In a silly but revealing interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, Israel’s Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu made several noteworthy quotes.
The choice, for our Quote of the Day series, however, will go to his remarks explicitly saying that “several Palestinian terrorists” are responsible — though no one has yet been charged, much less tried or convicted — for the bloody murders, a week ago, of five members of a Israeli settler family in their home in the Itamar settlement in the northern West Bank, not far from Nablus.
It was the first time that Netanyahu — or any Israeli government official, for that matter — had made such a specific accusation, though in the media and among the general population, this was the immediate and enduring assumption.
Netanyahu’s explanation segues into an argument about the settlements, and about who wants peace more…
Here are the exact words, from the CNN transcript, posted :
“MORGAN: Prime Minister, there was a horrific murder of the Fogel family last week. The details of which are chilling to read. What was your reaction to that, and where are you with the investigation into the perpetrators?
NETANYAHU: This was horrific. It was savagery. I mean, several Palestinian terrorists came into the home of this Jewish family in the West Bank. They stabbed a three-month old baby girl in the heart, cut her throat. They stabbed her four-year old brother in the heart, cut him in the throat. They stabbed the father with another child and stabbed the mother and left them dying in their blood. And then I visited the family and I saw the 12-year-old girl, a sister who came home and saw this unbelievable massacre. So obviously the first response is sheer horror. And my second response was to send a message to the settlers to contain their rage and not respond because we’d have a cycle of reprisals so I asked them to – not to take the law in their own hands, not to have vigilante actions because this would – could generate a blood bath. I thought that was important to stop that. But we’re now looking for the killers. We’ll find them.
MORGAN: Are you making progress?
NETANYAHU: Some. Some. I think we’ll find them.
MORGAN: There was – to put it mildly – a raised eyebrow collectively around the world. First, of the horrifying nature of this attack, but secondly at your response. The premise of, they murder, we build. You ordered the building of 500 more building settlements. It’s a strange moral equivalence, Prime Minister. I mean, part of the problem that you face now in Israel is perception around the world. Your PR is not good, as you know. When people heard about what happened, I think the international community completely on
your side and the people of Israel. When they see you immediately ordering more settlements, I’m sure you did it to calm down the people as you say, a lot of that sympathy erode. People think, come on, there’s got to be a better way of responding to this kind of thing than doing that.
NETANYAHU: Well I wanted to send three messages. The first one I told you about, that is a message of restraint to the settlers. The second is a message to the terrorists. I was telling them, I know you think you’re going to uproot us with this savagery, with the violence, with terror. You’re not going to uproot us. So you kill us, you want to drive us into the sea, that’s not going to happen. You only way we’ll have a settlement is through peaceful negotiations. So you kill, we’ll build. But coincidentally I chose to build in the large populated areas that are going to stay in Israel anyway. And not 500 new settlements but 500 apartments, which is very different. And third, I wanted to send a message to the international community. I said to the international community that rushes to condemn Israel for every building that is build. You know, a Jew builds an apartment in the Jewish homeland. What a terrible crime. But they seldom go and condemn this kind of savagery without any ands, ifs and buts and I wanted that condemnation. I was glad to see –
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MORGAN: But is that true? I mean, does the international community really not just condemn that kind of outrage out of hand? Because I read that they did. And the point about the settlements is surely that you are trying to get a peace process to work. You’re trying to get to some settlement. The Middle East quartet only yesterday said they’ve almost given up hope that peace is achievable at the moment…
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MORGAN: But doesn’t history need people to be courageous?
NETANYAHU: Yes. Yes, it does. But peace requires two to tango. And what I’m – what I said – suggested the simplest thing is exactly what you’re said. I said to Abu Mazen who was flying around in the world – the Palestinian president – I said, don’t fly around the world. You want to make peace? Ramallah, where you said, is 10 minutes away from Jerusalem where we’re sitting right now. I’m willing to come to you. You can come here. Let’s sit down, shut the room, you know, basically sit down until smoke comes out. That’s the way you make peace. That’s how we made peace with Egypt. That’s how we made peace with Jordan.
MORGAN: Why isn’t it happening?
NETANYAHU: Because I think the Palestinian society is split into two – those who are openly calling for Israel’s destruction like Hamas, and those who are not calling openly for Israel’s destruction but refuse to confront those who do. And that’s the Palestinian Authority. I think they’re timid, I think they’re afraid to actually stand up to these killers. And I think that they’re afraid, maybe for their own sake, for their own political hides (ph), sometimes for their own physical safety. And they don’t take that necessary plunge…
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NETANYAHU: Well the legacy I want is that I hope secure the life the Jewish state and its future. We did have – we did act precipitously. We walked out of Gaza. We uprooted. Talk about concessions. We uprooted 10,000 Israelis out of Gaza, just eliminated the settlements that were supposed to be the obstacle to peace. We walked out, Iran walked in. We didn’t get peace. We walked out of Lebanon, every last inch. We walked out, Iran walked in. From Lebanon they fired 6,000 rockets at us. This is a country the size of New Jersey. From Gaza, after we walked out, they fired 6,000 rockets at us. Now, they say, ‘Just walk out of the West Bank. Make the concession. Come on, do it again, a third time’. We could be in a position where we can’t live. So my concern is, I want peace for Israel but I want a peace that we can defend and I want a peace that will hold. And I know that that’s peace with security. I know that’s what we have to insist – and I insist – unabashedly so – on peace with strong security arrangements. One of the leading European statesmen told me the other day – I was sitting where you are – well in that couch. He said, you know, three months ago when you said in the context of a peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians that you would need to stay along the Jordan River because you never know what would happen on the other side. The Jordan River, mind you, is all of the distance of the Washington beltway, greater Paris from here. Nearby. So we’d have to have some line on the Jordan River to prevent Iran from penetrating into Israel and placing another 100,000 rockets aimed at our cities. He said, people didn’t understand what you’re talking about. He said, now after the convulsions, this earthquake people understand your insistence of security a lot better. So I would say the first condition of peace, we’ll make concessions, obviously. We’ll have to make territorial concessions and that’s hard. This is our ancestral homeland. This is the land of the bible…
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In the case of the Palestinian society, Hamas openly declares that it wants to wipe out not the heads of the Israeli government, but every Israeli. Wipe away the Jewish state. They openly say so. Their constitution –
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MORGAN: But isn’t this a good – ironically we’re sitting here now with this part of the region being one of the calmer places. Isn’t that the perfect time to make this happen?
