Long but interesting:
DAY OF INFAMY 2001
Netanyahu on defeating terrorism
Former Israeli leader: Islamic militants will use nukes if they possibly
can
In an interview with Brit Hume on the Fox News Channel Wednesday, former
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu explained what will be
required of the United States to effectively counter the threat of
further Islamic terrorist attacks on the American mainland.
@ 2001 Fox News Channel
HUME: Many of us have been wondering how these terrorist attacks could
have been planned and implemented without any warning. Well, former
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu predicted something very close
to this could happen in his 1995 book, "Fighting Terrorism," subtitled
"How Democracies Can Defeat Domestic and International Terrorists." He
wrote of the terrorist networks – quote – "Such groups nullify, in
large measure, the need to have air power or intercontinental missiles
as delivery systems. For an Islamic nuclear payload, they will be the
delivery system. In the worst of such scenarios," he added, "the
consequences could not be a car bomb, but a nuclear bomb in the basement
of the World Trade Center." Benjamin Netanyahu joins us now live from
Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu, thank you very much for joining us. Obviously,
this was not a nuclear bomb in the basement, but it destroyed the World
Trade Center just as certainly as if it were. Give us, if you will, your
thoughts about these terrorist networks … how the United States should
regard them and what kind of action the United States should take?
NETANYAHU: Well, I think first that I have to say that, if any people in
the world can identify with the horror and grief of the people of the
United States, it's the people of Israel. We've been on the frontline
fighting this terrorism for many years. But now the forces of militant
Islamic terror have struck in the heart of the free world. And that's
precisely what we have here. We have here a battle between the forces of
freedom and the forces of tyranny, between the forces of democracy and
the forces of terrorism. It is not accidental. Arafat can shed crocodile
tears and donate his blood. He's been shedding innocent blood –
including innocent American blood – for decades. And he's been
sponsoring these kindergarten suicide bombers.
HUME: You don't think Yasser Arafat is behind these attacks, do you?
NETANYAHU: I think what we have – and you alluded to this – is a
network of terror. There is an empire of terror. There are chiefdoms.
Arafat has his own chiefdoms. Bin Laden has his own chiefdom. The
Hezbollah in Lebanon have their chiefdom. There is Hamas and Islamic
Jihad working under Arafat's chiefdom. And they enjoy the support and
sponsorship in close cooperation with such sovereign states as Iraq and
Iran, havens in Afghanistan and other Middle Eastern regimes. They work
together, both in material support and of course political support. We
saw that in Durban the other day. I think that what is important is
this: Bin Laden or whoever committed this is not floating in the air. He
comes back to the Middle East. He is not suspended in space. He comes
back to the territory of this terror empire. So I think what is required
right now is for the United States not merely to seek out the specific
perpetrator here, but to go and dismantle the entire evil empire of
terrorism, because, if we don't, what I wrote in 1995, while it didn't
come to fruition in precisely the way – they didn't plant a nuclear
bomb in the twin towers – they used a 350-ton conventional bomb. But
these regimes that are part of this terror network are developing now
nuclear weapons. If we don't dismantle this terror network in time, the
regimes and the organizations that have absolutely no inhibition in
destroying the United States and its allies. Then what we will see is
that one day their mad fantasy will bring about not tens of thousands or
even 20,000 victims in the United States, but hundreds of thousands or
millions. They are after our civilization. We must summon the forces of
civilization and the force and the power to act against them now, when
we have the power and when we still have the time to do so.
HUME: Mr. Netanyahu, there will be those who will say, that, well, of
course Benjamin Netanyahu will react that way, because, after all, it is
Israel that is really at the heart, and America's support of Israel that
is really the cause of all this. He and other Israelis will be worried
that America might withdraw its support for Israel, so of course he will
portray this as a war that is a war on the United States. How do you
react to that argument?
NETANYAHU: Well, that's a common misperception. These militant Islamics
don't hate America because of Israel. It's the other way around. They
hate Israel because of America. They see us – by the way, correctly
– as an outpost of common values, our common values of freedom. They
hate that freedom. They hate our way of life. They hate our respect for
individual rights, our ideas of free choice, our free society, our free
press. They think all of that is Satanic. It has to be disposed of. They
call you the big Satan. We're only the little Satan. Now, they could
destroy the little Satan, but it doesn't get the world dominion that
they want. They want to destroy America in their mad fantasies, or at
the very least, to bring it to its knees. That's why they are going to
attack you again and again and again. And mind you, have no mistake
about it. Can you doubt for a second, anyone that is hearing this right
now, that if they had a nuclear bomb, they would drop it? Well, they are
working and developing it. And what we have to do is, we've just
received, all of us, a hellish wake-up call, a wake-up call from Hell.
It's an enormous price to pay for such a wake-up call. And there is a
terrible tragedy here. I cannot tell you – I probably have some
friends there. All of us, without friends, we still see that these are
people who are part of us. But we must know that something must come out
of this. We must understand that if we do not act now, if we do not say
that terror is beyond the pale, it is a crime against humanity, we will
not only go against the terrorists themselves, but against any regime
that gives them safe haven, that harbors them, precisely what we must
do. We must put it beyond the pale and act very resolutely to dismantle
the regimes and dismantle their deadly weapons before it is too late.
The terrorists today have the will to destroy us, but they don't have
the power. We have the power to eradicate them, but we must now show
that we have the will. This is a test of time. And, you know, when I see
the rejoicing, the dancing on the roofs in Gaza and Ramallah and the
other Palestinian areas, and the dancing on the roofs in Baghdad and
Beirut, then I know where these people are. But I also know that the
people who grieve in Israel and in Britain and in Madrid and throughout
Western Europe and in other parts of the world that are grieving now
with the United States, I know that there is a coalition that can be
summoned just as it was 50 years ago to defeat another fanatic ideology,
Nazism. And it's time that the United States act. It will act, I have no
doubt. I have confidence in the leadership of the United States. I have
confidence in the people of the United States. And we all stand
together. And we will win this together.
HUME: Mr. Netanyahu, let me just ask you this question. What kind of
life, what kind of footing, what sort of atmosphere needs to be created
in the United States to bring about the kind of action you're talking
about? Despite this, I think many Americans think we are basically at
peace in the world and that life needs to be restored to normal. What
does life have to be like? And what kind of effort are you talking
about, on what scale?
NETANYAHU: I think the scale is less than the one that I just talked
about, because the forces of terror do not have something even
approaching the power that Nazi Germany had. They have the same mad
designs. So what is required is a military and political effort to
galvanize the entire democracies. You have shown in various recent
conflicts in the last decade, whether in the Balkans or in the Middle
East and elsewhere, that you have the wherewithal, you have enormous,
enormous military power. And what you have to understand is that you
would now have enormous backing and goodwill both in the United States
itself and its well-wishers and allies around the world. I think it can
be done. I think, specifically, how one does it is not, I think, the
domain of this conversation. I'm sure the leaders of the United States
are thinking very carefully about it. I would say that, though, that we
would be remiss if we do not dismantle the terrorist centers right now,
because if we leave them around, they will come back. And they will come
back with greater power. They typically misunderstand and
underappreciate the resolve of free societies. But amid the smoking
ruins of the twin towers, you could see the silhouette of the Statue of
Liberty holding that torch of liberty very proudly and very high. It's
that flame of liberty that these people want to extinguish. But it is
the United States holding that torch with its allies who can wipe out
these terrorists. And we must do nothing short of it. We must wipe them
out or they will wipe us out. |
