Monthly Archives: April 2015

Rivlin: From Auschwitz To Iran, Jews Will Not Surrender

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 15, 2015 … Israel President Reuven Rivlin this evening at Yad Vashem, addressed the official ceremony marking the commencement of Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day.

“We stand here tonight, in painful silence at Yad Vashem, in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, on the eve of Holocaust Memorial Day,” said Rivlin.

“Exactly seventy years since April 15th 1945, a Sunday afternoon. The day when the first British soldiers crossed the gates of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The joy of liberation was replaced by horror. The horror that was revealed before their eyes was inconceivable.

Not just today, but every day, we walk the depths of the valley, extruded between two mountains. This mountain of memorial and remembrance, on one side and the mountain of revival and vision on the other. The mountain of memory, commands us, the Jewish people, to remember. Remember the sounds. Remember the sights. Remember the names.

And yet the mountain of vision and rebirth, of construction and creation, calls on us to look ahead, and step into the future. Continuing to build a magnificent country, continuing to strive to construct another world, a safe world, full of promise – for us and for future generations.

My brothers and sisters, Holocaust survivors, heroes of revival. During this uneasy journey, you have been our ‘Pillar of Fire’ before the camp. You – who found the strength to shake off the ashes of the crematoria, and the soil drenched with tears and blood – have instructed us to select the path of life, and realize a vision. You, who have loved and laughed, who have planted an orchard, have built a national home, as well as private homes. You have guided the entire nation.

Today, seventy years after the liberation of the death camps, we stand before you and we swear an oath, and promise, ‘All of us, each and every one of us, have a number tattooed on their arm’. Yet, at the same time and in the same breath we remember: we came from Auschwitz, not because of Auschwitz. We cannot let the pogroms, the bellowing smoke of the crematoria blind us or blur our abilities to recognize our past, our identity, our heritage – which are stronger than those who with destroy us.

The Holocaust is our lowest point, the most dreadful, in Jewish history.

The moment of horror for all humanity, but the Jewish journey does not begin with it, just as it does not end with it. The Jewish journey begins in the Land of Israel, and it is here that it always strives to return. There are those who mistakenly think that the State of Israel is some form of compensation for the Holocaust. There is no greater mistake. The State of Israel is not a compensation for the Holocaust. The State of Israel was established, in its own right, out of a love and longing for an ancient homeland, by virtue of a dream that came true, a dream that became a reality. Not out of the fear of extinction or out of hatred of the other.

Four months ago, I stood in Poland, whose earth is soaked in blood, and I said that the State of Israel will forever deplore Auschwitz, and everything it symbolizes: anti-Semitism in all its forms and manifestations; The desecration of human dignity, whoever and wherever it is found, the desecration of that which was created in the image of God.

The State of Israel, will continue its struggle against these and will not surrender.

We build our future here, with open and alert eyes. We will not belittle any threats. Nor belittle, shameful statements calling for the extinction of the Jewish people. Yet, while we are prepared, we are not scared. The horrors of the past and the threats of the present, will not dictate our lives, nor shape the lives of our children. They will not dim our hopes for a future of creation and prosperity.

My brothers and sisters, Holocaust survivors. We will continue to walk in the spirit in which you led us for seventy years. We will continue to impart the memory of the Holocaust, from generation to generation, as it is tattooed into our flesh, but will not determine our future.

We will build our future as a free nation. A nation which draws its power and vitality, from three thousand years – forged in the vision of the Prophets of Israel, out of the treasured soul of the generations of rabbis, sages, poets, and philosophers of our nation. As a nation, which sees itself as an integral part of the family of nations, as a Jewish and democratic state – democratic and Jewish.”

AIPAC Proud Of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Iran Vote

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Washington, D.C. — April 14, 2015 … AIPAC congratulated the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee today for unanimously adopting the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015 (S.615).

In a statement released by AIPAC, the pro-Israel organization stated that this critical bipartisan legislation, authored by Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and Robert Menendez (D-NJ), establishes a procedure for congressional review of any nuclear agreement with Iran.

“AIPAC appreciates the leadership of Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Corker and Ranking Democrat Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD) in gaining the panel’s approval of the measure.

AIPAC believes that it is imperative for Congress to assert its historic foreign policy role. Congress should review any agreement to ensure it meets U.S. objectives and object if it fails to do so. Serious concerns have been raised over the framework understanding. A final deal, with its immense national security implications, must be subjected to the constitutional system of checks and balances that is the bedrock of our democracy.

