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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni (file)
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| By Ynetnews November 13, 2006 |
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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni spoke Sunday at the United Jewish Communities (UJC) General Assembly in Los Angeles and urged the international community to snap out of its indifference in the face of the Iranian nuclear plan.
"Together, we face challenges on three different fronts," Livni told the Jewish leaders, "as a people defending our basic right to a national homeland; as Jews against the dark hatred of anti-Semitism; and as members of the free world against the forces of global terror."
The foreign minister elaborated, "In each case, what is at stake is not just our physical security or existence but our very right to a Jewish national identity and a place our people can call home. These three fronts have come together in the case of Iran."
"We face a regime that denies and mocks the Holocaust while seeking the weapons to perpetrate one. Iran's words and actions are not only a direct threat to Israel, but they are no less a threat to the values that the international community as a whole claims to hold dear," Livni explained.
"If these values mean anything - if the promise of "never again" is more important than the price of oil - then the time for international indifference and hesitation in the face of the Iranian threat has long passed," she continued.
"Last summer, we experienced a confrontation between Israel and Iran. Though the war took place in Lebanon, it was the case of a rogue State, Iran, and its proxy, the Hizbullah, abusing a weak State, Lebanon, to advance a radical and hate-filled agenda," Livni said.
'War created opportunities'
The foreign minister admitted that, "For Israel, the war revealed significant shortcomings that we must correct, but it also created opportunities that we can build upon."
"I am not naïve -- I live after all in the Middle East. But I believed at the time and I believe now, that resolution 1701, if properly implemented, can create a genuine opportunity for positive developments," she added.
According to Livni, "The rules of the game in Lebanon have changed -- Hezbollah, surprised by the reaction, has suffered a setback, the Lebanese army has deployed to the south, an arms embargo has been decided upon in the prevention of re-armament."
"In addition, a multinational force with a robust mandate has been deployed to Lebanon. The role of this force is not to defend Israel -- we have our own army to do that, the IDF," she stated.
The foreign minister stressed that "Resolution 1701, can help Lebanon become a normal, responsible State that asserts sovereignty over its territory, exercises monopoly over the use of force and respects the rights of its neighbors. These are elements that a military campaign, as successful as it may be, cannot attain alone."
However, Livni said that "The mission, clearly, has not yet been completed. Our soldiers - our sons -- two held by the Hezbollah and one by the Hamas -- Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit, still remain in captivity."
"Those who kidnapped them see in our desire to do everything possible to bring them home a sign of our weakness. They are wrong. It is testimony to our strength," she concluded.
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