Morsi Warns Israel over 'Law of the Jungle' Threats
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Egypt's new president on Wednesday hit out at Israel over its veiled threats to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and the deadlock in the Middle East peace process.
President Mohammed Morsi received a rousing ovation for his first speech to the 193-member U.N. General Assembly since becoming Egypt's first civilian, democratically elected leader in June.
Without specifically mentioning Israel's undeclared nuclear arsenal, Morsi said the Middle East "no longer tolerates" any country's refusal to join the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty "especially if this is coupled with irresponsible policies or arbitrary threats."
"The acceptance by the international community of the principle of pre-emptiveness or the attempt to legitimize it is in itself a serious matter and must be firmly confronted to avoid the prevalence of the law of the jungle," Morsi said.
The election of the Islamist politician has unsettled ties with Israel, which has refused to rule out a military strike on Iran's nuclear facilities.
Morsi also put the Israel-Palestinian conflict ahead of the Syria war in the list of priorities he laid out before the General Assembly.
"The first issue which the world must exert all its efforts in resolving, on the basis of justice and dignity, is the Palestinian cause," Morsi said.
He said that U.N. resolutions on the conflict had not been implemented and that Palestinians "must also taste the fruits of freedom and dignity" that other countries in the Arab region have won in the past year.
"It is shameful that the free world accepts, regardless of the justifications provided, that a member of the international community continues to deny the rights of a nation that has been longing for decades for independence," Morsi said.
"It is also disgraceful that settlement activities continue on the territories of these people."
The Palestinians have refused to hold direct talks with Israel for the past two years because of Israel's refusal to halt settlement activities in the occupied territories.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas are to address the General Assembly on Thursday.
26 September 2012, 21:25
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It is also a shame that Naharnet cannot write its own story on this event, but must use the (former?) colonial power's quasi-official news agency. But even that story is cautionary enough. When will democracy come to Lebanon? Probably about the time Israel becomes a democracy.
27 September 2012, 06:01
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The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution itself are both utopian, and both over 200 years old. But unlike other utopias, the one our forefathers embraced works.
It has an ingenious mechanism to revitalize its institutions: Freedom of speech.
As John Stuart Mill explained, when a society allows its citizens to question its government, its values and its most sacred beliefs, the examination finds errors and things for improvement.
But even when no correction at all is needed, the challenge in itself works miracles -- it forces us to defend them.
If things prove fine after such "stress test," we learn that we are on the right track. Merely knowing this wipes away uncertainty and replaces it with life and vigor.
Such is the hidden benefit of open debate -- and the reason why institutions elsewhere stagnate and die.
And no one rushes to save them because people have forgotten long before why they are there in the first place.
