Netanyahu Bloggers Conference Call

Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed American and international bloggers yesterday, on a 25-minute conference call hosted by One Jerusalem.  The audio of the call is here.

Here is the concluding portion of Netanyahu’s response to One Jerusalem Chairman Allen Roth’s question about whether Netanyahu thinks the democracies of the world realize they have to do something about Iran:  

 

The greatest danger that we face in the world is not merely the forward positions of Hamastan in Gaza and Hezbollahstan in Lebanon, or the fomenting of terror or violence elsewhere.  The biggest danger we face at the beginning of the 21^st century -- all of us face -- is the joining of a militant Islamic regime with nuclear weapons.

 

This may happen in Pakistan, if nuclear weapons meet a militant Islamic regime, or it may happen in Iran, where a militant Islamic regime may join up with nuclear weapons.  Either way this would be a pivot of history -- a very bad pivot of history -- in which the present problems that we face will grow by a thousand-fold, when the terrorists of Hamas and Hezbollah and militant Islamic terrorists elsewhere enjoy a nuclear umbrella, when Iran has the ability to actually work out its evil design of trying to annihilate the State of Israel – it openly says it seeks to do that – when it can threaten other countries with a nuclear weapon, or when it can provide these weapons to terrorist groups – that is a nightmare.  Either one of them is a nightmare scenario.     

 

As we pay attention to what is happening in Gaza, with all its importance, we shouldn’t lose sight of the larger problem here.  The larger problem is to prevent militant Islam -- and in this case Iran -- from acquiring atomic bombs.  This is the biggest challenge facing our world, it’s the biggest challenge facing the United States, it’s the biggest challenge facing the incoming president, and I believe he understands that.

The final phrase in the last sentence is interesting, since Netanyahu and Obama met in Jerusalem on July 23, 2008.

US Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama, right, stands with Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, during their meeting at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, Wednesday, July 23, 2008.   (AP Photo by Dan Balilty).