Biden Cites U.S. Commitment To Peace And Security Of Israel
Netanyahu: Iran Must Be Barred From Developing Nuclear Weapons
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House Democratic leader, assailed Iran for rushing to develop nuclear weapons that would threaten the existence of Israel, adding that the bonds between the United States and Israel are “unbreakable.”
Hoyer excoriated “Iran’s dangerous pursuit of nuclear weapons,” which he said would inflict “irreparable harm” on Israelis even if Tehran never launches nuclear-tipped missiles at Israel. Just the agonizing fear that such weapons would evoke constantly in Israeli minds would create a devastating toll on Israelis, he said before a dinner of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, in the Washington Convention Center.
The Obama administration, Hoyer promised, is “committed to keeping nuclear weapons out of Iranian hands.”
Washington already has assisted Israel by supplying it with an advanced radar to spot incoming missiles, to aid in missile defense.
The House Democratic leader also decried the unending destruction caused by incoming missiles that Israelis suffer at Palestinian hands, condemning “Hamas rockets that still rain down on southern Israel.”
Every missile or rocket that hits Israel is “a war crime,” Hoyer said.
The cause of destruction and death in the Middle East lies clearly on one side, with the Palestinians who hate Jews, Hoyer said. Thus there never will be peace until the Palestinian people recognize Israel, foreswear violence and stop indoctrinating Palestinian children with hatred toward Jews, Hoyer said.
He also decried others around the world who may not attack Israel with missiles, but who nonetheless wound with words by calling Jews Nazis. “It is not criticism,” Hoyer said. “It is hate.”
Vice President Joe Biden also addressed the AIPAC dinner, saying that the United States won’t abandon Israel. “In the midst of change … there is one enduring, essential principle that will not change, and that is our commitment to the peace and security of the state of Israel,” Biden said. “That is not negotiable.”
However, President Obama is proposing no funds to build the European Missile Defense system in the Czech Republic (radar) and Poland (interceptors) that also could help Israel defend itself from Iranian missiles.
Separately, Benjamin Netanyahu, the new Israeli prime minister, addressed the AIPAC gathering by videoconference.
“Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu said.
He did not elaborate on that, as to whether Israel may launch air strikes on illicit Iranian sites where nuclear materials are being produced in thousands of centrifuges. While Iran claims the fissile materials are merely to fuel nuclear electrical generating facilities, the West worries the materials will be used to build nuclear weapons, touching off a race for atomic weapons that will sweep through the Middle East.
In that event, the only security for Europe and the United States could lie in multilayered missile defense systems.
While Netanyahu said that “we want peace with the Arab world,” he added that “peace will not come without security. We shall never compromise on Israel’s security.”
He concluded that “Palestinians must recognize Israel as the Jewish state.”
Iran not only has its nuclear materials development program, it also recently launched a satellite, using the same basic technology as is used to build an intercontinental ballistic missile. Half an hour after the satellite launched, it was over the United States.
Further, Iran has launched missiles in a salvo, and launched a missile from a submerged submarine. Many Iranian missiles can easily reach targets in Israel.
Finally, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that Israel should be wiped from the map, and that Israel soon shall cease to exist. He also said that he envisions a world without the United States.
Iran also supplies the thousands of missiles, rockets and mortars that Hezbollah terrorists have fired from southern Lebanon into Israel, and that Hamas terrorists have fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, destroying buildings and killing Israeli civilians.
Another speaker at the AIPAC dinner has co-sponsored legislation to empower the White House to punish companies that supply Iran with gasoline and other refined petroleum product. Sen. Jon Kyl’s remarks before AIPAC were similar to those he delivered earlier before a breakfast forum of the National Defense University Foundation and National Defense Industrial Association. (Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, April 27, 2009.)