Netanyahu: It's
1938 and Iran is Germany; Ahmadinejad is preparing another
HolocaustBy Peter Hirschberg, Haaretz Correspondent
LOS ANGELES - Drawing a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi
Germany, Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu asserted Monday that the
Iranian nuclear program posed a threat not only to Israel, but to
the entire western world. There was "still time," however, to
prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said.
"It's 1938 and Iran is Germany. And Iran is racing to arm itself
with atomic bombs," Netanyahu told delegates to the annual United
Jewish Communities General Assembly, repeating the line several
times, like a chorus, during his address. "Believe him and stop
him," the opposition leader said of Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad. "This is what we must do. Everything else pales before
this."
While the Iranian president "denies the Holocaust," Netanyahu said,
"he is preparing another Holocaust for the Jewish state."
Speaking on Army Radio on Tuesday, Netanyahu hinted that Israel
possesses the military capabilities necessary for curbing by itself
the Iranian nuclear threat, declining to specify what these
entail.
The Likud chairman said "I don't want to analyze the capability
required to eliminate [the Iranian] threat, but this capability
exists," when told by host Razi Barkai that Israel lacks the
ability to eliminate Tehran's nuclear program by military
means.
"This capability is eroded over time, and if we wait years then
obviously this capability would not exist anymore ... but right now
I disagree with the claim that nothing can be done against Iran,"
he added.
When asked if Bush could afford embarking on another "military
adventure" after Iraq, Netanyahu said acting on the Iranian nuclear
program would not be adventurous but necessary.
"... Israel would certainly be the first stop on Iran's tour of
destruction, but at the planned production rate of 25 nuclear bombs
a year ... [the arsenal] will be directed against 'the big Satan,'
the U.S., and the 'moderate Satan,' Europe," Netanyahu said.
"Iran is developing ballistic missiles that would reach America,
and now they prepare missiles with an adequate range to cover the
whole of Europe," he added.
"No one cared"
Criticizing the international community in his GA speech for not
acting more forcefully in trying to prevent Iran from becoming a
nuclear power - "No one cared then and no one seems to care now,"
he said, again drawing on the Nazi parallel - Netanyahu warned that
Tehran's nuclear and missile program "goes way beyond the
destruction of Israel - it is directed to achieve world-wide range.
It's a global program in the service of a mad ideology."
Large sections of the international community, he said, also
misunderstood the nature of radical Islam and its role in the
Mideast conflict. "What happens in Iran affects what happens in the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict, not the other way round," he
said.
Netanyahu said he believed that Iran could still be stopped from
acquiring nuclear weapons. "There is still time. All ways must be
considered. We can't let this thing happen," he said, but did not
outline specific measures he thought should be taken.
Referring to Israel's preemptive strike in the 1967 War, he did say
that stopping Iran required "preemptive leadership. Preemption
requires will and vision."
"Noone will defend the Jews if the Jews don't defend themselves,"
he said to loud applause. "Iran's nuclear ambitions have to be
stopped."