Islamists Talking Peace Whilst Arming for War
Wednesday, 25th November 2009
The Rev Fred Nile MLC, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has raised concern that fundamentalist regimes in Iran and Lebanon were talking of peace whilst arming themselves for war. Rev Nile made the comments in the NSW Parliament.
“I refer to the two crisis states in the Middle East—Iran and Lebanon. Several days after the atomic energy chief Mohamed El Baradei made his controversial comments about the clandestine nuclear site near the Shiite holy city of Qom, his own United Nations agency published a report revealing that Iranian technicians and workers had begun moving expensive cutting-edge equipment into the illicit bunker. The report said that the intricate machines are designed to produce up to one tonne of highly enriched uranium per year, which experts say is more than enough to construct a nuclear weapon. The report also expressed Atomic Energy Agency concerns that Iran may well have hidden other nuclear facilities from international inspection as Israeli leaders have long maintained. It stated:
The agency has indicated that Iran's declaration of the new facility reduces the level of confidence in the absence of other nuclear facilities under construction and gives rise to questions about whether there were any other nuclear facilities not declared to the agency.
Responding to the latest news regarding Iran's nuclear program, the Israeli Prime Minister warned once again that the Shiite regime presents a severe danger to many more nations than just Israel. He said:
The threat that Iran poses is very grave for the state of Israel, for peace in the Middle East, and in the whole world.
He added:
Without any doubt, we are Iran's first target, but we are not the last one.
Israeli naval commandoes staged a daring raid on a storm-buffeted Mediterranean Sea before dawn on 4 November and boarded a German-owned cargo ship. After seizing it they found that it contained 40 Iranian commercial containers. When those containers were opened it was found that they contained 3,000 missiles and hundreds of 122-millimetre rockets along with many mortar shells, hand grenades and hundreds of thousands of machine gun bullets. After it was established that the Polish and German crew on board the ship did not realise they were carrying Iranian-supplied weapons hidden in cargo containers, they were allowed to leave the Ashdod port.
Syrian and Lebanese officials termed the seizure an illegal act of piracy. They denied the ship was carrying any weapons, a contention that was rendered absurd when the huge cache was subsequently displayed at the Ashdod port. The Israeli Prime Minister noted that the United Nations resolution, which ended the 2006 Lebanon war, forbids any country from re-arming the Hezbollah military forces. He said:
Iran is sending these weapons to terror organisations to harm Israeli cities and kill its citizens.
He added:
The time has come for the international community to exert real pressure on Iran to stop this criminal activity and to support Israel when it defends itself against these terrorists and their patrons.
Those events show why Israel is always concerned about what is occurring on its borders, whether with Iran or Lebanon. We need to pray for peace in the Middle East. We must pray that the United Nations and other nations of the world will be able to discourage Iran from pursuing what appears to be a policy to develop nuclear weapons and ensure that Hezbollah is properly disarmed and cannot resume its shelling of Israel's towns and villages. This will only cause Israel to respond with various attacks on those points from which the missiles come. Sadly, Israel is often blamed, but it is provoked by attacks and has no option but to defend its citizens, as any nation would. Australia would do the same if we were in a similar situation”, Rev Nile stated.
