In Washington, London, Paris, and throughout the democratic world, leaders, analysts and researchers spoke about the opportunities that change in Egypt could bring. They spoke about the promise of a new day.

These hopes are understandable. All those who cherish human liberty, including the people of Israel, are inspired by genuine calls for reform and by the possibility that it will take place.

It is obvious that an Egypt that fully embraces the 21st century and that adopts these reforms would be a source of great hope for the entire world, the region and for us. In Israel, we know the value of democratic institutions and the significance of liberty. We know the value of independent courts that protect the rights of individuals and the rule of law; we appreciate of the value of a free press, and of a parliamentary system with a coalition and an opposition.

It is clear that an Egypt that rests on these institutions, an Egypt that is anchored in democratic values, would never be a threat to peace. On the contrary, if we have learned anything from modern history, it is that the stronger the foundations of democracy, the stronger the foundations of peace. Peace among democracies is strong, and democracy strengthens the peace.

One possible scenario, which undoubtedly unites us all, is that these hopes for democracy and a gradual, stable peace process are realized in Egypt. However, this is not the only possible scenario. Because far away from Washington, Paris, London – and not so far from Jerusalem – is another capital in which there are hopes. In this capital, there are leaders who can also see the opportunities that change in Egypt could bring. They also support the millions who took to the streets. They too speak about the promise of a new day. But for the people in this capital, the promise of a new day is not in its dawn but in the darkness it can bring.

That capital is Tehran, and I assure you, that the leaders in Iran are not interested in the genuine desires of Egyptians for freedom, liberalization or reform, any more than they were interested in answering similar calls for freedom by the Iranian people, their own people, only 18 months ago. I’ll jog your memory. They too had demonstrations; multitudes filled the town squares. But, of course it progressed in a different way. I was going to say that it finished differently but I’m not sure it’s over. The Iranian regime is not interested in seeing an Egypt that protects the rights of individuals, women, and minorities. They are not interested in an  enlightened Egypt that embraces the 21st century. They want an Egypt that returns to the Middle Ages.

They want Egypt to become another Gaza, run by radical forces that oppose everything that the democratic world stands for. We have two separate worlds here, two opposites, two world views: that of the free, democratic world and that of the radical world. Which one of them will prevail in Egypt?

The answer to this question is crucial to the future of Egypt, of the region and to our own future here in Israel.

Netanyahu attends a session of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, in Jerusalem February 2, 2011.

Our stand is clear. We support the forces that promote freedom, progress and peace. We oppose the forces that seek to enforce a dark despotism, terrorism and war. Should the forces that wish to carefully reform and democratize Egypt prevail, I am convinced that such positive change would also buttress a wider Arab-Israeli peace. But we are not there yet.First of all, this battle has yet to be decided. Second, it is possible that it will be a long while before one of the forces achieves victory, and we may have many years of instability. Third, recent history shows us many cases in the Middle-East when extreme Islamist elements abused the rules of  the democratic game to gain power and impose anti-democratic regimes.

It happened in Iran; it happened in Lebanon; and it happened when the Hamas took over the Gaza Strip. Does Iran enjoy freedom? Is there a real democracy in Gaza? Does Hezbollah promote human rights?

We must ensure that this does not happen again. We must do everything in our power to ensure that peace triumphs.

I want to pass on something to you, Members of Knesset, something I spoke about yesterday. I want to clarify a point that maybe young Israelis don’t understand, but most of us, probably all of us, understand very well.

For over 30 years we have enjoyed peace on two fronts. One is a peaceful border with Egypt, and the second – the peaceful border with Jordan. In effect, our peaceful border with Jordan ceased to be a border of war about 40 years ago. First we had calm, and then we had peace. With Egypt it happened the other way around. But on both fronts we have enjoyed peace along the borders and not merely lack of war. We have not had to defend these borders. And there are people here who remember what that means for us.

I see Avi Dichter here, and Shaul Mofaz, Matan Vilnai and many others. We remember what it was like when there was no peace. How we fought in the Suez Canal, on the banks of the Canal, inside it, and in Jordan. We fought, all of us. That’s over now. It has changed the world and it has changed the State of Israel. It changed our strategic situation. That is why preserving the existing peace is vital for us.

We expect any government of Egypt to honor the peace. Moreover, we expect the international community to expect any government of Egypt to honor the peace. This must be clear, along with the discussions about reform and democracy.We must also humbly recognize the truth – that these immense revolutions, these dramatic changes, this earthquake – none of this is about us. It is about central questions which we will discuss some other time.

I don’t think we need to discuss all the details of this turmoil now. But I will say one thing: we are in a turbulent situation. In such situations we must look around with our eyes wide open. We must identify things as they are, not as we’d like them to be. We must not try to force reality into a preconceived pattern. We must accept that a huge change is taking place, and while it is happening – keep a watchful eye.

