USA Vice President Joe Biden: ‘We will not let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon’
Ynetnews /Published: 12.06.14/ Israel News
Speaking at 2014 Saban forum, Biden says ‘for Israel this tough neighborhood is home, this tough neighborhood is where they live and will live forever’.
US Vice President Joseph Biden stressed Saturday that the United States would “not let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. Period. End of discussion. It will not happen on our watch.”
Biden said at the Saban Forum in Washington on Saturday that when he entered politics, “Israel was looked at by world as somewhat fragile”, but that “recently the mindset has changed in some parts of the world that Israel is not under siege. . . It amazes me how quickly people’s memories fade, how vulnerable individuals in the country remain.”
Biden underscored the United States’ commitment to Israel’s security, which is not a mere moral obligation but a “strategic necessity”.
He said that his and President Obama’s strategy on Iran “has been underestimated from the beginning”, but that “the result of our determination has been that the Iranians have begun to show slow flexibility.”
“We believe we have enough leverage to reach a comprehensive agreement,” he continued.
Speaking about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Biden stated that the “vast majority” of Israelis and Palestinians want peace.
“The quickest way to destroy strategic realignment is to deny a political horizon to a two state solution, or worse, allow a cycle of provocation and violence,” he added, also saying that Palestinians “need to do so much more to combat instances of incitement”.
Biden further stated that nothing justifies killing innocents but “Punishment of families, collective punishment, risks provoking tensions even further.”
Commenting on the latest wave of anti-Semitic incidents, the vice president said that “anti-Semitism goes hand in hand with what I would call and overall effort to de-legitimatize Israel”, as he reiterated that “Israel is not going anywhere.”
During the weekend, Opposition leader Isaac Herzog (Labor) and former justice minister Tzipi Livni (Hatnua) traveled to Washington to take part in the 11th annual forum. Speaking at the conference Herzog quipped that he told his way he was going to “invest in some couplehood with Tzipi over the weekend.”
He went on to say that “I said this from day one, when I was elected chairman of the Labor party, that I will try to form a centrist bloc that will pose an alternative to Netanyahu. I work towards this goal in a cautious and sobered attitude. We’re not in negotiations right now, we’re here to listen and be heard.”