My interpretation:
Hi guys, Iran is our only real concern and I will do anything
to stop it going nuclear, even enter into these, at this time, absurd negotiations with the
Palestinians and release murderers to start them. I do not have much
of a choice. Obama is breathing down my neck and I need some room to plan our
pre-emptive attack on the Iranian nuclear sites. It was really beyond my
control that 63 percent of American Jews voted for a President who supports
the Muslim Brotherhood, a virulently ant-Semitic and anti-American
organization whose motto is: "Allah is our objective; the Quran
is our law, the Prophet is our leader; Jihad is our way; and death for the sake
of Allah is the highest of our aspirations " and a President who appeases Iran.
Most Americans, including their President,
have no clue that the doctrine of mutually assured destruction MAD
will not work with Iran, but I have heard directly
from Bernard Lewis his "for
people with this mindset, M.A.D. is not a constraint; it is an
inducement..." and I trust his expertise.
So you have to trust that we in the Israeli
government know what we are doing. We are fighting for Israel's very survival
and we will prevail.
The actual text:
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: Prime ministers are not needed to make the
decisions that the public already supports...we must exhaust the possibilities
of ending the conflict with the Palestinians.
Prime Minister's Office
The following is the text of an open letter
to the citizens of Israel from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of the
proposal to resume the peace talks with the Palestinians, which will be
submitted to a cabinet vote on Sunday:
From time to time, prime ministers are called on to make
decisions that go against public opinion -- when the matter is important for
the country's well-being.
Prime ministers are not needed to make the decisions that the
public already supports.
At the present time, I believe it is of the utmost importance
for the State of Israel to enter a diplomatic process. This is important both
to exhaust the possibilities of ending the conflict with the Palestinians and
to establish Israel's position in the complex international reality around us.
The major changes in our region -- in Egypt, Syria and in Iran
-- not only pose challenges for the State of Israel but they also present
significant opportunities for us.
For these reasons, I believe that it is important for the State
of Israel to enter a diplomatic process for at least nine months -- to see if
it is possible to reach an agreement with the Palestinians during this time.
But despite placing a great deal of importance on the diplomatic
process, I was not prepared to accept the Palestinians' demands for withdrawals
and [settlement building] freezes as preconditions for entering negotiations.
Neither was I prepared to accept their demand to release
Palestinian prisoners before the start of negotiations. I did agree to release
104 Palestinians in stages after the start of the negotiations and in
accordance with the circumstances of their progress.
This is an indescribably difficult decision to make, it is
painful for the bereaved families, it is painful for the entire nation and it
is also very painful for me.
It conflicts with a value of incomparable importance, the value
of justice.
It is a clear injustice when depraved people, even if most of
them have sat in prison for over 20 years as in this case, are released before
they have finished serving their sentences.
The decision is difficult for me seven-fold because my family
and I personally know the price of bereavement from terrorism. I know the pain
very well. I have lived with it every day for the past 37 years.
The fact that previous Israeli governments have released over
10,000 terrorists does not make it easier for me today, and did not make it
easier when I decided to bring back Gilad Schalit.
Gilad Schalit's return home required me to make an incredibly
difficult decision -- to release terrorists. But I believed that the value of
bringing children back home required me to overcome this difficulty.
People in positions of leadership are forced to make complex
choices and sometimes the necessary decision is the most difficult one when the
majority of the public opposes it.
Thus I decided to end Operation Pillar of Defense after the
elimination of archterrorist Ahmed Jabari and after the severe blows the Israel
Defense Forces dealt to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations.
I made the decision to end the operation even though most of the
public supported continued action, which would have required entering the Gaza
Strip on the ground. As prime minister, I thought that the goal of deterrence
had been mostly achieved by the determined actions that we carried out.
Today, almost one year after the end of Operation Pillar of
Defense, we are witness to the quietest situation in the south in over a
decade. Of course, this quiet can fall apart at any minute but my policy
remains clear on all fronts: We will, to the best of our ability, thwart the
threats against us in a timely manner. We will react strongly to any attempt to
harm our people.
In the next nine months, we will consider whether there is a
Palestinian element on other side that, like us, truly wants to end the
conflict between us.
Such a conclusion will be possible only under conditions that
will ensure the security of Israel's citizens and our vital national interests.
If we succeed in achieving such a peace agreement, I will submit
it to a referendum.
Such a fateful decision cannot be made by a close vote in the
Knesset.
Every citizen must be allowed to directly influence our future
and our fate on such a crucial issue.
The best answer we can give to those murderers that sought to
defeat us through terrorism is during the decades that they sat in prison, we
built a glorious country and turned it into one of the most prosperous,
advanced and strongest countries in the world.
I promise that we will continue as such.
Yours,
Benjamin Netanyahu