The basis for our stability and our future, for preserving or extending the peace, especially during unsteady times, is by reinforcing the might of the State of Israel. That requires security and also for us to be honest with ourselves.

To be honest with ourselves and refrain from self-flagellation on account of the problems we are surrounded with and the changes that are taking place. It is easy to blame ourselves for these and also for the Palestinian issue,
which I will discuss shortly.

Because when we blame ourselves, we feel that we are in control, that developments depend on us. Otherwise, there are those who feel helpless when faced with these changes. If there is no peace, or peace shatters, because of us, we can do something about it to change the way things are. If it is up to the other party or parties we have less influence over the situation.

I don’t mean that we blame ourselves. It’s more about blaming our leadership. As it happens, I am the leader now, but we’ve had seven prime ministers. We have replaced seven Prime Ministers since Oslo, Camp David and Annapolis, and we continue to blame ourselves. So is there any wonder that the world blames us too?

I said that we are willing and we want to promote the peace process with the Palestinians. I have said that the first two components of this peace process are mutual recognition and security. If I may quote myself from upon this platform, I have said numerous times that we need real security arrangements. Not only because they sustain peace, but also because they ensure our security in the event that peace unravels — and in the Middle-East no one can guarantee the survival of any regime.

If I’m not mistaken, I said that only last week or two weeks ago. I said it because a peace agreement, a piece of paper, does not guarantee that the peace will be upheld, not does it guarantee that a partner for peace will survive. Therefore, to protect the agreement and to protect ourselves if the peace were to disappear or be breached, or if one of the sides has a change in government, we need strong, solid security arrangements.

That was and is the central issue that I discussed with President Abbas in our short conversation. Short, not because we didn’t want to talk – everybody knows that we did, the world knows that we wanted to – but because he did not want to.

We have taken great lengths to help the Palestinian economy, not as an alternative to the political peace that we want to negotiate with them, but as a contribution to stability and to help the Palestinian population understand that there is a lot to be gained from peace.

In the next few days, I plan to take additional steps to further encourage development and prosperity among the Palestinians.

I hope that President Abbas will regard the changes taking place in the region as an opportunity to sit down with us and discuss peace without preconditions, negotiations that take into account changes that will affect Israel and the Palestinian Authority. We want to have genuine, comprehensive discussions about the right way to establish a stable and durable peace in an unstable region, peace that can weather the storms of this turbulent region.

Israelis and Palestinians have many differences between them. But there is only one way to resolve those differences – a negotiated settlement, not through unilateral steps.

There are many skeptics out there. They say Israeli governments and their maximalist positions on concessions do not coincide with the minimalist positions of the Palestinians. It is possible, they say, that the gap between Israel and the Palestinians may be too wide to bridge. They might be right.

But if we do not try, we will surely not succeed. And we cannot try until we sit down, and we cannot sit down if they do not want to. I hope President Abbas will join me in a sincere effort to explore the possibility of a practical peace with practical security arrangements in the reality in which we find ourselves — for the sake of Israelis and Palestinians and our common future.

In this reality, Israel must fortify its might. We must maintain our security. We must strive for a stable peace with determination, caution, responsibility, and above all, with watchful eyes that recognize reality.

Lula Da Silva and Ahmadinejad

You do not speak Farsi, the Iranian language ? No matter because JSSNews translate for you, special reports with exclusive news from all over Iran. This 27 news were in iranian press (or not!) but, in the west, nobody spoke about it. JSSNews did !

1. Skype is blocked in Iran – Iranian bloggers report that in the past few days Skype services have been blocked. Bloggers called on experts to find a way to bypass the block.

2. A rally in Khaje Nasir University – Students from Khaje Nasir University held a rally at the campus. The students chanted: “death to the dictator” and said it was their last warning to the dictator. See film - (Tehran University – film.).

3. Poll underscores Russia’s unpopularity among Iranian public – The Persian service of Ria Novosti news agency launched an Internet opinion poll. Internet users were asked to express their views on Russia according to three categories: good, bad or undecided. 4.5% of respondents opted for good, while 94.3% opted for bad.

4. Hemayat on “Deceiving the Enemy with False Information” – Hemayat’s editorial entitled “Deceiving the Enemy with False Information” stressed the need of using the “Islamic principles” in intelligence battles. The editorial asserted that Iran’s enemies could be deceived if they were “fed” with false information, which could only be achieved in collaboration between news agencies and the Intelligence Ministry. (“Hemayat”, November 22)

5. Official: « ties with foreign banks continue despite the sanctions » – The chairman of Iran’s supreme committee for coordinating between directors of governmental banks announced that despite the economic sanctions imposed on Iran, new plans had been devised to expand ties with international banks.

