights expert also criticised Israel’s continued occupation of Palestinian lands and the mistreatment of Palestinians.
“We are talking of an occupying power. Israel is an occupying power vis a vis the Palestinians. There is no independent and sovereign Palestinian state,” said Ms. Albanese.
“The occupation has been the vehicle to colonise, brutalise, arbitrarily arrest and detain and to carry out summary executions against the Palestinian people.”
She criticised the international community for not doing more to end the illegal occupation.
“Has the international community ever stopped this protracted illegality? No. This is why I keep on saying the international community has a huge, huge responsibility in the catastrophe that is now unfolding.”
I have condemned unequivocally the horrifying and unprecedented 7 October acts of terror by Hamas in Israel.
Nothing can justify the deliberate killing, injuring and kidnapping of civilians – or the launching of rockets against civilian targets.
All hostages must be treated humanely and released immediately and without conditions. I respectfully note the presence among us of members of their families.
Excellencies,
It is important to also recognize the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum.
The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.
They have seen their land steadily devoured by settlements and plagued by violence; their economy stifled; their people displaced and their homes demolished. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have been vanishing.
But the grievances of the Palestinian people cannot justify the appalling attacks by Hamas. And those appalling attacks cannot justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
Israeli officials railed at UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Tuesday after he appeared to suggest the impetus for the Hamas terror group’s devastating October 7 attack on Israel was the Jewish state’s continued control of Palestinian territories.
In November 1995, Israel’s then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin organized an event in Tel Aviv in defense of the Oslo Accords he had reached two years earlier with the Palestinians. The objective was to try to regain the initiative in the face of the growing right-wing campaign against him.
In his speech in front of a crowd of about 100,000, the pragmatic Rabin — who ended up believing in a dialogue that began behind his back — said the word ‘peace’ 31 times. On average, once every 20 words. The event concluded with the Song for Peace (“Don’t say the day will come, make it come”). Minutes later, a Jewish right-wing extremist murdered him for “handing over his land and his people to the enemies,” as he would proudly admit at trial.
It is the 30th anniversary of the breakthrough Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians. The peace deal led to the creation of the Palestinian Authority, intended to provide interim self-government for just five years while negotiations solved outstanding core issues in the conflict. Today, nearly a decade after peace talks collapsed, the PA remains in place, but is losing its legitimacy.
After an interim period of five years, the thinking went, a Palestinian state would exist side by side with Israel. And through such a two-state solution, peace between Israel and the Palestinians could be achieved.
Thirty years later, it is clear the Oslo Accords have achieved neither peace nor a two-state solution.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
(06.09.2023)
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Speaking to Israel’s public broadcasting station Kan, Amiram Levin, former head of the Israeli army’s Northern Command, said that “there hasn’t been a democracy there in 57 years, there is total apartheid.” According to Levin, “the IDF, which is forced to exert sovereignty there, is rotting from the inside. It’s standing by, looking at the settler rioters and is beginning to be a partner to war crimes. These are deep processes.”
When asked to elaborate on the specific “processes,” Levin invoked Nazi Germany. “It’s hard for us to say it, but it’s the truth. Walk around Hebron, look at the streets. Streets where Arabs are no longer allowed to go on, only Jews. That’s exactly what happened there, in that dark country.”
Speaking to a crowd of pro-judicial overhaul demonstrators in Tel Aviv, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: „Those against the reform, I understand how you‘re feeling, this is how we felt during Oslo,“ referencing how right-wing Israelis felt during the Oslo peace process led by Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin during the 90s.
It will allow „liars, thieves, or maybe even rapists and murderers“ to be elected to the Knesset, form a coalition, and run as president, Ayalon, formerly commander of the navy and the Shayetet 13 navy commando unit, said. „Yigar Amir, the murderer of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, will be pardoned and it‘s likely that he‘ll run for the Knesset.“
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
This has brought them deserved admiration in the small bubble of the Western human-rights industry and helped with much-needed funding, and has done absolutely nothing to change the dismal situation on the ground, which has steadily gotten worse.
The plaudits and platforms abroad have not resulted in any pressure on successive Israeli governments to change their policies. Not one foreign government or major financial body has changed its policies towards Israel as a result.
