The PM tells graduating IAF pilots at Hatzerim air base that Israel is a bastion of stability in the Middle East, where far more devastating wars than the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are taking place.
“An aerial view clearly shows the extent of the destruction of nations and cities, the mass slaughter of innocent people,” Netanyahu says in a likely reference to Syria, Ynet reports.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the Israeli Air Force graduation ceremony for pilots at the Hatzerim Air Base in the Negev Desert on December 29, 2016. (Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90)
“With all due respect to those who talk about the heart of the conflict in the Middle East, this [Syria] is the greatest and most genuine catastrophe affecting the region — not our conflict with the Palestinians, which is relatively marginal. Several months of fighting in Syria, Yemen and Sudan have killed more people than a hundred years of conflict here.”
He adds: “Israel is an anchor of stability and security in the region, it is a force preventing a further avalanche, and many in the world — and of course in the United States — understand this.”
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From the Liveblog of
Thursday, December 29, 2016
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