Prime minister says Hasan Rowhani won’t change course on pursuing nuclear weapon, calls for ports to be opened, defends gas export decision
Iran’s new leader presents a smiling face, but does not represent a change in policy for the regime in Tehran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said during his address to closing session of the 2013 Israel Presidential Conference on Thursday evening.
The Islamic Republic must not be allowed to build a nuclear weapon, the prime minister said, speaking to a packed crowd of dignitaries on a wide range of topics currently facing Israel.
The recent election results, which carried the relatively moderate Hasan Rowhani into the Iranian presidency, reflect the will of the people, he said, but not the will of the regime. Rowhani represents “a change in style, but not of substance,” Netanyahu added, calling for Iran to “abide by international demands” and stop enriching uranium and shut down illicit nuclear facilities.
The “greatest threat we face,” Netanyahu said, is that the “most dangerous weapons” will fall into the hands of the “most dangerous regime,” namely, Iran, which “cannot be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.”
Netanyahu started off by contending with a number of hecklers, who protested the government’s recent decision to earmark 40 percent of gas from newly discovered offshore fields for export.
Netanyahu said developing the resource was essential for growing Israel’s economy, jokingly telling the crowd that Moses was actually a great navigator, bringing the Jews to a land of milk, honey and gas.
Israel, it turns out, is “a land of milk and honey and gas,” he said. “Who would have believed that Israel would be an energy power? We were lucky enough to not discover gas in our first 60 years, because we had to rely on our ingenuity,” he added. Israel would use its newly discovered offshore natural gas fields to power the country, but also for export, “for the benefit of all Israelis,” he said.
Referring to the recent $1.3 billion sale of navigation app firm Waze to Google, Netanyahu also said Israel’s high-tech industry was key toward the country’s economy, saying that everywhere he went people were only interested in Israeli technology.
Netanyahu vowed to reform the country’s ports, saying it would allow the country to open new markets to Israeli technology, and continuing to develop infrastructure, transportation and education in Israel.
The prime minister used the speech to reiterate his call for peace negotiations with the Palestinians “without conditions… we are ready to begin negotiations now,” he said. “Ramallah and Jerusalem are only 15 minutes away.”
Speaking after Netanyahu, President Shimon Peres said the conference was a shining example of how to fight efforts to delegitimize the Jewish state.
“This conference carries a winning strategy against delegitmization,” he said. “ It is entirely a conference of legitimization for the state of Israel, it’s future, it’s path before it. It radiates the strength of friendship for Israel.”
While not dealing with specific policy issues, Peres warned that the path toward creating a better future would not be an easy one.
“Our path to a better tomorrow will be sown with serious and difficult obstacles, but these will not stop the path of fruitful minds and creative people like those who gathered here at this conference,” he said.
He also said the conference, which had over 2,000 guests, including many international movers and shakers, had created a net gain for Jerusalem’s and Israel’s economies.
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Iran’s president-elect implicated in 1994 Argentina bombing
2006 indictment named Rowhani as part of Khamenei-led panel that authorized attack against the Jewish AMIA center that killed 85
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| Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, left, speaks during his meeting with President-elect Hasan Rowhani in Tehran, Iran, on Sunday, June 16, 2013. (photo credit: AP/Office of the Supreme Leader) |
Iranian president-elect Hasan Rowhani was allegedly involved in plotting the deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires, according to the indictment filed in the case. The attack, attributed to Iran and carried out by the terrorist group Hezbollah, killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
The 2006 indictment (PDF) names Rowhani as a member of the committee headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that planned the bombing, the deadliest attack of its kind in Argentinian history. Rowhani’s name in the indictment was first reported by the
Iranian president-elect Hasan Rowhani was allegedly involved in plotting the deadly 1994 attack on a Jewish community center inBuenos Aires, according to the indictment filed in the case. The attack, attributed to Iran and carried out by the terrorist groupHezbollah, killed 85 people and injured hundreds.
The 2006 indictment (PDF) names Rowhani as a member of the committee headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that planned the bombing, the deadliest attack of its kind in Argentinian history. Rowhani’s name in the indictment was first reported by theWashington Free Beacon.
The newly elected Rowhani, who raced to a surprise first-round victory on Friday with 50.7 percent of the vote in Iran’s presidential elections, likely served in a subordinate capacity on Khamenei’s committee in the early 1990s.
Though Rowhani was present for deliberations, the final decision to attack the AMIA center was made by Khamenei and then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, according to the indictment. In the indictment, Argentinian prosecutors relied heavily on the testimony of an Iranian defector, former intelligence official Abolghasem Mesbahi.
Mesbahi testified that Rowhani, who was then serving as the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, was present when the special operations committee approved the AMIA bombing.
“Rowhani’s power at that time comes directly from one individual, and that’s Rafsanjani,” Reuel Gerecht, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracy and an expert on Iran, told the Free Beacon.
“He’s a subordinate,” said Gerecht. “But he certainly would have been aware of all the discussions that led to the attack.”
The specific motivation for the 1994 AMIA bombing, according to the Argentinian prosecutor who investigated the case, was to punish Argentina for suspending its nuclear cooperation with Iran. Once the decision was taken to act against the country, Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor in the case, said, it was a Jewish target that was decided upon — again, a familiar Iranian strategy.
“When they choose to act against a country, the attack is commonly on the Jewish community,” he said. “It’s the first target.”
Speaking with The Times of Israel two weeks ago, soon after he issued a new 500-page report on the bombing and Iran’s wider terrorist infiltration of South America, Nisman said that Tehran had established its terror networks for the strategic long term, ready to be used “whenever it needs them.”
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