📋 Tender Overview
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this evening at the Hertog National Security Conference at the Setai Hotel in Tel Aviv-Jaffa was interviewed by Prof. Walter Russell Mead. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman also participated in the conference. In response to the question What would the policy be on Iran on the assumption that the US administration claims that the nuclear agreement is completely finished Prime Minister Netanyahu replied Ask a question. How do you stop a rogue nation from acquiring nuclear weapons Lets see. I mean there have been some examples so we can maybe deduce a rule. You had one thats called Saddam Husseins Iraq. It was stopped by military force ours. You had a second one that is called Syria that tried to develop nuclear weapons. And it was stopped by a military action ours. There was a third country Muammar Gaddafis Libya. It wanted to pursue nuclear weapons and it gave it up by the threat of a military action yours. Theres a fourth country North Korea that sought to develop nuclear weapons and it wasnt challenged. And by the way a signatory to the NPTs and all. It doesnt mean anything. They werent stopped because there was no threat of military action. And so they developed this capacity. Now we have Iran. Iran seeks to develop it. It was actually stopped for a year in their program in 2003 when they thought right after the Gulf War when they thought that you America would take action against them. So they stopped then converted into a secret program disguised by various civilian so-called research organizations. But they continued. And theyve been stopped or rather slowed down by various actions that we took and some sanctions that were applied. The sanctions came about because the Americans were saying This crazy guy in Jerusalem is going to bomb them unless we do something. So thats how Iran came to the table but then they left the cash on the table and did a lousy agreement. The only thing that has credibly stopped rogue nations from developing nuclear weapons is a credible military threat or a credible military action. You can couple that with crippling economic sanctions but thats not a sufficient condition. A necessary condition and an often sufficient condition is credible military action. The longer you wait the harder that becomes. Weve waited very long. I can tell you that I will do everything in my power to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. That is not merely an Israeli interest its an American interest its in the interest of the entire world.
