It was overshadowed by Bush, Ahmadinejad and Chavez, and it wasn’t the most theatrical of speeches. But Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said some important things before the United Nations General Assembly yesterday.
Click below to watch the full video or read the full text of Livni’s remarks.
As reported by Israeli newspapers Jerusalem Post, Haaretz and Yediot, the high point of Livni’s speech was her call for the international community to stand against the growing danger from Iran:
"If we want to protect our values, it is not enough to believe in them – we must act according to them. There is no greater challenge to our values than that posed by the leaders of Iran. They deny and mock the Holocaust. They speak proudly and openly of their desire to wipe Israel off the map. And now, by their actions, they pursue the weapons to achieve this objective, to imperil the region and to threaten the world.
The moment of truth, Madame President, is here.
The international community is faced with no greater responsibility than to stand against this dark and growing danger – not for Israel’s sake, but for its own; for the sake of the values it claims to embrace; for the sake of the world we all wish our children to inherit.
What more needs to happen for the world to take this threat seriously? What more needs to happen to end the hesitation and the excuses? We know the lessons of the past. We know the consequences of appeasement and indifference. There is no place for such leaders in this forum. There is no place for such a regime in the family of nations."
