Free Republic

Israel’s leader says Iran mocks the Holocaust while preparing another one against the Jews. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke Sunday following an international cartoon contest Iran staged over the weekend depicting the Holocaust. Iran has long backed armed groups committed to Israel’s destruction and its leaders have called for it to be wiped off the map. …

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the U.S. State Department’s allegations that Israel is using excessive force to fight terrorism Thursday, saying that the allegations are unfair, false, and justify Palestinian terrorism. “This allegation is totally false. It’s also utterly unfair, because it’s so obviously, patently false,” he said. When asked whether Israel was worried about losing the support of its allies because of the State Department’s concerns, Netanyahu said that Israel is using the amount of legitimate force necessary to protect its citizens against the threat of terrorism. “Israel is using exactly the kind and the amount of legitimate...

BERLIN - German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier criticized Israel's opposition to a nuclear deal agreed by six world powers and Iran, saying the agreement will help contribute to security in the Middle East. "This is a responsible deal and Israel should also take a closer look at it and not criticize the agreement in a very coarse way," Steinmeier told German broadcaster ARD in an interview on Wednesday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deal as a "stunning, historic mistake" and said it would enable Iran to pursue a path to nuclear weapons. But Steinmeier said the basis for the...

A senior U.S. official dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s concerns over the Iran deal on Tuesday, saying nobody pays attention to the Prime Minister anyway, Israeli Channel 2 news reported. “Nobody takes any of Netanyahu’s proclamations seriously,” the official said, “nobody listens to him.” During an interview with MSNBC, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry also responded to Netanyahu’s criticism of the nuclear deal. Asked in the interview what he thought about about Prime Minister Netanyahu calling the deal a “historic mistake,” Kerry responded, “Well, he said the same thing about the interim agreement, and he was wrong.” Kerry called...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday evening said it was “absurd” to suggest that his relationship with US President Barack Obama had any bearing on the nuclear deal. In his third statement to the press in a single day, the prime minister said that without Israel’s efforts to thwart Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Tehran would have already broken out to the bomb. Israel will continue to work to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, he vowed. Netanyahu made a brief statement after exiting a security cabinet meeting, during which the ministers voted unanimously to reject the Iran deal “and determined that...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday called international negotiations with Iran a “parade of concessions,” especially since the talks have continued apace while Iran’s leaders issue threatening statements against the U.S. and Israel. Speaking at his weekly cabinet meeting, Netanyahu also made the unusual move of playing for his ministers a video of former President Bill Clinton praising the 1994 nuclear agreement with North Korea. Despite that agreement, 12 years later, North Korea detonated a nuclear weapon. The Jerusalem Post reported that Netanyahu played the 57-second video of Clinton announcing the North Korea agreement to his cabinet ministers to...

Live thread. Bibi to speak at about 9:30.

PM meets with Germany defense minister visiting Israel to mark 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Netanyahu: Iran leading campaign of 'conquest and subversion' around Israel's borders Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday asserted that the threat emanating from the "imperial and theological ambitions" of Iran's "ayatollah regime" poses the greatest threat to the region. Speaking in Jerusalem with German Defense Minister Ursula Von Der Leyen, the prime minister said that Israel views Iran's quest to create an "empire" coupled with its nuclear ambitions as the greatest security challenge to the Middle East. "They are leading a...

Failing to respond to Hamas attacks because they were being launched from civilian areas would be a moral and operational mistake that would validate its use of human shields and “hand an enormous victory to terrorists everywhere,” Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Wednesday.Addressing reporters in Jerusalem amid talks in Cairo aimed at extending a 72-hour, Egyptian-brokered ceasefire currently in place, Netanyahu portrayed the Gaza conflict as a “test” for civilized nations – should terrorists be given immunity because they carry out attacks from schools, mosques or hospitals?He defended the month-long military offensive against Hamas in Gaza, calling it justified...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will address a few pool reporters in the White House Oval Office after meeting with President Barack Obama on Monday — consistent with Netanyahu’s past visits to the White House, but not consistent with the visits of several other world leaders who held full-blown joint press conferences with Obama in front of the entire White House press corps. The White House schedule for Monday does not specify whether the two leaders – who have sometimes been at odds – will take questions from the foreign and domestic press. Considering Israel’s status as a major ally...