Israel's prime minister exhorted the U.N. General Assembly to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
FULL STORY
(CNN) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
exhorted the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday to draw "a
clear red line" to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
Photos: World leaders at the U.N. General Assembly
Netanyahu: No peace from libelous speech
Netanyahu diagrams Iran's nuclear status
Netanyahu asks U.N. to draw 'red line' on Iran's nuclear bomb plans
updated 7:33 PM EDT, Thu September 27, 2012
Israeli PM draws red line for Iran at UN
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: White House shares Israel's goal of keeping Iran from a nuclear weapon
- "It does not impact our policies in the slightest," Ahmadinejad says about demands to end nuclear plan
- Netanyahu holds up a drawing of a bomb and draws a red line beneath the fuse
- "We are not attempting to delegitimize them, they are trying to delegitimize us," Abbas says of Israel
In a theatrical gesture,
Netanyahu held up a cartoon-like drawing of a spherical bomb and drew a
red line below the fuse, "before Iran completes the second stage of
nuclear enrichment to make a bomb," he said.
"It's not a question of
whether Iran will get the bomb. The question is at what stage can we
stop Iran from getting the bomb," said Netanyahu, who also accused Iran
of aggression.
"I ask, given this record
of Iranian aggression without nuclear weapons, just imagine Iranian
aggression with nuclear weapons," the Israeli prime minister said. "Who
among you would feel safe in the Middle East? Who would be safe in
Europe? Who would be safe in America? Who would be safe anywhere?"
Photos: World leaders at the U.N. General Assembly
Netanyahu: No peace from libelous speech
Netanyahu diagrams Iran's nuclear status
But Iranian leader
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told CNN that his country won't be influenced by a
threat from Israel and a demand from U.S. President Barack Obama to
abandon plans to acquire nuclear weapons.
"When we say we do not
take it seriously, we mean that it impacts -- it does not impact our
policies in the slightest," Ahmadinejad told CNN's Fareed Zakaria in an
interview to be aired Sunday at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern.
"Iran is a vast country.
It's a great country. Let's assume a few terrorists come and assassinate
some of our officials. Will the country be damaged? No. A couple of
bombs will be set to explode. Will the country be destroyed? No.
"We see the Zionist
regime at the same level of the bombers and criminals and the
terrorists. And even if they do something -- even if they do something,
hypothetically, it will not affect us fundamentally," Ahmadinejad said.
The White House highlighted how Obama sided with Israel in his speech before the general assembly this week.
"As the prime minister
said, the United States and Israel share the goal of preventing Iran
from acquiring a nuclear weapon," said spokesman Tommy Vietor of the
National Security Council. "We will continue our close consultation and
cooperation toward achieving that goal."
Speeches by Netanyahu
and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas drew the most
attention at the United Nations on Thursday.
Abbas said Palestinians
will continue to seek full membership status in the United Nations, but
they have begun "intensive consultations" with member states about
having the Palestinian Authority become a non-member state, one step up
from its current status as a permanent observer.
"We are confident that
the vast majority of the countries of the world support our endeavor
aimed at salvaging the chances for a just peace," Abbas said. "In our
endeavor, we do not seek to delegitimize an existing state -- that is
Israel -- but rather to assert the state that must be realized -- that
is Palestine."
Then, departing from his
prepared speech, Abbas added, to applause: "We are not attempting to
delegitimize them, they are trying to delegitimize us."
Speaking later, Netanyahu criticized Abbas' remarks.
"We won't solve our
conflict with libelous speeches at the U.N. That's not the way to solve
them. We won't solve our differences with a unilateral declaration of
statehood," Israel's leader said. "We have to sit together and negotiate
together in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognizes the one
and only Jewish state."
Last year, the Palestinian Authority failed in its bid to win U.N. recognition as an independent state.
In their latest initiative to seek non-member observer status,
the Palestinians are likely to submit a new resolution after the
November 6 U.S. presidential election in an effort to prevent the issue
from becoming political fodder. Palestinian officials have expressed
concern about pessimistic comments by Republican presidential nominee
Mitt Romney about the chances for peace in the region.
In his speech Thursday,
Abbas criticized Israel and said Palestinians were facing "a campaign of
ethnic cleansing" in which they are being denied full access to houses
of worship, schools, hospitals and housing.
"The occupying power is
also continuing its construction and expansion of settlements in
different areas throughout the West Bank," he told the assembly.
Israel rejects a Palestinian state and refuses to end its occupation, Abbas said.
"I speak on behalf of an angry people," he said. "Israel continues to enjoy impunity."
For Israel, the issue of
how to respond to Iran's nuclear program has put a strain on relations
between Netanyahu and U.S. President Barack Obama. Tehran insists its
nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but Western leaders say they
believe it is aimed at building a weapon.
Netanyahu has been pushing the United States to establish a clear "red line" that Iran cannot cross if it wants to avoid war.
Israel seeks
international urgency, as negotiations aimed at curbing Iran's nuclear
ambitions have failed to produce an agreement and the effectiveness of
sanctions on Tehran remains unclear.
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