(July 11, 2023)
Whenever people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them that I’m a translator from English to English.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
Following Rabin’s murder, the public turned against Netanyahu. Many believed his political career was over. But he was soon brought to power amid a wave of terror by Hamas and a slick campaign capitalizing on the public‘s fears.
And that original assault against democracy, secular law and territorial compromise that launched both Netanyahu’s career and the ascent of the religious right, is today continuing its illiberal advance via a legal hijacking.
Once again, the Knesset Constitution Committee is issuing press statements under an outrageous, inflated slogan: “Zion will be redeemed through law – restoring justice to the legal system.” And in their wake, the circus in the committee was slated to resume on Wednesday, when MKs were to begin discussing legislation to restrict the Supreme Court’s ability to overturn government decisions it deems unreasonable. The meeting was canceled at the last minute only due to Tuesday’s terror attack.
This may be the biggest achievement of Justice Minister Yariv Levin and Constitution Committee chairman Simcha Rothman – their appalling plan, which has failed decisively on every front and has been rejected with disgust by most Israelis, is still alive and kicking.
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
The settlers’ patience has paid off. After 27 years, they have managed to bring about a change in the way the system operates. (…)
In other words, the settlers will decide for themselves and the state will fall in line. Next week, the Supreme Planning Council will discuss plans for building thousands of homes in the settlements.
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
The last speech of prime minister and minister of defense Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated by right-wing Israeli radical on November 4th 1995 in Tel Aviv.
Far from being your typical extremists or “anarchists” – as the protesters are often denounced by representatives of Israel’s religious-right government – many of those devoting themselves full-time to the movement have never been involved in a political or social cause before (…)
In explaining the largely unanticipated, fierce pushback against the government by these mainstream Israelis, Ben-Porat likes to cite the famous parable about the frog in the pot of water: When the water’s temperature is turned up gradually, the frog fatally stays in the pot. But if it is thrown into the boiling water, it jumps out.
(04.03.2015)
The prime minister has been warning for over 20 years that Tehran is close to achieving its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
“In closed rooms, or in some bubble, people form a view of reality that keeps moving away from actual reality.”
“A diplomatic tsunami,” Netanyahu quoted scornfully, citing Barak’s apocalyptic predictions while imitating the diction of his former elite unit commander. But the truth is that the events of recent weeks have proven that Barak was totally correct and that the tsunami is already upon us.
(20. April 1997)
Netanyahu told CNN‘s Walter Rodgers he was „glad that the truth came out,“ and said the entire incident was „blown out of proportion and twisted out of shape.“
„It‘s politics,“ he said in an interview shortly after the attorney general released his report. „Of course there were people out to get us. But this is going nowhere. It‘s done. It‘s finished.“
(04.03.2015)
The prime minister has been warning for over 20 years that Tehran is close to achieving its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
(March 9, 2023)
“After 75 years, it’s time for a constitution for the State of Israel,” which would fix Israel’s government system, protect human rights and enshrine the Declaration of Independence, MQG head Eliad Shraga said during a press conference at the group’s judicial reform protest tent in front of the Supreme Court in Jerusalem. The movement presented the proposal to President Isaac Herzog on Wednesday night, he said.
Lapid said that while “judicial activism” should be limited, “a democratic state cannot exist without a strong and independent court.”
In addition, the Yesh Atid leader said that the judicial appointment committee would have its composition changed so that the Supreme Court is “diverse in its composition and opinions, but will ensure that politicians — from any side — will not have control over the selection of judges.”
On his Facebook page, the former prime minister argued that this constitution should begin with the first paragraph of Israel‘s 1948 Declaration of Independence, which states that the land of Israel is the cradle of the Jewish people.
According to Lapid, this constitution should be composed of three fundamental laws: the first would be a declaration of the superiority of the fundamental laws of the country, and would subject all authorities to restrictions established by law.
(06.03.2023)
Kanaani was referring to the nuclear negotiations that started in April 2021 to revive the 2015 nuclear deal but the talks came to a standstill in the summer of 2022 as the Biden administration is refusing to lift the sanctions imposed during Donald Trump’s presidency.