6. Javan: « the many dance classes taking place in gyms indicate a poor cultural situation and ineptness of the security forces » – The IRGC affiliated newspaper Javan said the sharp increase in the number of illegal dance classes, taking place in gyms, indicated the weakness of the supervising authorities and the poor cultural situation of the Iranian society. Javan said this state of affairs reflected negligence and oversight on behalf of the police forces that should do their best to close down these « illegal classes where youths learn forbidden Western dances ».

7. Conservative politician confirms accusations of election fraud:  a day before the elections, two of Ahmadinejad’s ministers predicted a second round; in the final hours of the elections, Majlis Chairman called Mousavi to congratulate him – The Conservative politician Alireza Zakani, a member of the special parliamentary committee for investigating the post-election events, said the opinion polls conducted before the presidential election, and even the comments made by two ministers in Ahmadinejad’s cabinet, suggested that the elections would go into a second round. Zakani said Majlis Speaker, Ali Larijani, called Mir-Hosein Mousavi “in the last hour of the elections” to congratulate him.

8. Another rise in the prices of food products in Iran – The past month saw a 20% increase in the price of poultry, and 14% increase in the price of eggs. There are also reports about an increase of tens of percents in the prices of vegetables, such as cucumbers and zucchini.

9. CBI published new figures about the Iranian economy –

1. The sum of public deposits in Iranian banks is US$ 183B – According to recent data published by CBI, the sum of deposits in the non-governmental sector increased 5.3% in the past year to reach US$ 183B. According to these figures, the Iranian public deposited US$ 9B in Iranian banks.
2. Iran’s external debts are at US$ 21.575B.
3. Inflation rate in the past 12 months reached 22.2%.
4. Iran’s population grew 1.5% to reach 73.6 million people.
5. Unemployment rate reached 11.1% (officially – unofficially, specialist are saying around 35%).

10. A main street in Sana’a to be named after Iranian opposition icon – The authorities in the

Poverty in Tehran suburb

Yemenite capital decided to name one of the main streets of Sana’a after Neda Agha Soltan, who had become an icon of the post-election protest in Iran.

11. Operators of a website encouraging “swinging” were arrested – Technical experts of Iran’s Moral Police brought about the arrest of 12 couples and one single man who were involved in operating a website for swingers. According to reports coming from Conservative websites, the site promoted “corrupted and barbaric sexual behavior” among married couples.

12. Member of the Majlis Energy Committee: « IAEO statement about activating the Bushehr nuclear reactor by the end of the year lacks any factual basis » – Referring to the statement made by Ali Salehi, Chairman of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, about activating the nuclear power plant in Bushehr within several months, Sirous Sazdar, member of the Majlis Energy Committee, said it was unclear what Salehi based his statement on. He said the Energy Committee’s members visited the power plant a few months ago and came to the conclusion that it would not be operational at the end of the year.

13. Iran and Brazil sign 13 cooperation agreements – Signed in the presence of Ahmadinejad and Brazilian President Lula da Silva, the bilateral cooperation documents are in commerce, banking, sciences, technological, agricultural, trade, lifting visa requirement, academic, scholarship granting, news agencies, sports, cinematography, and cultural fields.

14. Protest in Brazil against the Iranian regime – See video

15. Once again, Tehran suffers multiple power blackouts – Residents of Tehran Province reported about many power blackouts throughout the province. These blackouts are typical to winter, when many Iranian cities suffer power cuts for long periods of time each year. In some regions, blackouts of 8-12 hours were reported.

16. Final findings of the investigation into « suspicious death » of the Kahrizak jail physician to be announced next week – Talking to Mehr news agency, Majlis member Gholamreza Asadollahi said the Majlis investigators do not know yet whether the Kahrizak detention center doctor committed suicide or died of other causes. (“Khorasan”, November 23)

17. « Anti-Israel, pro-Iran university professors in the US funded by the Iranian regime » – Anti-Israel, pro-Iran university professors are being funded by a shadowy multimillion-dollar Islamic charity that the feds charge is an illegal front for the Iranian regime. The Alavi Foundation has given away hundreds of thousands of dollars to Columbia University and Rutgers University for Middle Eastern and Persian studies programs that employ professors sympathetic to the Iranian regime

18. New general manager appointed for Iran’s Aerial Industry Organization – Iran’s Defense Minister, Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, appointed Manouchehr Manteqi to be the chairman of the board of directors and the general manager of the Armed Forces’ Aerial Industry Organization.

19. Member of Qom Seminary Lecturers and Researchers Association: « military personnel are not qualified to approve or reject members of the senior clergy » –Mohammad Ali Kusha referred to the « increasing deviation of the military from their duties in past years and their incursions into public debates and politics ». He said it was not for them to approve or disapprove members of the senior clergy (“Aftab Yazd”, November 22).

