AJC Praises Prime Minister Netanyahu's UN Address

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Oct 01, 2015, 07:11 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 1, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's clear and compelling message to world leaders about Iran's threat to global security, Israel's commitment to achieving peace with the Palestinians, and to ending the UN's obsession with bashing Israel.

"If the world leaders gathered at the UN General Assembly would pause and absorb what Prime Minister Netanyahu said, the potential for collectively and constructively addressing common threats would be enormous," said AJC Executive Director David Harris.

Speaking a day after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas announced that the PA would no longer abide by agreements it signed with Israel, Prime Minister Netanyahu reaffirmed his readiness to negotiate a permanent, sustainable peace. "I am prepared to immediately resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority without any preconditions whatsoever," Netanyahu declared. "I am committed to the vision of two states for two peoples."

But Netanyahu also cautioned that the history of engaging Palestinians in peacemaking has been disappointing. "Despite the best efforts of six Israeli prime ministers, the Palestinians have consistently refused to end the conflict and make a final peace with Israel," said Netanyahu.

On Iran's nuclear program, Netanyahu cautioned UN member states "to curb their enthusiasm" about embracing the P5+1 deal with Iran. Israelis see a world celebrating the deal, doing business with "a regime openly committed to our destruction," he said.

"Seventy years after the murder of six million Jews, Iran vows to destroy my country, my people, and the response of every nation here has been nothing, utter silence, deafening silence," Netanyahu said.

"Throughout history, the Jewish people have learned the heavy price of silence," he continued. "The days when the Jewish people remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies, those days are over." Netanyahu emphasized that "Israel will do whatever it must do to defend our state and defend our people."

Netanyahu appealed to the UN "to finally rid itself of the obsessive bashing of Israel." As one example, the prime minister noted that last year the UN General Assembly adopted 20 resolutions against Israel, and only one about the "savage slaughter in Syria."

"When will the UN finally check its anti-Israel fanaticism at the door?" asked Netanyahu.

AJC, with a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal on Monday, launched a new campaign calling on world leaders to end the longstanding, endemic bias against Israel at the United Nations. The ad and additional resources are available at www.ajc.org.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee