Olmert speech in London: Why he is pursuing peace agreement.
http://zionism-israel.com/israel_news/2008/12/olmert-speech-in-london-why-he-is.htmlSource: Israel Embassy
ADDRESS GIVEN BY ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER EHUD OLMERT
TO LEADERS OF THE UK JEWISH COMMUNITY
HELD IN LONDON - 16TH DECEMBER 2008
....
The meeting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain naturally touched all the outstanding issues – bilateral relations as well as the issues of the Middle East – and I reported to him at great length about the ongoing negotiations between us and the Palestinians.
I was asked many times – I don't want to go through you know all the details which are not that important; I want to emphasise one thing which I've been asked many times by many of my friends, both in Israel and overseas – visitors, people that call me from across the world and ask me: Why are you making these extraordinary efforts to reach an agreement even before the end of your term and why is it so urgent? Why do you insist on it so much? And I think this is an important question which must be answered in some detail:
I believe that we have come very close to concluding agreement with everyone who really genuinely wants peace between Israel and the Palestinians, everyone that understands the significance that this peace can bring to the region and to the State of Israel, understands that if we will not make good use of the opportunity that arose since we started this process in Annapolis and actually since I started this process with President Abbas before Annapolis we might wait again years before it will come to the point where we can make a deal.
The last time that such effort was made was in the year 2000 by the then Prime Minister, Mr Barak. I have some slight political differences with Barak but I must say that at that time he made an extraordinary effort, outstanding effort to make peace with the Palestinians and the failure of that effort was entirely a result of the intransigent positions that were represented by the then President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat. And we waited seven years – seven years of bloodshed, seven years of difficulties, of political battles, of confrontations sometimes even with the best of friends with the State of Israel – and I don't want that Israel will wait another seven years before such an opportunity arises again. We have to make every possible effort that while the main players of this effort which are the President of the United States, President Abbas and myself are still in their positions that we will bring to an end what we have started – and we are not far away from each other.
I know I have proposed to the Palestinians more than anyone did before me - I recognise it and I admit it – but at the same time I say to all of you and I shared it with the Israeli public [on] numerous occasions – I made it in public statements, I made it in press interviews – I said time is running out not only for them but first and foremost for us. It's urgent – maybe not for them as much as it is urgent for us – and the reason is that I have come to the conclusion that when I analyse all the circumstances that I am familiar with and I think that as Prime Minister of the State of Israel for the last three years I am familiar perhaps more than most with all the circumstances, that the real choice that we have at this point in life and maybe that we will ever have is not between greater Israel as some of us dreamt of for many years and I was one of the dreamers that believed when I was younger that it may be possible or a confrontation, that the real choice that we have now is between peace that will require the most painful compromises for us or unfortunately a one state for two nations and for two peoples.
Now this idea of one state for two peoples doesn't sound so outrageous for many people – not for enemies of Israel – for friends of Israel. I talked to many of the friends of Israel and when I talked to them about their desire, their lifelong desire, the historical desire of the people of Israel to have a Jewish democratic state sometimes those who are really genuine friends of Israel come close to me and whisper with cautious [sic]: What exactly do you mean when you talk about Jewish State? Does it mean that non-Jews can't live in your country? – we come from democratic countries; we live in mixed societies, there are Jews there, there are non-Jews, there are different Christian groups, there are Muslims, they all live in the same democratic country, they all have equal rights, they all vote. You want to say that you will not allow a democratic state with people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds to be part of your country? And I have to explain to them that the history taught us one thing; that there is no existence for the Jewish people if there will not be a Jewish State and there can be no Jewish State if you have four million Palestinians today and maybe six [million] tomorrow. They will be part of this State and they will have to be / to share with us everything that will be part of our lives including equal voting rights that will determine the nature of that State and that may determine the nature of this State in different directions than the ones that we think are essential for our future in our existence.
We can fool around and continue to dream and be carried away by the rhetoric of some of these extreme, I'd say violent groups that are trying to impose their policies or their philosophies on the majority of the people of Israel but the truth that we all know is that this is the real choice, either we have to - if we want to have peace – is to make painful compromises or to accept that there will be a one state for two peoples and there will not be a Jewish state. And if I have to make this choice with all the responsibility that I carry on my shoulders and as long as I am Prime Minister of the State of Israel I have reached a conclusion that I have to suggest to the people of Israel to make the choice that includes painful compromises that will guarantee that we have a recognised boundaries for a separate independent democratic Jewish State which will mean that we will have to pull out from territories which are for me and for most other Jews a central part of Jewish history.
As far as I am concerned when I look at the territories from the Jordan to the sea there is not one single centimetre which I don't think is part of the history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Every single part of this land is part of our history. If you will dig underground you'll find enormously important chapters of Jewish history – you don't find anything which is related to the history of Yasser Arafat or his forefathers or any of the Palestinians; you find Jewish history over there. But the reality is that there are millions of Palestinians living there and the choice that we have to make is this simple however difficult and painful choice – can we live with all these Palestinians that are not prepared to live with us and are ready to fight with us or we have to find a proper compromise and a proper compromise will inevitably mean pulling out from almost all of the territories so that we can maintain the nature of the Jewish State.
And on that basis I have negotiated with Abu Mazen for the last year and a half – not with joy, not with an enthusiasm to pull out from all these territories, not with indifference to the significance of this price for all of us Jews. On the contrary, with great pains and fears and hesitations and regrets that this is the reality but with a big conviction that this is inevitable and that this under these circumstances is better than any of the other options offered.
All of the Israeli leaders that will follow me will have to come to this conclusion and the question is how much we will have to pay before they come to this conclusion and how difficult and how painful and how demanding it will be until they come to this inevitable conclusion that there is only one way to protect the Jewish nature and the democratic nature of the State of Israel and this is by pulling out back into the boundaries that can be accepted by the international community and by both sides.
I always remind myself that I've really created personal friendships with most of the important leaders of the world today – with President Bush, with Prime Minister Brown, with former Prime Minister Tony Blair – a great fantastic guy and a great friend of the State of Israel, the European leaders, Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi, ... – you name it, the Austrian President, former Prime Minister, Holland – you name it – Belgian[s] - everyone.
The best of the friends that Israel has across the world never recognised even the west of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people – let's face it. So of course we can say, you know, we will convince them. When? How costly it will be until we are capable of convincing them and how costly and painful it may be if at the end of the day we don't convince them and what we could do today we will be forced to do five years from now or ten years from now.
So I am not arguing against any of you of course. I am just trying to explain to you what has motivated me over the last couple of years when I negotiated with the Palestinians, trying to reach an agreement that will bring finally some peace to a society which has been yearning and praying for peace for so many years.
Now I don't fool myself. I don't think that if and when we will reach a formal agreement with the Palestinians that overnight everything will change – not at all. It will take years before the end of terror / effective end of terror and a total dismantling of all the terrorist groups that are still dominant amongst certain parts of the Palestinian territories. I am not living in any illusion - it's a long process – but we want to start it now rather than wait and starting it five years or seven years or ten years from now with all the consequences that can be part of this waiting.
This is what I explain to my friends in all of the countries that I visit, in America as well as here and I think that there is a great understanding and respect for the policies of this Government as they were carried out by my Government over the last few years and I think that everyone knows amongst our partners that if there is not peace yet this is not because of the lack of will by the Israeli Government but by the lack of courage by the Palestinian leadership which is not prepared to make the final step which can be seen now from a short distance because of their weaknesses, because of their rivalries, because of the confrontations amongst the different groups with the Palestinians.
Now recently I heard that there is a new concept that will make an economic peace and that this economic peace will then help build the platform for a political peace. I wish it could be true. I know it's an illusion; it's a slogan – it's not a reality.
If there will be a political peace there will be economic peace. I respect very much all the efforts made by the special envoy of the Quartet, Mr Blair who is working very hard to build up a process of co-operation and I think he does many good things which are very very helpful in this direction. Nothing will come to full fruition before there is a political agreement signed by the two countries recognised by the international community, accepted by the United Nations Security Council, endorsed by the US Congress, endorsed by the Quartet, endorsed by the EU and accepted by all the world. Then it will be also the opening for what I call an economic peace and co-operation that will change the face of the Middle East and will open up opportunities for both Palestinians and Israelis that never existed before with I believe co-operation between Israel and many Arab countries that are very anxious to establish formal and open relations with the State of Israel but they will not do it before there is a formal peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.
For the same reason I have started a process with the Syrians, again not because I have any illusions about where the Syrians are now but because I believe that if we will succeed in making a genuine process with the Syrians there is a probability that they will be in an entirely different place in the end of this process.
Now I am not a newcomer to politics. Now people tell me but the Syrians, of course they are linked with Iran and with Hizbullah and with Hamas – do I not know all of this? Of course I know it. But how can we pull Syria out of this into an entirely different posture that will be helpful to changing the realities in our part of the world strategically if not by sitting with the Syrians and talking with the Syrians. Of course there is a price to pay. The question isn't only if this price worth the pay off that we can have from having peace with Syria that will change the entire face of our region.
We have started. I hope that we will embark on direct negotiations soon. Everyone knows - the Syrians announced it as well as we - that we are engaged in indirect talks through the good services of Turkey but I think that we have reached the point wherefrom we have to start now direct negotiations and I will make an exceptional effort that these negotiations will start and that it will be then followed up by the new Government that will be established hopefully in Israel after the coming elections and that this Government will be conscious of the opportunities as well as of the risks involved in making this process. If one wants to take a serious initiative to make peace without any risks he should live in Switzerland maybe or in Holland. If one wants to make peace in the Middle East there must be risks involved, there is no question about it.
I think Israel is a strong country. We are enormously powerful. We can defeat all our enemies. If we have to, we prefer to make peace with all our enemies so that we will not have to fight again and that we will have to exhaust all the potential that we have in order to build up what we dreamt of all our lives which is a paradise for ourselves, for our neighbours, for all the Jewish people that will come and live hopefully in the State of Israel and if not them their children – and some of your children already live in Israel.
Finally there is Iran. I want to share with you something very personal. My wife was born in a refugee camp in Germany after the War and a few years ago she wrote a personal story which was published in Israel, translated into German, French, I think also English, about the resurrection of a family coming from the refugee camp in Germany into the State of Israel and a few weeks ago she was invited on 9th November to speak in Germany. She was invited by Foreign Minister Steinmeier to speak about the Kristallnacht. And she described what it was seventy years ago, that one night all of the Jewish institutes in Germany and in Austria were destroyed in the most violent manner and a hundred Jews were killed and 30,000 were arrested and everything that was part of the Jewish culture and Jewish life and Jewish heritage was destroyed overnight and the world did not comprehend the signal.
The next day, on 10th November the headline in the New York Times which is not always the friendliest paper to the State of Israel but which is definitely not an anti-semitic press - is a Jewish paper, was always [a] Jewish paper and owned by [b Jewish family – they wrote: Violence against Jews swept Germany and Austria – Goebbels stopped it. Did they want to write something which they knew was wrong – no? The perception was not clear even to them. This is the same Goebbels who was responsible for the final plan of the liquidation of the Jewish people.
Three weeks ago, a month ago, a leader of a nation of eighty million people stood up in the packed hall of the United Nation[s] chamber, a packed hall and he talked about the liquidation of a member state of the United Nation[s]. No-one left and in the end of his speech he was applauded and my wife asked in Germany, are again we're missing the signal? Don't we understand that when a leader of a nation of eighty million people talks about the liquidation of another nation and at the same time he's making extraordinary efforts against the pressure of most of the civilised world to build up a non-conventional power that this is a signal that we can't really ignore; that we have to take all the necessary measures and join forces together with all the powers that we possess in order to stop it before it becomes too late.
I talked about it with British leaders as well because I talk about it with other leaders. Israel is not the only country which has to worry about it. Israel will not be the leader of this effort. It has to be led by the greatest and the most powerful nations of the world because this is a threat against our civilisation not just the State of Israel – although we may become the first target – and I hope that things will be done.
I don't want to go into details for obvious reasons. There is a new President coming, taking over soon in the United States. He said explicitly and clearly that he is against any nuclearisation of Iran and that he will make every possible effort to stop it and I am confident that he will make these efforts and I know what the attitude of Gordon Brown and Sarkozy and Angela Merkel and Silvio Berlusconi and I talk a lot with the Russian leaders. There must be an effort. Israel will be part of this effort. Israel will not be the leader of this effort. It has to be the joint force of all these great nations together to stop the Iranian threat.
Henry, as you said at the beginning, it looks like this is my last appearance at this time in life as Prime Minister of the State of Israel before this very distinguished group of Jewish leaders in Great Britain and I am very proud that I was given this opportunity.
I want to thank you. One thing I need to say, just in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I am going to continue to be a proud citizen of the State of Israel and I'm going to do everything in my power to help accomplish the goals that guided me while I was Prime Minister because there is nothing that I love more than the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Thank you very much
TO LEADERS OF THE UK JEWISH COMMUNITY
HELD IN LONDON - 16TH DECEMBER 2008
....
The meeting with the Prime Minister of Great Britain naturally touched all the outstanding issues – bilateral relations as well as the issues of the Middle East – and I reported to him at great length about the ongoing negotiations between us and the Palestinians.
I was asked many times – I don't want to go through you know all the details which are not that important; I want to emphasise one thing which I've been asked many times by many of my friends, both in Israel and overseas – visitors, people that call me from across the world and ask me: Why are you making these extraordinary efforts to reach an agreement even before the end of your term and why is it so urgent? Why do you insist on it so much? And I think this is an important question which must be answered in some detail:
I believe that we have come very close to concluding agreement with everyone who really genuinely wants peace between Israel and the Palestinians, everyone that understands the significance that this peace can bring to the region and to the State of Israel, understands that if we will not make good use of the opportunity that arose since we started this process in Annapolis and actually since I started this process with President Abbas before Annapolis we might wait again years before it will come to the point where we can make a deal.
The last time that such effort was made was in the year 2000 by the then Prime Minister, Mr Barak. I have some slight political differences with Barak but I must say that at that time he made an extraordinary effort, outstanding effort to make peace with the Palestinians and the failure of that effort was entirely a result of the intransigent positions that were represented by the then President of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat. And we waited seven years – seven years of bloodshed, seven years of difficulties, of political battles, of confrontations sometimes even with the best of friends with the State of Israel – and I don't want that Israel will wait another seven years before such an opportunity arises again. We have to make every possible effort that while the main players of this effort which are the President of the United States, President Abbas and myself are still in their positions that we will bring to an end what we have started – and we are not far away from each other.
I know I have proposed to the Palestinians more than anyone did before me - I recognise it and I admit it – but at the same time I say to all of you and I shared it with the Israeli public [on] numerous occasions – I made it in public statements, I made it in press interviews – I said time is running out not only for them but first and foremost for us. It's urgent – maybe not for them as much as it is urgent for us – and the reason is that I have come to the conclusion that when I analyse all the circumstances that I am familiar with and I think that as Prime Minister of the State of Israel for the last three years I am familiar perhaps more than most with all the circumstances, that the real choice that we have at this point in life and maybe that we will ever have is not between greater Israel as some of us dreamt of for many years and I was one of the dreamers that believed when I was younger that it may be possible or a confrontation, that the real choice that we have now is between peace that will require the most painful compromises for us or unfortunately a one state for two nations and for two peoples.
Now this idea of one state for two peoples doesn't sound so outrageous for many people – not for enemies of Israel – for friends of Israel. I talked to many of the friends of Israel and when I talked to them about their desire, their lifelong desire, the historical desire of the people of Israel to have a Jewish democratic state sometimes those who are really genuine friends of Israel come close to me and whisper with cautious [sic]: What exactly do you mean when you talk about Jewish State? Does it mean that non-Jews can't live in your country? – we come from democratic countries; we live in mixed societies, there are Jews there, there are non-Jews, there are different Christian groups, there are Muslims, they all live in the same democratic country, they all have equal rights, they all vote. You want to say that you will not allow a democratic state with people of different ethnic and religious backgrounds to be part of your country? And I have to explain to them that the history taught us one thing; that there is no existence for the Jewish people if there will not be a Jewish State and there can be no Jewish State if you have four million Palestinians today and maybe six [million] tomorrow. They will be part of this State and they will have to be / to share with us everything that will be part of our lives including equal voting rights that will determine the nature of that State and that may determine the nature of this State in different directions than the ones that we think are essential for our future in our existence.
We can fool around and continue to dream and be carried away by the rhetoric of some of these extreme, I'd say violent groups that are trying to impose their policies or their philosophies on the majority of the people of Israel but the truth that we all know is that this is the real choice, either we have to - if we want to have peace – is to make painful compromises or to accept that there will be a one state for two peoples and there will not be a Jewish state. And if I have to make this choice with all the responsibility that I carry on my shoulders and as long as I am Prime Minister of the State of Israel I have reached a conclusion that I have to suggest to the people of Israel to make the choice that includes painful compromises that will guarantee that we have a recognised boundaries for a separate independent democratic Jewish State which will mean that we will have to pull out from territories which are for me and for most other Jews a central part of Jewish history.
