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WASHINGTON: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Tuesday hailed the “courageous Arab protestors” battling tyranny, but warned their hopes could easily be crushed, pointing to the 1979 Iranian revolution.
“An epic battle is now unfolding in the Middle East, between tyranny and freedom. A great convulsion is shaking the earth from the Khyber Pass to the Straits of Gibraltar,” Netanyahu said in an address to a joint session of the US Congress.
The Middle East stands at a “fateful crossroads,” with pro-democracy revolutions shaking Arab nations which hold “the promise of a new dawn of freedom and opportunity,” the Israeli premier said in a speech punctuated by warm applause and standing ovations.
“Yet, as we share their hopes, we also must also remember that those hopes could be snuffed out as they were in Tehran in 1979,” he said, referring to the revolution that deposed the shah but brought in a strict Islamic republic.
“The brief democratic spring in Iran was cut short by a ferocious and unforgiving tyranny. This same tyranny smothered Lebanon's democratic Cedar Revolution, and inflicted on that long-suffering country, the medieval rule of Hezbollah,” Netanyahu said.
He again highlighted Israel's fears that Iran could one day develop a nuclear weapon, saying “the hinge of history may soon turn.
“For the greatest danger facing humanity could soon be upon us: A militant Islamic regime armed with nuclear weapons,” he said.
“A nuclear-armed Iran would ignite a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.
It would give terrorists a nuclear umbrella. “Those who dismissed the threat from Iran were “sticking their heads in the sand,” Netanyahu said.
He also took issue with those who refused to condemn Iranian calls for the annihilation of the Jewish state, saying: “In much of the international community, the calls for our destruction are met with utter silence.” But Netanyahu praised the United States for its stand.
“You have acted differently. You’ve condemned the Iranian regime for its genocidal aims. You've passed tough sanctions against Iran. History will salute you America,” he said to loud applause.
The Israeli premier spoke as the United States unveiled a slew of new sanctions against Iran, targeting foreign firms including from Venezuela, Singapore, and Israel -- as part of efforts to check Iran's nuclear ambitions.
Netanyahu said his country has always embraced democracy, and maintained that out of the region's 300 million Arabs, only Israel's one million Arab citizens “enjoyed real democratic rights.”
“This startling fact reveals a basic truth: Israel is not what is wrong about the Middle East. Israel is what is right about the Middle East,” he said.
“Israel fully supports the desire of Arab peoples in our region to live freely. We long for the day when Israel will be one of many real democracies in the Middle East,” he said.
