The Deafening Silence

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

“The vast majority of Israelis believe that this nuclear deal with Iran is a very bad deal,” said the Prime Minister of the Jewish state to the 70th General Assembly of the World Body that partitioned Palestine and opened the way for the Jewish state to be proclaimed in the land of Israel. “And what makes matters even worse is that we see a world celebrating this bad deal, rushing to embrace and do business with a regime openly committed to our destruction. Last week, Major General Salehi, the commander of Iran’s army, proclaimed this: ‘We will annihilate Israel for sure. We are glad that we are in the forefront of executing the Supreme Leader’s order to destroy Israel.’

“And as for the Supreme Leader himself, a few days after the nuclear deal was announced, he released his latest book. Here it is. It’s a 400-page screed detailing his plan to destroy the State of Israel. Last month, Khamenei once again made his genocidal intentions clear before Iran’s top clerical body, the Assembly of Experts. He spoke about Israel, home to over six million Jews. He pledged, “there will be no Israel in 25 years.” Seventy years after the murder of six million Jews, Iran’s rulers promise to destroy my country. Murder my people. And the response from this body, the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here has been absolutely nothing! Utter silence! Deafening silence.”

Then the leader of Israel stared out at the diplomats scattered through the Assembly. Some slouched in their seats. Some glanced off to the side. Some shifted in their seats. One rubbed his eyes. Another fiddled with her computer. Mr. Netanyahu stared at them for 45 seconds, before saying: “Perhaps you can now understand why Israel is not joining you in celebrating this deal. If Iran’s rulers were working to destroy your countries, perhaps you’d be less enthusiastic about the deal. If Iran’s terror proxies were firing thousands of rockets at your cities, perhaps you’d be more measured in your praise. And if this deal were unleashing a nuclear arms race in your neighborhood, perhaps you’d be more reluctant to celebrate.”


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use