Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Netanyahu meets Medvedev in Moscow

From The Israel MFA, 15 Feb 2010:

Advancing our mutual relations and rolling back those who destroy peace and threaten the stability of the Middle East and the world is something I very much look forward to discussing with you.

Photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office

PRESIDENT OF RUSSIA DMITRY MEDVEDEV: Mr Prime Minister, I am pleased to have this chance to meet with you  ...Israel is more than just a partner in the ordinary sense for us, but is a country with whom we are bound by longstanding relations and with whom we share much in common in terms of the nature and makeup of our populations.

Another matter I wanted to bring up during our talks today is that this year is significant in that we will be celebrating the 65th anniversary of victory over Nazism. This is our common victory. I think the celebrations should take place at the highest level. ...

This is important in order to preserve for all time the memory of these events in the chronicles of history and prevent people from taking liberties with and falsifying the account of what actually happened...

ISRAEL PM BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: I am delighted to see you, Mr President...

...You spoke correctly about the need to recognise Russia’s extraordinary contribution in saving mankind against the Nazi tyranny. We know it very well. ...we have over a million Russian speakers many of whom fought in that same Great War, and we know the heroism and sacrifice of the Russian people which is unimaginable. ...

...You correctly say that there are people who wish to distort what happened in the Second World War. ...widespread denial of the Holocaust. And this should be combated as firmly as any distortion of the history of the Second World War. It’s not just an argument of history, it’s an argument about the present and the future.

And I believe that on this we see eye to eye, and on many other things as well.  ...I look forward to seeing how we can advance peace, and ...helping roll back the enemies of peace...
Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement to the Israeli press after his meeting with Russian President Medvedev:
"I believe that Russia fully understands the Iranian objective and is well aware of the point the Iranians have reached in their nuclear program. Russia is considering and discussing the issue of sanctions with other members of the Security Council. President Medvedev has listened to my position, which is that the sanctions must have teeth. In order for them to bite, they must have teeth. Diluted sanctions, soft sanctions, will simply not do the job."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

In regards to the two very active anti-Israel bashers: Dr. Anat Matar's name,'matar' in Portuguese is the verb 'to KILL', and Prof. Rachel Giora surname in Portuguese has the same phonetical sound as injuria - 'insult'. How strange is that!!!!