AIPAC urges the full Senate to adopt this legislation and the House to take action on congressional review legislation.”

In Jerusalem, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Prime Minister expressed Israel’s grave concerns regarding the decision to sell S-300 missile systems to Iran. The Prime Minister told President Putin that this sale will only encourage Iranian aggression in the region and further undermine the stability of the Middle East.

Netanyahu: No Inspections, No Sanctions Means No Iran Deal

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 13, 2015 … Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued the following statement:

“In the last few days, Iran has shown again why it can’t be trusted.

Iran insists on maintaining its formidable nuclear capabilities with which it could produce nuclear bombs. Iran insists on removing all sanctions immediately. And Iran refuses to allow effective inspections of all its suspect facilities. At the same time, Iran continues its unbridled aggression in the region and its terrorism throughout the world.

So let me reiterate again the two main components of the alternative to this bad deal: First, instead of allowing Iran to preserve and develop its nuclear capabilities, a better deal would significantly roll back these capabilities – for example, by shutting down the illicit underground facilities that Iran concealed for years from the international community.

Second, instead of lifting the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear facilities and program at a fixed date, a better deal would link the lifting of these restrictions to an end of Iran’s aggression in the region, its worldwide terrorism and its threats to annihilate Israel.

Iran needs a deal more than anyone. Instead of making dangerous concessions to Iran, now is the time for the international community to reassert and fortify its original demands for a better deal.

We must not let Iran, the foremost sponsor of global terrorism, have an easy path to nuclear weapons which will threaten the entire world.”

Israel: Iran Nuclear Deal, Like North Korea, Designed To Fail

North Korea has conducted a total of
three nuclear tests, in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 5, 2015 … Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was interviewed today on ABC, CNN and NBC. He stated that the nuclear agreement with Iran was a dream deal for Iran but a nightmare deal for the world.

Netanyahu said on NBC: “The entire world celebrated the deal with North Korea. It was deemed to be a great breakthrough; it would bring an end to North Korea’s nuclear program; you’d have inspectors. That would do the job. And of course everybody applauded it, but it turned out to be a very, very bad deal and you know where we are with North Korea.

I think the same thing would be true in the case of Iran, except that Iran is a great deal more dangerous than North Korea. It’s a militant Islamic power bent on regional domination, in fact, bent on world domination, as it openly says so. They just chanted ‘Death to America’ a few days ago on the streets of Tehran, the same streets where they’re rejoicing right now.

Don’t give the preeminent terrorist state of our time the access to a nuclear program that could help them make nuclear weapons. It’s very bad for all of us.”

Israel Offers Condolences, Aid To Kenya After Christian Massacre

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 5, 2015 … Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke today with Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and conveyed his condolences – on behalf of the citizens of Israel – in wake of the reprehensible Islamic terrorist attack that was perpetrated in Kenya.

Prime Minister Netanyahu told Kenyan President Kenyatta that Israel and Kenya stood together in the war against terrorism and offered assistance as may be requested.

Al-Shabaab, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group based in Somalia, took responsibility for the attack, according to the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi.

The Islamic terrorists murdered at least 147 students at Garissa University College.

To survive Al-Shabaab terrorists running through her dorm, shooting and murdering classmates, 19-year-old Cynthia Cheroitich went into a closet, covering herself with clothes. Her two roommates hid under their beds. The terrorists called them out.

“The terrorists told them if you don’t know to read to them in the Muslim word, whatever, and then you lie down. And then, if you know, you go to the other side.”

The teenager didn’t see what happened next. She heard it.

“They were shooting everywhere,” she said. “I didn’t want to open my eyes.”

For the next two days, Cheroitich didn’t move. Unable to get to water, she drank body lotion. When police went into her room, well after the gruesome attack, with 147 dead at the school – she didn’t believe them. Only a visit by the head of the university convinced her that, finally, it was safe to come out.

“I was scared so much,” she recalled.

Mohamed Mohamud, aka Dulyadin and Gamadhere, is the mastermind
of Thursday’s Kenya university terror attack. Kenya posted a
“Most Wanted” poster for Mohamud offering $215,000.

Kenya has always been a country of strategic importance to Israel. Israel and Kenya have shared decades of cooperation in matters dealing with security and intelligence.

