Israel Hayom | Netanyahu: Those who belittle Iran threat are unfit to lead

Israel Hayom | Netanyahu: Those who belittle Iran threat are unfit to lead

Netanyahu: Those who belittle Iran threat are unfit to lead

Knesset convenes for winter session but immediately dissolves ahead of snap elections • Netanyahu says Israel faces gravest choice since country's founding and touts his government's accomplishments • Vows to pursue peace while maintaining "aggressive posture and deterrence"

Reuters and Gideon Allon

The Knesset plenum on Monday. MKs are wondering if they will retain their seats in the next parliament.  |  Photo credit: Lior Mizrahi

The Knesset officially dissolved itself Monday night, paving the way for a three month campaign that will most likely be dominated by Iran's nuclear program and the tough economic climate is, according to polls, poised to culminate with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election for a third term.

The motion to disband was approved in three mandatory votes on the first day of the winter session. Netanyahu, who initially said he would prefer to hold elections as scheduled in October 2013, announced last week that his efforts to reach common ground on the 2013 budget had failed because and said he would seek snap elections that would spare Israel from a "year-long campaign." Failure to pass a budget in March would have automatically set in motion new elections. Netanyahu, who has repeatedly said he would not sign off on a "financially reckless" budget, may be in a better bargaining position if he were to negotiate the austerity budget as a newly elected prime minister.

At a special Knesset plenum session on Monday, Netanyahu said Israelis will have to make bold decisions when they vote in January. "In less than 100 days the people will decide who will be at the helm and deal with the gravest security threats we have faced since our independence and the worst economic crisis the world has known over the past eighty years," Netanyahu said. Netanyahu went on to list his government's accomplishments over the past three and a half years. "When we took office we had negative economic growth and rising unemployment; the missile threat on the north was greater and the Egyptian border saw many infiltrators cross into Israel," Netanyahu said, even as opposition Kadima MKs heckled his speech.

Kicking off his re-election campaign, Netanyahu focused his speech on tough measures he had taken to improve security for Israelis, such as building a fence along the border with Egypt's Sinai, and deploying a missile shield against rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.

Alluding to past threats to attack Iran to stop it from building a nuclear bomb, something Tehran denies, Netanyahu said Israel now had new unspecified "capabilities to act against Iran and its satellites [allies in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon], capabilities we didn't have in the past." He did not elaborate but said he had "put the danger of Iran's nuclear program at the centre of the global agenda." Netanyahu told lawmakers that "regarding our greatest threat — Iran's nuclear program, this issue did not concern the world and no effective sanctions were in place, be they political or economic."

"Whoever makes light of the threat of Iran's nuclear program doesn't deserve to govern Israel for even a single day," he added, taking aim at rivals who accuse him of using the Iran issue as a scare tactic to remain popular.

Netanyahu said Israel under his leadership enjoyed relative peace. "We did not wage pointless wars," he told the Knesset, presumably referring to his immediate predecessor's two wars in Lebanon and in the Gaza Strip."Not only that, we did not wage any war; in my seven years in office (including my first term), there were no wars." Netanyahu noted that terrorism has dropped under his watch and that he presided over the prisoner exchange deal that culminated in the release IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was released from Hamas captivity.

Last week, when Netanyahu announced his plans to call early elections he said that they were necessary if Israel was to continue marching along the path he had led it during his time in office. "There is only one way to preserve these achievements. In the face of the regional upheaval and the global economic crisis, we must continue to uphold responsible economic and security policies because many challenges still lay before us: To ensure that Iran will not have a nuclear bomb, to defend our borders against terrorism and infiltration, to maintain the peace agreements with our neighbors, to uphold our vital national interests in any future peace negotiations and to ensure a dynamic and growing economy that will preserve jobs for Israeli citizens," Netanyahu said.

Referring to the policy toward the hostile Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, Netanyahu said that Israel "restored the sense of security to the state of Israel, we have rebuilt our deterrence and adopted an aggressive posture."

President Shimon Peres also spoke at the Knesset, telling lawmakers that "elections are about setting goals for the future and should see serious campaigns that are well attuned to the public and refrain from extreme rhetoric." Peres implored the candidates to "examine the here and now while looking into the future;"

"Elections should be about brainstorming; it should not be about a clash just for the sake of sparring with each other," Peres said. "You have served close to four years; you have seen great battles and achieved important accomplishments and when things got difficult you knew when to rise to the occasion and consider what lies beyond your party's immediate concern; you have earned the nation's gratitude."

Peres went on to warn that the Iranian threat is the most pressing issue in the upcoming elections. "The Iranian regime's policy is not just a charade; it must be viewed as a real threat in the clearest possible way that befits it."

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) told legislators that "truth to be told, we have gathered here [at the opening of the winter session] to dissolve."

"In a few short hours this new winter session will have gone on recess; many citizens in Israel are asking themselves on what grounds is the Knesset dissolving itself right now? Why is there a sense among the general public that this whole campaign is a waste of public funds and a political charade?" Rivlin explained that "unlike past elections, the 2013 elections are not redundant; they are the culmination of a healthy and vital democratic debate."

Opposition leader Shaul Mofaz (Kadima), whose party is not expected to keep much of it's electoral strength at the polls, attacked Netanyahu in his speech. "No media spin can obscure the Netanyahu government's failed policies and flawed leadership over the past four years, under Netanyahu's watch." Mofaz lamented the alleged deterioration in Israel's standing. "Israelis are holding elections while Israel is a weaker country, a more isolated country, with a more fragmented and polarized society where people are hungrier and more afraid; this is not the Israel that I know." Mofaz also blamed Netanyahu for leading Israel into a reality where a two state solution would not be possible and where Israel would become a binational state.

Meretz leader Zahava Gal-On turned to Netanyahu and said that Israel must "vote you out of office if they want to avoid the budget cuts you plan to pass."