PM Netanyahu's Speech to the Christian Media Summit at the Israel Museum in
Jerusalem
(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
For video (starts with comment in Hebrew):
https://youtu.be/OoQjsU9KBhQ


Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, this evening (Sunday, 15 October 2017),
at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem, made the following remarks to the
Christian Media Summit:

"I want to welcome you all to Jerusalem, the eternal united capital of the
Jewish people.

You know, you are joining us as we celebrate 50 years since the Holy City
was liberated and united; 50 years of religious freedom for all. You know
that because you walk around, you go to the holy sites, you go to the
churches, others go to the mosques, and you know this is a free city.

I want you also to join us in looking forward to the day when the embassies
of all your countries move to Jerusalem.

Israel has no better friends – I mean that – no better friends in the world
than the Christian communities around the world. And Israel is the one
country in a vast region where Christians not only survive, they thrive.

You know the truth about Israel's history and the truth about our commitment
to freedom. Freedom is under a challenge all the time, and I think it scored
a big victory the other day. I want to thank President Trump for his
courageous speech outlining a new course against Iran, the enemy of our free
civilization.

Iran is a threat to the entire world, but today I want to focus on Iran's
war against Christians. As you all know, Christians are brutally persecuted
in the Islamic Republic. Pastors are jailed for no reason, no reason other
than for being Christian leaders. Christians have been lashed. You hear
this? Christians have been lashed for sipping wine during prayer services;
Christians have been brutally tortured for doing nothing more than
practicing their faith.

Now, some world leaders are willing to ignore this repression and seek to
appease Iran, but I am not one of them.

I think that how a country treats religious minorities is a very good
indicator of how it will treat its other citizens and its neighbors. So
today I have a simple request for the media outlets in this room: Dedicate
this week to highlighting the plight of the countless Christians suffering
under Iran; Profile the brave Christian leaders jailed for practicing their
faith; Sit with the families of the school teachers jailed for years merely
for converting to Christianity; Call out the lie and the lies of President
Rouhani, who promised in 2013 that all religions would, quote, feel justice
in Iran, while so many Christians live there in constant terror.

And I want to thank you for what you're doing, taking your part and doing
your part to stand up for religious freedom. Thank you for highlighting the
danger of the terrorist regime in Iran. Thank you for telling the truth
about Israel's pluralistic democracy. Thank you for standing with Israel. We
all are deeply grateful. Thank you."

Question:

"Good to see you, my friend. The influence of this Christian media group is
much greater than ABC, NBC and CBS combined, and there's no fake news here.
The question I want to ask you is concerning Iran. Tell us the influence
that they're having with the terror, with Hamas, with Hezbollah, and in
Syria, in light of the President's courageous stand."

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"Well, I think there are two issues that the President was concerned with
and we're all concerned with, and coincidentally, on this Israel and the
leading Arab states see eye to eye. And I said today in interviews on
American television, I said, you know, when Israel and the main Arab
countries see eye to eye, you should pay attention, because something
important is happening. We're here. We know what we see. Here's what we see:
We see two great dangers emanating from Iran. The first danger is the danger
of a nuclear armed Iran, which is virtually guaranteed if this agreement is
not changed or scrapped. Because that's where it's leading. It's leading not
merely to Iran's capability to have an atomic weapon, one bomb. It virtually
opens up the field so they can have within a decade 100 bombs, a vast
nuclear arsenal. And this is Iran, which is, its economy is 30 times the
size of North Korea. So you can imagine the world's foremost terrorist
regime armed with an arsenal of nuclear weapons. Is that going to produce
peace? Is that going to produce progress? Because people said, well, if Iran
signs this deal, two years ago, three years ago, when they were negotiating
this deal and they were arguing for it. They said, once Iran signs this
deal, then, they said, it would join the community of nations.

So Iran received the first installment of about 50 billion dollars coming in
to its coffers, and what did they do? They didn't join the community of
nations. They're devouring the nations one after the other. They're in Yemen
firing rockets deep into Saudi Arabia; they're in Iraq killing people, now
squeezing the Kurds; they're in Syria, colonizing Syria and the intent to
turn Syria into a military base for their war of destruction against Israel.

Well, clearly we will not tolerate it, and we will act against any threats
to our security and I think people understand that we back this up with
words, with these words, with deeds. I think people know that. But I think
the fact the President Trump focused the world's attention on Iran's dual
threat – the nuclear threat of a deal that unless challenged would lead to a
nuclear Iran, and the conventional threat of an Iran, an aggressive Iran
that is spreading terrorism and aggression throughout this region. And I
think that the resoluteness with which he put forward this case yesterday
made a big impression. I tell you on who it made a big impression. It made a
big impression on America's allies here and it made a big impression on
Iran. They should be worried. Justly so."

Question:

"Mr. Prime Minister, Chris Mitchell, Bureau Chief for CBN News. And I know I
speak for the Christian media here, thank you for making this summit
possible.

