The Western Wall is “occupied territory”

December 25, 2016 Agencies
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has remarked on the UN decision at the Lighting of the First Chanukah Candle at an Event in Salute of Wounded IDF and Security Forces Veterans and Victims of Terrorism.

Netanyahu at the Chanukah event Photo: Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)

Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Citizens of Israel, I would like to reassure you. The resolution that was adopted yesterday at the United Nations is distorted and shameful but we will overcome it. The resolution determines that the Jewish Quarter [in the Old City of Jerusalem] is ‘occupied territory’. This is delusional. The resolution determines that the Western Wall is ‘occupied territory’. This too is delusional. There is nothing more absurd than calling the Western Wall and the Jewish Quarter occupied territory. There is also an attempt here, which will not succeed, to impose permanent settlement terms on Israel. You might recall that the last one who tried to do this was Carter, an extremely hostile president to Israel, and who just recently said that Hamas is not a terrorist organization. Carter passed sweeping decisions against us at the UN of a similar kind, and this was also unsuccessful. We opposed this and nothing happened.

All American presidents since Carter upheld the American commitment not to try to dictate permanent settlement terms to Israel at the Security Council. And yesterday, in complete contradiction of this commitment, including an explicit commitment by President Obama himself in 2011, the Obama administration carried out a shameful anti-Israel ploy at the UN. I would like to tell you that the resolution that was adopted, not only doesn’t bring peace closer, it drives it further away. It hurts justice; it hurts the truth. Think about this absurdity, half a million human beings are being slaughtered in Syria. Tens of thousands are being butchered in Sudan. The entire Middle East is going up in flames and the Obama administration and the Security Council choose to gang up on the only democracy in the Middle East – the State of Israel. What a disgrace.

My friends, I would like to tell you on the first night of Chanukah that this will not avail them. We reject this resolution outright, just as we rejected the UN resolution that determined that Zionism was racism. It took time but that resolution was rescinded; it will take time but this one will also be rescinded. Now I will tell you how it will be rescinded. It will be rescinded not because of our retreats but because of our steadfastness and that of our allies. I remind you that we withdrew from Gaza, uprooted communities and took people out of their graves. Did this help us at all at the UN? Did this improve our relations at the UN? We were hit with thousands of rockets and at the UN we were hit with the Goldstone report!

So I will tell you what is clear, I know, to the vast majority of Israeli citizens: We learned this lesson, and we will not go there. But I also want to tell you something else: We are not alone. I spoke last night with many American leaders. I was pleased to hear from members of the American Congress, from Democrats and Republicans alike, that they will fight an all-out war against this resolution with all the power at their disposal. I heard the exact same things from our friends in the incoming administration, who said that they will fight an all-out war against this resolution. And I heard this from across the spectrum of American public opinion and American politics – Republicans, Democrats, Jews and non-Jews. As I spoke yesterday with leaders in Congress and the incoming American administration, they told me unequivocally: ‘We are sick of this and it will not continue. We will change this resolution. We will not allow anyone to harm the State of Israel.’ They are declaring their intention to pass legislation to punish countries and bodies that try to harm Israel. They say that this will also include the UN itself. I remind you that the UN receives a quarter, 25%, of its budget from the US alone.

In my most recent speech to the UN, in September, I said that a storm was expected in the UN before it gets better there. We knew that this is possible and we expect that it will come. The resolution that was passed at the UN yesterday is part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel, but, my friends, we are entering a new era. And just as President-elect Trump said yesterday, it will happen much sooner than you think. In the new era there is a much higher price for those who try to harm Israel, and that the price will be exacted not only by the US, but by Israel as well.

Two countries with which we have diplomatic relations cosponsored the resolution against us at the UN; therefore, I ordered yesterday that our ambassadors be recalled from, Senegal and from New Zealand. I have ordered that all Israeli assistance to Senegal be halted, and there’s more to come. Those who work with us will benefit because Israel has much to give to the countries of the world. But those who work against us will lose – because there will be a diplomatic and economic price for their actions against Israel. Additionally, I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to complete, within a month, a reassessment of all of our contacts with the UN, including Israeli financing of UN institutions and the presence of UN representatives in the country. But I am not waiting; already now I have ordered to halt approximately NIS 30 million in financing for five UN institutions, five UN bodies that are especially hostile to Israel. I have already ordered that this be stopped, and there is more to come.