As far as I am concerned when I look at the territories from the Jordan to the sea there is not one single centimetre which I don't think is part of the history of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Every single part of this land is part of our history. If you will dig underground you'll find enormously important chapters of Jewish history – you don't find anything which is related to the history of Yasser Arafat or his forefathers or any of the Palestinians; you find Jewish history over there. But the reality is that there are millions of Palestinians living there and the choice that we have to make is this simple however difficult and painful choice – can we live with all these Palestinians that are not prepared to live with us and are ready to fight with us or we have to find a proper compromise and a proper compromise will inevitably mean pulling out from almost all of the territories so that we can maintain the nature of the Jewish State.
And on that basis I have negotiated with Abu Mazen for the last year and a half – not with joy, not with an enthusiasm to pull out from all these territories, not with indifference to the significance of this price for all of us Jews. On the contrary, with great pains and fears and hesitations and regrets that this is the reality but with a big conviction that this is inevitable and that this under these circumstances is better than any of the other options offered.
All of the Israeli leaders that will follow me will have to come to this conclusion and the question is how much we will have to pay before they come to this conclusion and how difficult and how painful and how demanding it will be until they come to this inevitable conclusion that there is only one way to protect the Jewish nature and the democratic nature of the State of Israel and this is by pulling out back into the boundaries that can be accepted by the international community and by both sides.
I always remind myself that I've really created personal friendships with most of the important leaders of the world today – with President Bush, with Prime Minister Brown, with former Prime Minister Tony Blair – a great fantastic guy and a great friend of the State of Israel, the European leaders, Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Silvio Berlusconi, ... – you name it, the Austrian President, former Prime Minister, Holland – you name it – Belgian[s] - everyone.
The best of the friends that Israel has across the world never recognised even the west of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish people – let's face it. So of course we can say, you know, we will convince them. When? How costly it will be until we are capable of convincing them and how costly and painful it may be if at the end of the day we don't convince them and what we could do today we will be forced to do five years from now or ten years from now.
So I am not arguing against any of you of course. I am just trying to explain to you what has motivated me over the last couple of years when I negotiated with the Palestinians, trying to reach an agreement that will bring finally some peace to a society which has been yearning and praying for peace for so many years.
Now I don't fool myself. I don't think that if and when we will reach a formal agreement with the Palestinians that overnight everything will change – not at all. It will take years before the end of terror / effective end of terror and a total dismantling of all the terrorist groups that are still dominant amongst certain parts of the Palestinian territories. I am not living in any illusion - it's a long process – but we want to start it now rather than wait and starting it five years or seven years or ten years from now with all the consequences that can be part of this waiting.
This is what I explain to my friends in all of the countries that I visit, in America as well as here and I think that there is a great understanding and respect for the policies of this Government as they were carried out by my Government over the last few years and I think that everyone knows amongst our partners that if there is not peace yet this is not because of the lack of will by the Israeli Government but by the lack of courage by the Palestinian leadership which is not prepared to make the final step which can be seen now from a short distance because of their weaknesses, because of their rivalries, because of the confrontations amongst the different groups with the Palestinians.
Now recently I heard that there is a new concept that will make an economic peace and that this economic peace will then help build the platform for a political peace. I wish it could be true. I know it's an illusion; it's a slogan – it's not a reality.
If there will be a political peace there will be economic peace. I respect very much all the efforts made by the special envoy of the Quartet, Mr Blair who is working very hard to build up a process of co-operation and I think he does many good things which are very very helpful in this direction. Nothing will come to full fruition before there is a political agreement signed by the two countries recognised by the international community, accepted by the United Nations Security Council, endorsed by the US Congress, endorsed by the Quartet, endorsed by the EU and accepted by all the world. Then it will be also the opening for what I call an economic peace and co-operation that will change the face of the Middle East and will open up opportunities for both Palestinians and Israelis that never existed before with I believe co-operation between Israel and many Arab countries that are very anxious to establish formal and open relations with the State of Israel but they will not do it before there is a formal peace treaty between Israel and the Palestinians.
For the same reason I have started a process with the Syrians, again not because I have any illusions about where the Syrians are now but because I believe that if we will succeed in making a genuine process with the Syrians there is a probability that they will be in an entirely different place in the end of this process.
