Netanyahu says Iran will not get hands on nukes By ARON HELLER,Associated Press
Writer AP - Sunday, February 1
JERUSALEM - Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's leading candidate for
prime minister, said Saturday that Iran "will not be armed with a
nuclear weapon."
In an interview with Israel's Channel 2 TV, Netanyahu said if
elected prime minister his first mission will be to thwart the
Iranian nuclear threat. Netanyahu, the current opposition leader
and head of the hardline Likud party, called Iran the greatest
danger to Israel and to all humanity.
When asked if stopping Iran's nuclear ambitions included a
military strike, he replied: "It includes everything that is
necessary to make this statement come true."
Iran has denied it is seeking to acquire nuclear weapons and
says it is pursuing nuclear power for peaceful uses. It also denies
it is engaged in terrorism, instead accusing Israel of terrorist
policies against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, which
were occupied by Israel after the 1967 Mideast War.
The Channel 2 TV broadcast interviewed all three candidates for
prime minister ahead of the Feb. 10 election. The three did not
debate each other and appeared one after the other to answer
questions posted by Israelis in YouTube videos.
Tzipi Livni of Kadima and Ehud Barak of Labor were both asked
about how they intended to deal with the continuing rocket threat
from Hamas militants in Gaza. Both took a hard line.
"Hamas was hit like it was never hit before," Barak, the defense
minister, said. "If they try us again, they will be hit again."
Israeli launched a massive three-week offensive against Gaza
militants on Dec. 27 to stop eight years of near-daily militant
rocket fire at southern Israeli towns. Nearly 1,300 Palestinians
were killed in the fighting, about half of them civilians,
according to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. Thirteen
Israelis were also killed, three of them civilians.
Livni, the foreign minister, said if Hamas "hasn't gotten the
message yet" Israel would strike it again.
Regardless, she said Hamas could not be negotiated with and
called on the people of Gaza to overthrow their regime.
"I do not intend to reach any agreements with Hamas. Agreements
I make with people who accept my existence," she said. "They do not
recognize Israel and do not renounce violence and terrorism. They
will not be a party to an agreement and therefore the people of
Gaza have to expel the Hamas from within them."