Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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| PM Netanyahu at the swearing-in ceremony for the new director of the Mossad |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Tuesday, 1 June 2021), at the swearing-in ceremony for the new Director of the Mossad:
"Our greatest threat is the existential threat posed by Iran's efforts to arm itself with nuclear weapons, whether to threaten us directly – with atomic weapons – with the destruction of a small state, or to threaten us with tens of thousands of missiles or a great many missiles backed by a nuclear umbrella. This is a threat against the continuation of the Zionist enterprise and we must fight this threat relentlessly.
“All of you do this. We spoke yesterday about the actions that have been taken and these actions must continue. I have said these things to my friend of 40 years, Joe Biden, and I told him: 'With or without an agreement, we will continue to do everything in our power to prevent Iran from arming itself with nuclear weapons.' Iran is different from the other countries that have nuclear weapons today; therefore, containment is not an option.
“If we need to choose – and I hope it will not happen – between friction with our great friend, the US, and getting rid of an existential threat, getting rid of an existential threat will prevail. This first falls on all of you, on the political leadership of the State of Israel and on you David. All of you must do everything, everything, to ensure that Iran will never arm itself with nuclear weapons."
My comment:
Netanyahu is spot on. Today is not February 22,1946, with George F. Kennan sending his Long Telegram from Moscow and defining the containment of the USSR. Iran is not the USSR and containment is not an option. The question is do Bennet, Lapid and Gantz get that?