Now I am not a newcomer to politics. Now people tell me but the Syrians, of course they are linked with Iran and with Hizbullah and with Hamas – do I not know all of this? Of course I know it. But how can we pull Syria out of this into an entirely different posture that will be helpful to changing the realities in our part of the world strategically if not by sitting with the Syrians and talking with the Syrians. Of course there is a price to pay. The question isn't only if this price worth the pay off that we can have from having peace with Syria that will change the entire face of our region.
We have started. I hope that we will embark on direct negotiations soon. Everyone knows - the Syrians announced it as well as we - that we are engaged in indirect talks through the good services of Turkey but I think that we have reached the point wherefrom we have to start now direct negotiations and I will make an exceptional effort that these negotiations will start and that it will be then followed up by the new Government that will be established hopefully in Israel after the coming elections and that this Government will be conscious of the opportunities as well as of the risks involved in making this process. If one wants to take a serious initiative to make peace without any risks he should live in Switzerland maybe or in Holland. If one wants to make peace in the Middle East there must be risks involved, there is no question about it.
I think Israel is a strong country. We are enormously powerful. We can defeat all our enemies. If we have to, we prefer to make peace with all our enemies so that we will not have to fight again and that we will have to exhaust all the potential that we have in order to build up what we dreamt of all our lives which is a paradise for ourselves, for our neighbours, for all the Jewish people that will come and live hopefully in the State of Israel and if not them their children – and some of your children already live in Israel.
Finally there is Iran. I want to share with you something very personal. My wife was born in a refugee camp in Germany after the War and a few years ago she wrote a personal story which was published in Israel, translated into German, French, I think also English, about the resurrection of a family coming from the refugee camp in Germany into the State of Israel and a few weeks ago she was invited on 9th November to speak in Germany. She was invited by Foreign Minister Steinmeier to speak about the Kristallnacht. And she described what it was seventy years ago, that one night all of the Jewish institutes in Germany and in Austria were destroyed in the most violent manner and a hundred Jews were killed and 30,000 were arrested and everything that was part of the Jewish culture and Jewish life and Jewish heritage was destroyed overnight and the world did not comprehend the signal.
The next day, on 10th November the headline in the New York Times which is not always the friendliest paper to the State of Israel but which is definitely not an anti-semitic press - is a Jewish paper, was always [a] Jewish paper and owned by [b Jewish family – they wrote: Violence against Jews swept Germany and Austria – Goebbels stopped it. Did they want to write something which they knew was wrong – no? The perception was not clear even to them. This is the same Goebbels who was responsible for the final plan of the liquidation of the Jewish people.
Three weeks ago, a month ago, a leader of a nation of eighty million people stood up in the packed hall of the United Nation[s] chamber, a packed hall and he talked about the liquidation of a member state of the United Nation[s]. No-one left and in the end of his speech he was applauded and my wife asked in Germany, are again we're missing the signal? Don't we understand that when a leader of a nation of eighty million people talks about the liquidation of another nation and at the same time he's making extraordinary efforts against the pressure of most of the civilised world to build up a non-conventional power that this is a signal that we can't really ignore; that we have to take all the necessary measures and join forces together with all the powers that we possess in order to stop it before it becomes too late.
I talked about it with British leaders as well because I talk about it with other leaders. Israel is not the only country which has to worry about it. Israel will not be the leader of this effort. It has to be led by the greatest and the most powerful nations of the world because this is a threat against our civilisation not just the State of Israel – although we may become the first target – and I hope that things will be done.
I don't want to go into details for obvious reasons. There is a new President coming, taking over soon in the United States. He said explicitly and clearly that he is against any nuclearisation of Iran and that he will make every possible effort to stop it and I am confident that he will make these efforts and I know what the attitude of Gordon Brown and Sarkozy and Angela Merkel and Silvio Berlusconi and I talk a lot with the Russian leaders. There must be an effort. Israel will be part of this effort. Israel will not be the leader of this effort. It has to be the joint force of all these great nations together to stop the Iranian threat.
Henry, as you said at the beginning, it looks like this is my last appearance at this time in life as Prime Minister of the State of Israel before this very distinguished group of Jewish leaders in Great Britain and I am very proud that I was given this opportunity.
I want to thank you. One thing I need to say, just in order to avoid any misunderstandings, I am going to continue to be a proud citizen of the State of Israel and I'm going to do everything in my power to help accomplish the goals that guided me while I was Prime Minister because there is nothing that I love more than the State of Israel and the Jewish people. Thank you very much
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