We are on a campaign of improving our relations with the nations of the world. And it will take more time, and I have said this as well, until our improved relations with countries on five continents are also reflected in their decisions in UN institutions. But I would like to tell you something else, and listen closely to what I’m saying. Contrary to what you might expect, it is very likely that last night’s scandalous resolution will accelerate this process, because it is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Last night’s resolution is a call to arms for all of our many friends in the US and elsewhere around the world, friends who are sick of the UN’s hostility toward Israel, and they intend to bring about a fundamental change in the UN. Therefore, this evening I tell you in the language of our sources, the sweet will yet come forth from the bitter and those who come to curse will yet bless.

Here, on the first night of Chanukah, I stand next to the Maccabees of our times, IDF soldiers and wounded IDF heroes. I salute you and I say to you clearly: The light will dispel the darkness. The spirit of the Maccabees will overcome. Happy Chanukah.”

Comments

6 Responses to “The Western Wall is “occupied territory””
  1. Liat Kirby-Nagar says:

    Larry Stillman,
    Netanyahu is angry, and rightly so, at this latest effort of the UN to weaken the State of Israel. He serves Israel, not himself, his words are utterly devoid of pomposity, and the only lies around are those currently propagated by the various UN Departments, UNESCO, the Security Council, et al.

    The many Resolutions put by the UN against Israel in the past twelve months, the atrocious attempt to delegitimise Israel’s history in order to prepare the way for her hoped for demise, show that this body is no longer viable in the role it is supposed to play. It is unhealthily obsessed with Israel, to the point of almost ignoring the terrible realities elsewhere, such as Syria. And Ban Ki-Moon himself has admitted the inappropriate situation that exists, and has existed for the past ten years, in relation to this.

    What kind of glasses are you looking through?

  2. Eleonora Mostert says:

    Larry Stillman, wow are you off this planet.The UN ensures religious places, They is the Temple Mount No longer The Temple mount. Israel is becoming insulated because of idiots like you who refuse to recognize the truth, You are either a self hating Jew or A Muslim who only wants to kill everyone.You probably think you’re the one who brings light unto the nations with your deceit. As for you Adrian Jackson, it would be a good idea to read the scriptures again you’re way off with your comments. What Bible are you using and what Christian Faith are you following. Must be a new one on the block.
    As for Bibi Go get them mate we’ll stand with you and so will God as He has written so shall it be done.

  3. Paul Winter says:

    Larry, one would have expected someone paid by an institute of higher learning to be able to read. Your vituperation against Bibi’s speech shows that you lack that basic skill, at least when it comes to Israel.

    Bibi’s speech was spot on: the resolution is delusional and anti-Semitic. The corrupt occupiers and aggressors of the UNSC suck up to corrupt medievalists, pervert legality and morality and connive to create another Arab dictatorship through historical revisionism and reification.

    Your typical internationalist sneer does not establish facts or justice. The continual aggression and lies of the PA and Hamas and their blood-lusting masses shows that those Arabs are neither entitled nor deserving of statehood. Jews control Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and are entitled to hold onto it; read the Levy Report.

    Just remember this Larry boy: the Gestapo’s thanks to its Jewish agents was extermination. The Left’s support of jihadis will not save it votaries if democracies fail.

  4. Larry Stillman says:

    Self-serving, pompous exaggerations and lies by Bibi, particularly about the Western Wall. The special status of religious places as always been ensured by the UN.

    So what is left as Israel becomes isolated and so threatened by the Kiwis. Increasingly, in the international arena, all Israel has left is truly undemocractic regimes with whom Israel can engage in arms trade and sleazy deals. Wonderful. Such spirit of being a light unto the nations, or is being the new corporate Sparta.

    Here’s a link to the text of the resolutions. http://www.timesofisrael.com/full-text-of-unsc-resolution-approved-dec-23-demanding-israel-stop-all-settlement-activity/

  5. Elon Isaac says:

    People who want peace and a massive reduction in the chances of war ought realise that a Resolution that fails to condemn and fight against the Islamic Califate Ideology and PanArab Nationalism is a failure .
    Two thirds of Palestinians support Hamas a Islamic Organisation that demands Sharia Law and the destruction of the Jewish State by any means .

  6. Adrian Jackson says:

    It this symbolic that the UN voted so close to the official (although not the actual) birth of Jesus Christ? Jesus was killed by the actions of a mostly Jewish mob and the Roman governor of Palestine.

    Incidentally some historian say Christ was born in May but an existing festival in December, with gift giving, was used to remember the birth of the prophet Jesus who is not the son of God either – biologically impossible.

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