Israel National News presents below the live Hebrew speech of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu from Bar Ilan University. The speech is scheduled to begin a few minutes after 8:00 p.m. Israel time (1:00 p.m. EDT).
The diplomatic world is holding its breath for PM Netanyahu’s highly-touted diplomatic speech Sunday evening at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan. The question is whether he will he yield to U.S. President Barack Obama’s heavy-handed pressure, or adhere to the no-Palestinian-state platform on which he was elected?
The precise contents of his speech are still a secret. Aides to the Prime Minister refuse to divulge its contents, though one advisor said it would be a “strong” speech – leaving room for much interpretation. It is also expected that the Iranian weekend elections, in which Israel-nemesis Ahmadinajad won, will be strongly emphasized in the speech.
Netanyahu met with politicians and leaders on both left and right over the past several days, including President Shimon Peres on Saturday night. It was reported that the two reviewed the near-final version of the speech, though it can be assumed that it will be slightly more hawkish than Peres would like.
Prime Minister Netanyahu gave several hints as to the road he will choose when he met last week with the Knesset Members of his Likud party. He asked if any of them had an alternative to the U.S.-backed Road Map plan. Though it can be assumed that some of the MKs said that the status quo was an acceptable alternative for now, the very question appears to allude to Netanyahu’s thinking.
In addition, Netanyahu mentioned the Iranian nuclear threat, implying that its dangers override, to some extent, Israeli interests in the Israel-PA conflict.
It should be noted once again that though Israel has officially endorsed the Road Map, it did so only with an addendum known as the 14 Reservations. The Road Map is a seven-year-old plan that originally called for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005, which Israel accepted only on condition that the PA stop terrorism and incitement, that it accept Israel as a Jewish state, and that it waive any rights of return for Arab refugees to the State of Israel.
Click here to read the 14 Reservations.
Dozens of students and activists are demonstrating outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem this morning (Sunday), carrying signs reading, “Bibi, Be Strong!” and “Israel Won’t Cave In.”
Last-minute words of support for Netanyahu were expressed by Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas), MK Tzipi Hotobeli (Likud), and others, who said over the weekend that they are certain that Netanyahu would not lend his hand to a Hamas-supported state in Judea and Samaria. In the backdrop is former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s withdrawal from Gaza four years ago, which led directly to a Hamas-run terrorist entity on Israel’s south-western border.