According to foreign reports, the Mossad has even operated a station in Nairobi at one time or another.

The height of Israeli-Kenyan cooperation occurred during Operation Entebbe in 1976. One of Kenya’s government officials, Scottish born Bruce McKenzie, was considered a friend to the Mossad.

Later, the then-head chief of the agency, Meir Amit, organized the planting of a forest in Israel in McKenzie’s name. McKenzie convinced then Kenyan President Jomo Kenyatta to allow Mossad agents to gather information in the build-up to the hostage rescue operation in Uganda and to allow the Israeli Air Force aircraft to land and refuel at the Nairobi airport following the successful execution of the operation.

Kenya has been a victim of Islamic terrorism since 1998 when followers of Osama bin Laden bombed the US Embassy in Nairobi. A decade ago, al-Qaida terrorists, operating from the area known as the Horn of Africa, attempted to bring down an Israeli Arkia plane taking off from Mombasa with an anti-aircraft missile.

Shortly before that, suicide bombers blew themselves up at the entrance to the Paradise Hotel, which was full of Israeli tourists. Many Israelis died in the blast alongside Kenyans.

“The Survival of Israel is Non-Negotiable”

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 4, 2015 … Part of the following was communicated by the Prime Minister’s Office to the Israel News Agency.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued the following statement:

“I just came from a meeting of the Israeli cabinet. We discussed the proposed framework for a deal with Iran.

The cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal.

This deal would pose a grave danger to the region and to the world and would threaten the very survival of the State of Israel.

The deal would not shut down a single nuclear facility in Iran, would not destroy a single centrifuge in Iran and will not stop R&D on Iran’s advanced centrifuges.

On the contrary. The deal would legitimize Iran’s illegal nuclear program. It would leave Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. A vast nuclear infrastructure remains in place.

The deal would lift sanctions almost immediately and this at the very time that Iran is stepping up its aggression and terror in the region and beyond the region.

In a few years, the deal would remove the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program, enabling Iran to have a massive enrichment capacity that it could use to produce many nuclear bombs within a matter of months.

The deal would greatly bolster Iran’s economy. It would give Iran thereby tremendous means to propel its aggression and terrorism throughout the Middle East.

Such a deal does not block Iran’s path to the bomb.

Such a deal paves Iran’s path to the bomb.

And it might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East and it would greatly increase the risks of terrible war.

Now, some say that the only alternative to this bad deal is war.

That’s not true.

There is a third alternative – standing firm, increasing the pressure on Iran until a good deal is achieved.

And finally let me say one more thing.

Iran is a regime that openly calls for Israel’s destruction and openly and actively works towards that end.

Just two days ago, in the midst of the negotiations in Lausanne, the commander of the Basij security forces in Iran said this: “The destruction of Israel is non-negotiable.”

Well, I want to make clear to all. The survival of Israel is non-negotiable.

Israel will not accept an agreement which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons, period.

In addition, Israel demands that any final agreement with Iran will include a clear and unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist.

Thank you.”

France, Germany Leave Talks As Iran Threatens US, Israel

By Joel Leyden
Israel News Agency

Jerusalem, Israel — April 1, 2015 … The deadline for achieving a framework agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program has come and gone. France and Germany have left the negotiations stating “things had not advanced enough for an immediate deal.”

As Obama continues to beg for any kind of agreement while Iran chants “Death to America”, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued the following statement today:

“Yesterday an Iranian general brazenly declared and I quote: ‘Israel’s destruction is non-negotiable’, but evidently giving Iran’s murderous regime a clear path to the bomb is negotiable. This is unconscionable.”

Netanyahu continued: “I agree with those who have said that Iran’s claim that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes doesn’t square with Iran’s insistence on keeping underground nuclear facilities, advanced centrifuges and a heavy water reactor. Nor does it square with Iran’s insistence on developing ICBMs and its refusal to come clean with the IAEA on its past weaponization efforts. At the same time, Iran is accelerating its campaign of terror, subjugation and conquest throughout the region, most recently in Yemen.

The concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world. Now is the time for the international community to insist on a better deal. A better deal would significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. A better deal would link the eventual lifting of the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program to a change in Iran’s behavior.”

Netanyahu concluded: “Iran must stop its aggression in the region, stop its terrorism throughout the world and stop its threats to annihilate Israel. That should be non-negotiable and that’s the deal that the world powers must insist upon.”