Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his long-held belief on Thursday that Iran poses the “greatest danger” to Israel and predicted that the world’s silence in the face of the Islamic Republic’s threats to annihilate the Jewish state will end now that US President Donald Trump is in office.
Speaking at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem in an address for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Netanyahu said “the greatest danger that we face, of hatred for the Jewish people and the Jewish state … comes from Iran. It comes from the ayatollah regime that is fanning [the] flames [of anti-Semitism] and calling outright for the destruction of the Jewish state.”
Netanyahu lashed out bitterly at the world’s “deafening silence” when the Iranian regime “merely calls to wipe out every Israeli,” and expressed confidence that this approach would change with Trump as president. “I believe it will change,” he said.
Netanyahu referenced the phone call earlier this week between the two leaders in which they discussed the Iranian nuclear deal, a source of tension between Netanyahu and former president Barack Obama, among a host of other issues.
“I spoke a few days ago to President Trump and he spoke about the Iranian aggression. He spoke about Iran’s commitment to destroy Israel. He spoke about the nature of this nuclear agreement and the danger it poses. We spoke about it together,” Netanyahu said.
Netanyahu also denounced the rise in anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic incidents around the world, warning that “the hatred and intolerance that drove [the Holocaust]” has not been eradicated, even as he seemed to praise European leaders who have spoken out against the phenomenon.
“Anti-Semitism… is experiencing a revival in the enlightened West; you can see this in European capitals, just unbelievable. The rise of anti-Semitism, the resurgence of anti-Semitism. That is happening. And few would have imagined that this would be possible a few years ago,” he said.
A North Korean defector and former diplomat has claimed that DPRK leader Kim Jong Un could launch a nuclear missile aimed at Los Angeles, knowing that Washington would retaliate. During a BBC interview, Thae Yong-ho claimed Kim was liable to press "the button on these dangerous weapons when he thinks that his rule and his dynasty is threatened."
Thae, formerly deputy ambassador for the DPRK to the UK, and the longest-serving official in that embassy before fleeing to Seoul with his family in August 2016, is one of a slew of high-ranking officials who have defected from Pyongyang recently. He said the obstinate Kim "knows that if he loses the power then it is his last day so he may do anything, even to attack Los Angeles, because once people know that in any way you will be killed, then you will do anything. That is the human being's normal reaction."
The defector, speaking on the Victoria Derbyshire show, said, "Kim Jong Un knows quite well that a nuclear weapon is the only guarantee for his rule. If he lose the power then it is his last day. He may do anything."
Last week, Tom Zoellner, associate English professor at Chapman University, wrote in a Los Angeles Times op-ed that, "Even an inaccurately fired ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) stands a good chance of taking out millions of people instead of hitting lightly populated desert or mountains."
The State Department has halted hundreds of millions of dollars in assets that the Obama administration previously authorized for the Palestinians in President Obama’s final days in office.
The State Department is currently examining the transfer of $221 million intended for Ramallah. Former Secretary of State John Kerry ordered the money to be shipped to Israel’s eternal rival just hours before January 20. A source in Palestine told the Times of Israel that the Palestine Authority has already received $250 million from the US government in 2016.
President Trump is expected to sign an executive order blocking Syria, plus six other Muslim majority nations, from getting visas until the scrutiny process is changed. However, a huge exception is being made for “persecuted religious miniories,” which includes the persecuted Christians of these nations:
Donald Trump is expected to block all refugees from Syria and six other Middle Eastern and African countries on Wednesday.
Religious minorities escaping persecution will escape the ban which will last for several months, it is thought, until more aggressive vetting is in place.
Executive orders expected to be signed on Wednesday will block visas being issued to anyone from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen, said aides and immigration experts close to the White House, according to Reuters
Both Trump and his nominee for attorney general, Senator Jeff Sessions, have since said they would focus the restrictions on countries whose migrants could pose a threat, rather than a ban on those of a specific religion.
No comments:
Post a Comment