WarSclerotic

Easing off sanctions against Iran at this point would be a “historic mistake,” Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said at the opening of the Knesset winter session on Monday.

While Israel is successfully working to put international pressure on Tehran, which has resulted in bringing the Iranian economy to a “near-breaking point,” Netanyahu cautioned that easing the sanctions now could bring to the collapse of the sanctions regime.

Despite these sanctions, the prime minister said, Iran continues defying UN Security Council resolutions and carries on enriching uranium.

Netanyahu warned that Iran hasn’t changed its ways, merely its tactics by sending out a more moderate message to the West.

Tehran is offering to give up a little in order to gain a lot, Netanyahu said. It is willing to give up its lower-grade 20% enrichment, but it can now enrich uranium to weapons grade 90%, which will allow it to reach a nuclear bomb faster.

It is also continuing to develop missiles that are capable of carrying a nuclear warhead and can reach the entire Middle East, as well as Europe, the US and other parts of the world, he continued.

While Iran threatens the entire region, it is obvious it will primarily point its missiles at Israel, as Tehran previously stated it intends to do, Netanyahu said.

Despite that, the prime minister vowed that Israel will not allow Iran to achieve nuclear weapons.

Discussing the developments in the Syrian civil war, Netanyahu commended the move to disarm the regime of Bashar Assad of its chemical arsenal, saying this is an important, positive and essential move – so long as it is completed.

Comparing the situation in Syria to that in Iran, Netanyahu said the US military threat forced the Assad regime to give up its chemical weapons.

He added that had Syria offered to only get rid of 20% of its chemical arsenal, while striving to keep the rest, the world would not allow it, and should not allow a similar offer from the Islamic Republic.

Leaving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process to the end of his speech, Netanyahu stressed the need for a permanent agreement to enable a stable peace.

The prime minister further stressed that Palestinian recognition of Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state is imperative to the success of the peace process.

Netanyahu went on to say that while the official Palestinian media portrays Palestine as stretching “from Metula to Eilat,” no peace agreement will be signed without the Palestinians giving up the right of return, as well as any further territorial claims.