Netanyahu Speaks Out

June 21, 2011

Such security arrangements, he added, are vital not only to protect peace, but also to safeguard Israel in case the peace agreement is breached. “We have to prepare for that as well. We have maintained these principles vis-a-vis significant pressure, and we will keep insisting on them, because they are vital to our future…We will face great challenges in the next two years,” he continued, “and we will meet them. We will meet challenges posed by security, the economy, society and in politics as well. And we will stand firm before those trying to dictate terms void of peace and security.”

On IDF Response to School Bus Attack

“My policy is very clear—any attack will be met with a vigorous response… ”There has been an attempt to breach this calm and our rules of play. Our response was clear—the IDF[Israel Defense Forces] struck, and struck again [in April]. I hope Hamas and the other terror groups understood, and if they didn’t—they will. The message is simple: We will not stand for fire on buses or on our children. We will not abide a situation where Israeli citizens are sleeping in shelters—anywhere.”

On Middle East Unrest

“Everything is lurching; it's an earthquake…All I know is that there is one stable country in the region, one safe country, one free, thriving country and that is the State of Israel.”

On Terror Attack in Itamar

“I would like to express my deep outrage, outrage which is certainly felt by every Israeli over the murder of a young family—father, mother, eleven-year-old boy, four-year-old-boy, and [three]-month-old girl. Three orphaned children have been left in this family. The family was brutally murdered in their sleep on the Sabbath. We embrace and support the orphans and the other members of the family. We embrace and support our brothers who reside in Judea and Samaria [West Bank].Do not be disheartened. I know that this is a difficult time for us, but the entire nation is with you. 

“There is no justification, and there can be neither excuse nor forgiveness for the murder of children. I expect a similar condemnation, and I demand a similar condemnation, from the Palestinian Authority. I am disappointed by the weak and mumbled statements. This is not how one condemns terrorism. This is not how one fights terrorism. See how Israeli prime ministers, myself among them, have reacted in similar situations, but there has never been anything like this, in which terrorists entered a home and cut children's throats.”

Photo Credit: Isranet