Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman strongly condemned on Thursday the remarks made by Iran’s leaders at the summit of the Non-Aligned Movement in Tehran.
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called Israelis “ferocious Zionist wolves who digest the Palestinian people” during the summit.
Speaking during an event attended by Japan’s ambassador to Israel, Lieberman termed the Tehran summit “a march of folly, the likes of which we only saw in the 1930s.”
“It is very unfortunate to hear those things coming out of Tehran today,” Lieberman said. “In the background of the threats and the curses and the calls to destroy the State of Israel, wipe it off the map and hurt all the Jews wherever they are, we see representatives of 120 countries, including the UN Secretary General, who come to Tehran and give legitimacy to this regime.”
Lieberman also referred to the latest report by the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Iran’s nuclear program. The report said that Iran has increased its uranium enrichment capacity by at least 30% in the last four months.
“[The report] talks about serious violations of Iran’s promises to allow IAEA inspectors access to military and nuclear sites and about accelerated development of its military program,” said Lieberman. “Anyone who reads this report understands that Iran threatens not only Israel, but the entire world order. It seems that we ignore and disregard this.”
“The question is how we can rely on the international community?” asked Lieberman. “How to we accept its claims that it guarantees our safety?”
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu announced on Thursday that he will address the UN General Assembly next month in New York.
“In Tehran today, the representatives of 120 countries heard a blood libel against the State of Israel and were silent,” Netanyahu said. “This silence must stop. Therefore, I will go to the UN General Assembly and, in a clear voice, tell the nations of the world the truth about Iran’s terrorist regime, which constitutes the greatest threat to world peace.”