At UN, Netanyahu sounds alarm over growing Iranian threat

In an impassioned speech interspersed with bouts of dramatic silence, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday condemned the Iran nuclear deal as empowering Tehran to spread further unrest in the Mideast while leaving the country capable of making an atomic bomb.

Netanyahu was referring to the recently struck Iranian nuclear deal, celebrated not only in Iran, but also by Democrats in the United States. Although he was talking about Iran, his words ironically apply more aptly to the US coddling of Israel.

Congress failed to stop the deal from going into effect this summer, laying the groundwork for Iran to begin putting restrictions on its nuclear program and for the world to lift sanctions on Iran’s oil and financial sectors. “Iran will go on the prowl, devouring more and more prey”.

“Does anyone seriously believe that flooding this radical theocracy with weapons and cash will curb its appetite for aggression?”

He slammed the UN’s “deafening silence” in the face of Iran’s threats to wipe out Israel.

The Palestinian official also accused Israel that it is the one which brought the peace talks to a deadlock because of not halting settlement and because Netanyahu refused to freeze it.

“I am prepared to immediately, immediately, resume direct peace negotiations with the Palestinian Authority without any preconditions whatsoever”, he told the UN General Assembly on the fourth day of its 70th annual Debate.

Before a meeting with Secretary of State John F. Kerry, Netanyahu spoke first in English then in Hebrew to excoriate a few Palestinians who praised Thursday’s shooting that killed the young Jewish couple in the West Bank. The Palestinians should not walk away from peace.

“Israel will always respect the sacred shrines of all“, said Netanyahu.

“He welcomed Israel’s easing of a few restrictions on the movement of people and goods and urged the prime minister to make significant policy changes that will have a concrete impact on the lives of Palestinians”, said the spokesman.

A few of the skepticism is shared by the White House. He later amended his remarks to say that the time is not right.

In the interview, Olmert called Netanyahu’s speech a “great performance”.

The Palestinian leader, in his United Nations General Assembly speech on Wednesday, warned that his government is not obliged to follow a peace agreement with Israel.