Intel. minister: Iran, Turkey, Palestinians speaking against peace
“Iran never gave up from trying to achieve a nuclear weapon.”
By YONAH JEREMY BOBIntelligence Minister Eli Cohen is seen addressing The Jerusalem Post Annual Conference.(photo credit: LIOR LEV)
Gulf Arab countries are moving toward normalization with Israel, but Iran, Turkey and the Palestinians are “speaking against peace,” Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen said at the Jerusalem Post Annual Conference on Thursday.“In the previous week, we saw a new Middle East, new peace agreements, and I am sure there will be more to follow after,” he said via videoconference. “We see a dramatic change in the Middle East. We see a coalition of peace – with Israel, the UAE, with Bahrain, with Egypt and more countries that will come under the umbrella of the US.”All of this proved US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s view “that if you are strong in our neighborhood, you are able to have such an achievement as the peace agreement,” Cohen said.“On the other end, we see Iran, Turkey and the Palestinians” publicly condemning the normalization trend, he said.Nevertheless, Cohen said the deals foreshadowed a new era.For the full conference, click here >>Prior peace deals were with Egypt and Jordan, with which Israel has borders and had fought wars, he said.“Now, we have an agreement with a country with which we don’t have a border… I believe more countries from the Gulf will join” the trend, as well as “more African countries,” he added.Security and the economy were concrete benefits of the new deals, Cohen said.“They understand that the threat is not Israel; it’s Iran,” he said. “We saw what Iran did to Saudi Arabia… If we speak of the economy, this opens potential economic opportunities for both countries.”For example, Israel can benefit from Gulf countries’ oil and gas supplies, while they can benefit from Israeli technology, Cohen said.Addressing the threat from Iran, he said: “Iran never gave up from trying to achieve a nuclear weapon… Iran is the No. 1 financier of terror. The places where Iran is involved are suffering,” including proxies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon, Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen and Shi’ite militias in Syria.“I want to thank President Trump and [US Secretary of State Mike] Pompeo for continuing the [arms] embargo on Iran,” Cohen said.He called on European powers to unite behind the embargo since they know Iran is financing terrorism throughout the region.Despite a lack of support for the US position on the arms embargo at the UN, the “policy of the US is the right policy: to speak clearly,” Cohen said.
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