| NETANYAHU'S SPEECH TO THE U.S. SENATORS Continued...Pg. 3 |
| This is not so. There can never be a political solution for terror. The grievance of terrorist can never be redressed through diplo-macy. That will only encourage more terror. Yasser Arafat's terrorist regime must be toppled, not courted. The Olso agreements are dead. Yasser Arafat killed them. He tore it to shreds and soaked it in Jewish blood by violating everyone of its provisions, including the two core commitments he made at Oslo: to recognize the State of Israel and to permanently renouce terrorism. With such a regime and such failure of leadership, no political process is possible. In fact, a political can only begin when this terrorist regime is dismantled. Second, it is said that the waging war on Palestinian terror today will destabilize the region and cripple the imminent war against Sadaam Hussein. This concern is also misplaced. Clearly, the urgent need to topple Sadaam is paramount. The commitment of America and Britain to dismantle this terrorist dicta-torship before it obtains nuclear weapons deserves the unconditional support of all sane governments. But contrary to conventional wisdom, what has distabilized the region is not Israeli action against Palestinian terror, but rather, the constant pressure exerted on Israel to show restraint. It is precisely the exceptional restraint shown by Israel for over a year and a half that has unwittingly emboldened its enemies and inadvertently increased the threat of a wider conflict. If Israeli restraint were to continue, the thousands that are now clamoring for war in Arab capitals would turn into millions, and an unavoidable war will become inevitable. Half-measures against terrorists will leave their grievances intact fueled by the hope of future victory. Full-measure will not redress those grievances, but it will convince them that pursuing terror is a prescription for certain defeat. America must show that it will not heed the international call to stop Israel from exercizing its right to defend itself. If America compromises its principles and joins in the chorus of those who demand that Israel disengage, the war on terror will be under-mined. For if the world begins to believe that America may deviate from its principles, then terrorist regimes that might have otherwise been deterred will not be deterred. Those who might have crumbled under the weight of America resolve will not crumble. As a result, winning the war will prove far more difficult perhaps impossible. But my friends, I must also tell you that the charge that Israel of all countries, is hindering the war against Sadaam is woefully unjust. For my country has done more than any other to make victory over Sadaam possible. Twenty-one years ago, Prime Minister Menachem Begin sent the Israeli air-force on a predawn raid hundreds of miles away on the most dangerous military missions in our nation's history. When our pilots returned we had successfully destroyed Sadaam's atomic bomb factory and crippled his capacity to build nuclear weapons. Israel was safer - and so was the world. But rather than thanking us for safeguarding freedom, the entire world condemned us. Ten years later, when american troops expelled Iraqi forces in the Gulf war, then secretary of defense Richard Cheney, expressed a debt of gratitude to Israel for the bold and determined action a decade earlier that had made victory possible. Indeed, I am confident that in time those who would condemn Israel now would understand that rooting out Palestinian terror today will also make both Israel and the world safer tomorrow. For if we do not immediately shut down the terror factories where Arafat is producing human bombs, it is only a matter of time before suicide bombers will terrorize your cities. If not destroyed, this madness will strike in your busses, in your supermarkets, in your pizza parlors, in your discos, in your cafes. Eventually, these human bombs will suppliment their murderous force with suitcases equipped with devices of mass death that could make the horrors of September 11 pale by comparison. That is why there is not alternative to winning this war without delay. No part of the terrorist network can be left intact. For if not fully eradicated, like the most malignant cancer, it will regroup and attack again with even greater verocity. Only by dismantling the entire network will we be assured of victory. |