NETANYAHU: If you can be sure of who your partner will be tomorrow. You’re not even sure of that. You want to make sure that you have solid (INAUDIBLE) of security and you also want mutual reconciliation.
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We recognize the rights of the Palestinians for a state of their own. Even though they’re sitting in part of our ancestral homeland, it’s very painful to do that. But I’ve been doing it. I’ve been saying it. But they refuse to say that they recognize a Jewish state, a nation state for the Jewish people. I’m talking about – I’m not talking about the Hamas, I’m talking about the Palestinian authority that should confront Hamas and confront their own people and say, hey, it’s over. We give up the ghost of dismantling Israel or dissolving Israel or flooding it with refugees. It’s over. No more war, no more bloodshed. Just as Sadat said. I want to hear that clear statement but I’m willing, I’ve already made those statements. And so the problem you have in the international community is that the Palestinians do not want to put a finality to the conflict, do not want to say that a Palestinian state will be an end to a conflict and not a stage in the dissolution of Israel. Now, they speak peace to the outside but not to their own people. To their own people – on the day that these people – this family was savagely brutalized – brutally murdered – babies were stabbed – on that day, the Palestinian authority had a square called al-Bireh, which is a suburb of Ramallah, in name of a terrorist who murdered 37 Israelis on a bus, including 12 children. To the outside world they speak peace. Internally they foster a culture of hate…
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NETANYAHU: If I sign a peace, people of Israel will follow me. But you’ve got to give us the two elements of peace that are required to
have a real peace, not a fake peace. The real peace requires security and the real peace requires that you actually reconcile yourself to a Jewish state here, permanently. This is what we want…
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The Palestinian economy has been growing at 10 percent … Gaza is growing now at 17 percent because we lifted all the restrictions…
MORGAN: Yes, but you wouldn’t want your family living there, would you?
NETANYAHU: No, of course not. But certainly I think the people of Gaza would like to be relieved of this Hamas tyranny and this medievalism. But as far as the West Bank, I changed the policy. In fact, (INAUDIBLE) what you say. I thought that it’s important to add, in addition to security and recognition, to have prosperity as a third pillar of peace. So I’ve been – I removed hundreds of road blocks, check points and so on and the result is that the Palestinian economy and the West Bank has grown at 10 percent, which is – which for me is very hopeful because I like to see apartment towers sprout out of the soil of the West Bank of Ramallah and not missiles. And I think this is an important component of peace. But the economic peace is not a substitute for political
negotiations. And on day one of forming my government, I called on President Abbas and Abu Mazen to come here and talk people [should this read, “peace”?]. The second step that I took, it’s a tough decision, I froze construction in the settlement. I know this is not the issue, I know construction in the settlements are not a real issue, they’re an artificial issue. The settlements cover only one or two percent of the territory of the West Bank and a few hundred apartments in this one percent is meaningless. But it’s become an issue. I said, all right. You know, if it makes it easier for you, I’ll freeze construction for 10 months. They didn’t come. And when they finally came, they bolted after two weeks. I recognize the principle of two states for two people. I agreed to another extension, three months. I did all these things. And what do I find? That the Palestinians can walk away from the negotiations, make pre-conditions, call public square in honor of terrorists and now they’re talking about a national unity with Hamas that calls for our destruction. How can you be for peace with Israel and peace with Hamas that calls for our destruction? … It’s one or the other. Not both.
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NETANYAHU: You can make peace with an enemy, if the enemy abandons the idea of destroying you. That is the critical test. Democracies fail to understand what I just said. In the 1930s, with Hitler, they failed to recognize that. He said, well, I’m willing to sign this, or that, document. But in reality they could ascertain easily that he was dead set on conquest and annihilation. I think we face, in the Middle East, an ideology that is absolutely-absolutely opposed to peace and coexistence, and that is Hamas …
… if Hamas has a constitution, if it tore it up, and if the constitution calls for the annihilation of Israel, not only that but the expansion of radical Islam throughout the region and the world,if they got rid of that, yes, I could contemplate that. If they stopped firing rockets, or importing now, rockets to launch on our cities. They just intercepted some Iranian rockets yesterday that were intended for Hamas. If they stopped terrorism, if they stopped calling for our eradication, yes, of course, we would be happy to talk with them. But the fact is that Hamas has not stopped being Hamas. Hamas continues to call for our liquidation. So what am I going to negotiate with them? The method of our decapitation? The method of their exterminating us? Of course not. Any country would take a stand against somebody that is completely committed to its obliteration. And that was not the case in Northern Ireland, because the IRA never wanted to exterminate Britain…”
OK.
So, now, after all that, who murdered the five members of the Fogel family in Itamar? And, why?