20. IRGC Air Force Commander: “in case of attack, the Zionist air-fighters would be eliminated by Iran’s aerial defense” – Talking during the aerial maneuver, which takes place these days in Iran to assure the safeguarding of the nuclear facilities, the IRGC Air Force Commander, Gen. Hajizade, said that in case of attack, there was no doubt that the F-15 and F-16 planes of the “Zionist regime” would fall into the trap of the Iranian aerial defense and would be completely destroyed.

21. Newspaper suspended for a week due to an advertisement showing a Baha’i center – The Press Monitoring Committee suspended the publication of the Hamshahri newspaper for a week, due to a commercial touristic advertisement, published on the newspaper, showing one of the centers related to the Baha’is.

22. An agreement with The Gambia for mutual capital investments in industry and agriculture – During the talks between high ranked Iranian and Gambian delegations in the Gambian capital, the two sides agreed upon expanding the mutual capital investments in agriculture and industry. The Iranian economic delegation accompanied the Iranian president on his visit to The Gambia.

23. Javan: « Saudi Arabia relies on the Zionist regime’s satellites in order to suppress the Shiites » – Javan reported that Saudi officials had reached an agreement with Israel to use their satellites in order to locate the Shiite Houthi bases in Yemen. It said that a Houthi leader had been recently killed due to information coming from such a satellite. (“Javan”, November 23)

24. Iran is the largest oil exporter to India in the past six months – Reuters reported that in the past six months, Iran had taken Saudi Arabia’s position as the biggest oil exporter to India, leaving SA in the second place. During this period of time, Iran’s oil export to India reached 432 thousand barrels a day, which constitute 16.5% of the overall Indian fuel import.

25. Iran purchased 4.882B liters of fuel since March 21 – Iran’s Deputy Minister of Oil said Iran purchased 4.822 billion liters of fuel, legally imported into the country, since the beginning of the current Persian calendar year (March 21 2009).

26. Video and text of interview with Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek correspondent who spent 4 month in Iranian jail following the June elections: CNN & Article in Newsweek.

27. « Should the West trust Iranian promises? The short answer is no” – Mamoun Fandy, the director of the Middle East program at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London, explains: Taqiyya is the Shiite religious rationale for concealment or dissimulation in political or worldly affairs. At one level it means that Ahmadinejad can tell himself that he is obliged by his faith not to tell the truth. In Iran, the teachings of Shiite Islam govern all aspects of society, and taqiyya is one of the key elements of the Shiite faith. While many outsiders are surprised by Iran’s concealment of its nuclear installations, those who study the Shiite faith and recognize the signs of taqiyya are not. Taqiyya requires the faithful to be deceitful at times of weakness. The teachings of Jafar al-Sadiq, the sixth Shiite imam, emphasize taqiyya as a political tool. « Befriend people on the surface, and keep your grudges and intentions hidden, » he advised.

William Burns

The critical first step in the Middle East peace process is to relaunch negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis without preconditions, says U.S. Under Secretary of State William Burns.
« That emphatically does not mean starting from scratch; it means building on previous agreements, resolving the core issues of the conflict, and settling it once and for all, » Burns said in a speech at the Washington-based Middle East Institute November 10.
« Our goal is clear: two states living side by side in peace and security – a Jewish state of Israel, with which America retains unbreakable bonds, and with true security for all Israelis, and a viable, independent Palestinian state with contiguous territory that ends the occupation that began in 1967, that ends the daily humiliations of Palestinians under occupation and that realizes the full and remarkable potential of the Palestinian people, » Burns said.
To arrive at that point, Burns said, the United States will work to create the best circumstances for talks that include the Israelis and the Palestinians, key regional partners like Egypt, and the Middle East Quartet, which is composed of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States.
While acknowledging that the quest for Arab-Israeli peace has been elusive, Burns said that it is also true that the parties themselves must make the difficult decisions for peace. « It is an historical fact that most of the biggest breakthroughs, from [former Egyptian President Anwar] Sadat in Jerusalem [in 1977] to the secret negotiations in Oslo [in 1992 and 1993], have come from the parties themselves, » he added.
Burns, who is under secretary for political affairs, said the United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements in the West Bank territories. Israel’s recent offer to restrain further settlement activity is an important step, but it falls short of continuing obligations for a full settlement freeze, he said. Palestinian negotiators have sought a freeze on all settlements before resuming negotiations.
The United States also seeks additional international support for the Palestinian Authority’s efforts to build the institutions needed for statehood, Burns said.
« Setbacks and complications are the common thread that runs through every effort at Middle East peace, » he said. « We need to learn from them, but not be deterred by them. »

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)