As a follow up to Iran, I just came back from Kurdistan and many people I
saw firsthand the growing influence of the Shiite militias and the growing
influence of Iran. And they're concerned about a Shiite arc going from
Tehran all the way to the Mediterranean. Can you address their concerns? The
decision by the Trump Administration to decertify the Iranian nuclear deal
and the referendum for independence that was just a few weeks ago.

And one follow-up question, Mr. Prime Minister, many people may not know
that Israel sends relief teams, search and rescue teams to earthquake places
like Mexico, the hurricanes in Houston and Florida. With all the problems
facing Israel, why does Israel feel obligated to reach out with humanitarian
aid to the nations?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"Because we're a light unto the nations. That's the great fulfillment of
that great prophecy, and in fact what Israel is doing. It's doing it in
places like Haiti or in the Philippines or in Mexico. I mean, you should
hear what the people in Mexico said about Israel. I recently spoke to
President Peña Nieto from Mexico, he called me up, and he said I want you to
know how grateful the people of Mexico are. And you saw that in the Mexican
media, they just love Israel.

I was there between two earthquakes, just in the stitch of time, a few days,
and I saw how receptive and how warm the people of Mexico were to Israel
before the earthquake. And then you know they saw this mission that came,
taking some risk, considerable risk, and going through the rubble, and
trying their best to salvage whatever could be salvaged, and the people
really warmed up to that.


And you see that elsewhere, in many places around the world. You see it in
Tibet, the same thing. Our mission in Mexico was the last, the first to come
and the last to leave. Our mission in Nepal was the second largest mission
in the world. The first was India – it's closer, and, you know, bigger. But
ours was the second largest in the world. And the people say, well, what do
you do? What is it that you get out of it? And the answer is we're not
getting out of it anything, we're fulfilling our deepest values – Israel is
a light unto the nations.

Now you talk about those who want to extinguish that light. Iran. Yes it
wants to build a Shiite arc, to create – it's working on it, you know –
which is Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon. I said in the UN a few weeks ago that
what they want from Tehran to Tartus, from Iran to the Mediterranean, they
want this Shiite arc, to colonize it and control it, and everyone is
concerned. All the countries, except Assad I think, everybody is really
concerned and wants to stop it, because this is an act of unadulterated
aggression.

They're trying to import… get this, they're trying to import Shiite militias
that are now trying to choke the Kurds in Kirkuk, Shiite militias – Afghans,
Pakistanis under Iranian command, and they want to bring them also right
next to the Golan Heights. Well, this is colonization of the worst kind. And
this is intimidation and subjugation of the worst kind. But that's what Iran
is about, so obviously we all sympathize with the Kurds, we understand this,
and we are absolutely determined to defend ourselves against this
aggression."

Question:
"Mr. Prime Minister, it's on the books now that I'll see you on Tuesday for
your interview with Mike Huckabee that's there at the Knesset, but he's
going to ask you about the moving of the…"

Prime Minister Netanyahu:
"Are you giving me a promo?"

Question:

"I'm going to give you a heads up on what he is going to ask you. But it's
no secret that your relationship with our former president Obama was a bit
different. How is it going with Trump now? That's what we're concerned
about. How is your relationship with Donald Trump going now?"

Prime Minister Netanyahu:

"Our relationship is fine, it's excellent actually, and there's, I think, a
sense of warmth and an instinctive understanding on many important things.
Now mind you, I want you to put this also in perspective. Yes I had some
differences , like on Iran and a few other things, with President Obama, but
it didn't really alter the solidity of the American-Israeli alliance. We
also signed an MoU that I appreciate, I don't forget, it was important. So I
think there is a basic alliance there that transcends differences that we
may have over particular issues.

But the issue of Iran wasn't just another issue. The issue of Iran is
existential for us. And I felt compelled to take our case to the American
Congress because that deal, so-called deal, was a direct threat to our
future, to our existence. I think there's been a change with regard to this
central issue, because, because I think President Trump correctly identifies
that Iran is not the solution but perhaps the problem in the Middle East.
The problem. The source of so much aggression, so much terror and so much
misery.

And he wants to… He took a very courageous step yesterday, because what he
did was, he could have kicked the can forward, he could have said, well it's
not going to happen on my watch, so why should I deal with it. You know,
Iran will become a nuclear power with a nuclear arsenal, if we just let the
deal go through but it won't happen on my watch. But he said, no, it's the
duty of leaders, and it's perhaps the most difficult duty of leaders, to
ward off danger before it becomes apparent to everyone, because when it
becomes apparent to everyone, it may be too late.

So I really appreciate what he did yesterday on this point, which is
obviously very important for Israel, but also I think very important for the
United States and for the future of the world. The relationship is good. I
want to thank you all for your continued support for the State of Israel. I
think when you and your readers and viewers and listeners, when they look at
the Middle East and they see the forces that are aligned against the values
we hold dear, you see a beacon of light, a towering beacon of light. Israel
is not that big a country, you know that. It's a small country, but it's a
gigantic country, because we stand on the shoulders of giants: the giants of
the bible, the giants of Jewish history, the people who gave us our deepest
values, which we share and which we cherish.

I want to thank you for your support.

Thank you very much. Thank you all."