More Quotes
“Speeches, accusations and flags will not create a Palestinian State, only direct negotiations with Israel … The time has come for the Palestinian leadership to realize that a Palestinian state can only arise through agreements that guarantee Israeli security. Attempts to get the international community to force Israel to make concessions that will harm Israel’s interests will not succeed and are doomed to failure.” (Israel’s Former Foreign and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni MK via Facebook, 30/09/2015)
“Hamas is responsible and will be held accountable for every attack emanating from the Gaza Strip. The IDF will continue defending all Israelis who are repeatedly attacked by such blatant acts of aggression.” (IDF spokesperson Lt Col Peter Lerner in a statement, 29/09/2015)
“Iran … as of this moment continues to deploy violent proxies to advance its interests. These efforts may appear to give Iran leverage in disputes with neighbours, but they fuel sectarian conflict that endangers the entire region, and isolates Iran from the promise of trade and commerce. The Iranian people have a proud history, and are filled with extraordinary potential. But chanting ‘Death to America’ does not create jobs, or make Iran more secure. If Iran chose a different path, that would be good for the security of the region, good for the Iranian people, and good for the world.” (US President Barak Obama speaking at the UN General Assembly, 28/09/2015)
“We are maintaining the status quo. We are not violating it. All remarks regarding the intention to harm the Islamic holy places are utter nonsense. It is not we who are changing the status quo; it is those who bring pipebombs and explosives into the mosques who are changing the status quo.
Of course, we will act to uphold law and order, and quiet. We are saying this to all of our neighbours and we are also calling on the Palestinian Authority to stop the wild incitement.” (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaking after a Security Cabinet meeting, 24/09/2015)
“Attention to Jewish-Arab relations must be advanced to the central political, public and media discourse, and anything less than that is simply negligence and the forsaking of our future and the future of our children.”
“The mission of building trust … is not a mission of ‘the left,’ or one political camp or another, but rather a mission for anyone who cares about this country. It cannot be that one camp takes ownership and dictates the country’s ways and its language, since we cannot have one camp completely avoiding [this] responsibility.”
“The fact that this issue has become identified with a political camp, on both the Jewish and Arab sides, is nothing short of tragic, since building trust between Jews and Arabs is the key to our existence here, to our future and our fate.” (A letter by President Reuven Rivilin to an event ‘Children Live in Peace’, 21/09/2015)
“Israel is constantly working to prevent the transfer of advanced and deadly weaponry from Syrian territory to Hezbollah. Israel is not prepared to accept a second terrorist front that Iran is trying build on the Golan Heights. Israel is taking action and when it does so it is important for everyone, including Russia, to know how we are taking action. It is no less important in order to prevent misunderstandings, and it is worthwhile to do so before they occur and not afterward. Therefore, I asked IDF Chief-of-Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, GOC Intelligence, and of course my Military Secretary, to join me in order to clarify things, first of all the facts, secondly our military and security policy, and third to really try to establish that same mechanism for preventing misunderstandings.” (A statement by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin, 21/09/2015)