Bibi Netanyahu Blasts Defeatist Policies

Jerusalem Newswire

Bibi: Lebanon war proves retreat is bankrupt policy

Urges Israel to nurture unity, national strength

By Ryan Jones
Aug 15, 2006

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu addressed Israel's Knesset Monday as the war in Lebanon came to an apparent end, noting that the month-long conflict had proved decisively that the policy of unilateral withdrawal threatened national security.

Addressing the plenum following Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Netanyahu noted:

"We left Lebanon to the last centimeter and still they are firing. We left Gaza to the last centimeter and still they are firing."

The conflict, the former prime minister stressed, is not about territory, it's about Islam's desire to eradicate the Jewish state, and so every Israeli withdrawal only provides the nation's enemies with "a tactical advantage."

Netanyahu said Hizb'allah's unexpected aggression had been a wake-up call for Israel, and that the nation now needed to engage in some deep "soul searching" and examine the serious shortcomings in the leadership's handling of the situation.

"It must be said honestly, there were many failures, failures in identifying the threat, failures in preparing to meet the threat, failures in the management of the war, failures in the management of the home front."

But not all aspects of the war's outcome were negative, he said, pointing to the strength, courage and fortitude of Israel's soldiers, especially the reservists who left behind families and lives to defend the nation, as well as the residents of the north.

Upon this basis of national unity and strength Israel must now focus on rebuilding its image in the region as a truly united and strong nation, Netanyahu insisted.

This was made all the more urgent by the realization that Israel today is faced with an enemy in Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad the likes of which the Jewish people have not faced since Adolf Hitler.

Israel's battles with Hizb'allah and Hamas are merely extensions of the war of extermination being waged by Ahmadinejad and the dark forces that drive him, explained Netanyahu. Addressing the Iranian leader directly, Netanyahu declared, "We have survived greater threats than you. The nation of Israel will be here forever!"