Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu

Benjamin Netanyahu (born October 21, 1949), often called Bibi, was the 9th and is the current Prime Minister of Israel and is Chairman of the Likud Party.

Sourced

• But then the question came up of just who would define what Defined Military Sites were. I received a letter – to my and to Arafat, at the same time – which said that Israel, and only Israel, would be the one to define what those are, the location of those military sites and their size. Now, they did not want to give me that letter, so I did not give the Hebron Agreement. I stopped the government meeting, I said: “I’m not signing.” Only when the letter came, in the course of the meeting, to my and to Arafat, only then did I sign the Hebron Agreement. Or rather, ratify it, it had already been signed. Why does this matter? Because at that moment I actually stopped the Oslo Accord.
  • Benjamin Natenyahu, Israeli settlement of Ofra, 2001, speaking to a family of West Bank settlers whose 10 year old son had just returned from the hospital after being injured in a Palestinian attack. [1], (Hebrew video source) [2]

• I am certain that I speak on behalf of my entire nation when I say: Today we are all Americans — in grief, as in defiance.
  • Statement on the September 11th terrorist attacks (20 September 2001), as quoted at the official site of Israeli embassy

• The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war.
  • Speech at the Knesset at the end of the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, as quoted in "Olmert: We will continue to pursue Hizbullah leaders" in The Globes (14 August 2006)

• "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."
  • "Report: Netanyahu says 9/11 terror attacks good for Israel" (16 April 2008)

• We cannot accept the fact that Jews wouldn't be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem. … I can only imagine what would happen if someone suggested Jews could not live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome. There would certainly be a major international outcry.
  • "Israel rejects U.S. call to halt Jerusalem project" in USA Today (19 July 2009)

• In a video from 2001, Netanyahu, reportedly unaware he was being recorded, said: "I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in our way." Netanyahu also bragged how he undercut the peace process when he was prime minister during the Clinton administration. "They asked me before the election if I'd honor [the Oslo accords]," he said. "I said I would, but ... I'm going to interpret the accords in such a way that would allow me to put an end to this galloping forward to the '67 borders. How did we do it? Nobody said what defined military zones were. Defined military zones are security zones; as far as I'm concerned, the entire Jordan Valley is a defined military zone. Go argue."
  • "Netanyahu: 'America is a thing you can move very easily'" (16 July 2010) [3] (Hebrew video source) [4]

• We'll attack anyone who tries to harm our citizens
  • Speech at the Knesset, as quoted in (31 October 2010)

• "In recent days we witness attempts to break this coexistence apart. Today, for example, I have heard of an attempt to move a woman from her seat on a bus. I oppose this unequivocally. I believe we must not allow margins groups to break our common denominator and we must keep our public spaces open and safe for all of our citizens. We must find the uniting and mediating ground rather than the things that divide and separate us."
  • "Israel's 'Rosa Parks' refuses to take back seat" on CNN.com (19 December 2011)

• Interviewer: "How come so many more Palestinians have been killed in this conflict than Israelis?" Netanyahu: "Are you sure that you want to start asking in that direction?" Interviewer: "Why not?" Netanyahu: "Because in World War II, more Germans were killed than British and Americans combined, but there is no doubt in anyone's mind that the war was caused by Germany's aggression. And in response to the German blitz on London, the British wiped out the entire city of Dresden, burning to death more German civilians than the number of people killed in Hiroshima. Moreover, I could remind you that in 1944, when the R.A.F. tried to bomb the Gestapo Headquarters in Copenhagen, some of the bombs missed their target and fell on a Danish children's hospital, killing 83 little children. Perhaps you have another question?"

About Benjamin Netanyahu

• The fact is he's working against the principles of the Likud. He has no principles at all. I don't see any principles.
  • Yitzhak Shamir, in an interview with Maariv (1997)

• Nicholas Sarkozy: "I cannot bear Netanyahu, he's a liar"
• Barack Obama: "You're fed up with him, but I have to deal with him even more often than you."
  • Private conversation between French President Nicholas Sarkozy and American President Barack Obama at the Nov 4, 2011 G20 Summit. The conversation was accidentally recorded by mic's placed for translators [5]

• The Israelis always wanted two things that once it turned out they had, it didn't seem so appealing to Mr. Netanyahu. ... The real cynics believe that the Netanyahu's government's continued call for negotiations over borders and such means that he's just not going to give up the West Bank.
  • Former US President Bill Clinton describing why he believes Netanyahu is to blame for failure of peace process, Clinton Global Initiative, New York, Sept 22, 2011 [6]

• How dare you! You are the one who disappointed us. You haven't made a single step to advance peace.
  • German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a telephone conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu on Feb 25, 2011 [7]

• Who the fuck does he think he is? Who's the fucking superpower here?
  • US President Bill Clinton, after being lectured by Netanyahu on the Middle East [8]

• Israel has had many rightist leaders since Menachem Begin promised "many Elon Morehs," but there has never been one like Netanyahu, who wants to do it by deceit, to mock America, trick the Palestinians and lead us all astray. The man in the video betrays himself in his own words as a con artist, and now he is again prime minister of Israel. Don't try to claim that he has changed since then. Such a crooked way of thinking does not change over the years.
  • Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy writing for Israeli newspaper Haaretz (July 15, 2010) [9]

• Forget the Bar-Ilan University speech, forget the virtual achievements in his last visit to the United States; this is the real Netanyahu. No more claims that the Palestinians are to blame for the failure of the Oslo Accords. Netanyahu exposed the naked truth to his hosts at Ofra: he destroyed the Oslo accords with his own hands and deeds, and he's even proud of it. After years in which we were told that the Palestinians are to blame, the truth has emerged from the horse's mouth.
  • Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy writing for Israeli newspaper Haaretz (July 15, 2010) [10]

• "Who the fuck does he think he is? Who's the fucking superpower here?"
  • Bill Clinton acording to [[Haaretz] [11]

External links

• Official website (Hebrew), English
• Benjamin Netanyahu's Official YouTube channel
• Benjamin Netanyahu's Official Facebook page
• Benjamin Netanyahu's Official Twitter
• Biography of Benjamin Netanyahu at Zionism and Israel Information Center Biography Section
• Benjamin Netanyahu Profile on Israeli Lexicon
• "Netanyahu: Pullout will worsen Israel's security" in The Jerusalem Post (5 August 2005)
• Cheltenham High School Hall of Fame Biography
• Netanyahu’s Fortification Plan
• The 32nd Government, official Knesset website
• Speech to the United Nations General Assembly (2009)
• "Demilitarized Palestinian State" at the Reut Institute (23 July 2009)
• Benjamin Netanyahu on the definition of terror, BBC News interview (RealPlayer video)