Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, spoke on Thursday night at the IAC National Summit 2021 taking place in Florida.
Erdan, who was interviewed by journalist Yoav Limor, was asked whether Israel has the capability to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
“Israel opposed the old Iran deal because we thought it was fundamentally flawed, and we thought it only limits Iran for several years, and I’m encouraged that today, even the Biden administration – many of them are the same people who designed the original agreement – agrees that we need a longer, stronger and broader deal, meaning that the old deal is not sufficient to block Iran’s pathway towards becoming a nuclear power.”
“The answer to the question of whether Iran can be stopped is clearly yes. If Israel can attack more than 1,000 times Iranian forces in Syria in order to prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Syria, the whole international community, together with the United States, can provide a solution to stop Iran.”
“We should listen to the wise words of President Roosevelt, who used to say ‘speak softly but also carry a big stick’. Sanctions are very important, but sanctions are not enough. Iran is on the verge of becoming a nuclear power, and this is the time to present the Iranian regime a credible military threat that will force them to decide between their own survival as a regime and their nuclear ambitions,” said Erdan.
“We cannot rely on the international community,” he stressed. “For us it’s an existential threat and we’re not going to wait until Iran becomes a nuclear threshold country. We’re leaving all options on the table and we’re not going to hesitate. We will do whatever is needed.”
Erdan commented on Ben & Jerry’s and their decision to boycott Judea and Samaria, and asked how it would be possible to stop other companies from doing so.
“This is a disgrace. As a minister I led the fight against the BDS. I also cooperated with the IAC. Obviously, I think we had great successes and we can say today that BDS is a failure. Israel is thriving, our economy is booming, our foreign relations are growing, but we cannot be complacent. As Israel’s Ambassador in the UN, my role is to try to build a resilience from boycotts and delegitimization.”
“Today the atmosphere towards Israel at the UN is much better, maybe because of the Abraham Accords, but it’s not enough to showcase Israel’s contribution, we should expose the hypocrisy of the BDS activists. Many of them are connected to terrorist organizations, many of them hold antisemitic views, so with the support of the IAC we’re continuing to delegitimize the delegitimizers.”
On the efforts to add Israel to the US visa waiver program, Erdan estimated that Israelis will be able to attend next year’s IAC conference without the need for a visa.