On anniversary of Kristallnacht, PM blasts Palestinians for Nazi flags, Hitler-style salutes

"Peace won't be achieved by int'l pressure on Israel," PM says.

By HERB KEINON
Netanyahu in Sde Boker 370 (photo credit: Koby Gideon/GPO)
Netanyahu in Sde Boker 370
(photo credit: Koby Gideon/GPO)
Peace will not be achieved by "international pressure on Israel," Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said Sunday, three days after US Secretary of State John Kerry warned Israel would face increased international isolation and deligitimization if the current talks with the Palestinians break down.
Netanyahu, speaking at a special cabinet meeting held at Sde Boker Sunday to mark 40 years to the death of David Ben-Gurion, noted that Sunday was also 75 years since Kristallnacht.
"It is very disturbing that precisely now we are witness to the phenomenon of swastikas and Nazi-style salutes on Palestinian networks," Netanyahu said, referring to an incident last month when a Nazi flag was hoisted near Beit Umar in the West Bank between Halhoul and Gush Etzion, and to a military-style parade at Al-Quds university last week organized by the Islamic Jihad faction where students gave Hitler-style salutes.
"This is a direct result of the continued wild incitement against the State of Israel," Netanyahu said. "This is not the way to achieve peace. Neither will peace be achieved by international pressure on Israel. No pressure will lead us to abandon our vital interests. An agreement will be achieved only when Israel receives an appropriate response regarding its vital interests, especially security, but also others which are part of our heritage and part of our future."
Kerry said in an interview Thursday that the alternative to "getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos.
"I believe that if we do not resolve the issues between Palestinians and Israelis, if we do not find a way to find peace, there will be an increasing isolation of Israel, there will be an increasing campaign of de-legitimization of Israel that’s been taking place in an international basis," he said.
He also said in that interview that the alternative to "getting back to the talks is the potential of chaos," and then asked, "I mean, does Israel want a third intifada?"