© REUTERS / Israel GPO
"Power is the most important [component] of foreign policy. 'Occupation' is baloney. There were huge countries that have occupied and transferred populations and no one talks about them," Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly said, speaking to Likud Party lawmakers in a closed door meeting on Monday, The Times of Israel has reported, citing local media.
"Power changes everything, and it changes our policies vis-à-vis Arab states, and there are other countries on the way," Netanyahu was further quoted as saying, in apparent reference to Tel Aviv's improving relations with the Gulf states in spite of traditional tensions over the Palestinian issue.
Speaking about negotiations on a peace agreement with the Palestinians, Netanyahu reportedly said that "[c]ontrary to the notion that concessions will bring about agreements with the Arabs, concessions will only bring about slight and short-term changes and nothing more. What we need to do is advance [talks] on shared interests with Israel based on technological power."
Netanyahu paid a visit to Oman, a Gulf country with whom Israel has no diplomatic relations, on Thursday to speak about advancing "a number of issues of mutual interest to achieve peace and stability in the Middle East." The director of Mossad and Netanyahu National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat accompanied the prime minister on the visit.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Qassemi blasted Netanyahu's Oman visit, describing it as an attempt to cause a rift in relations between Muslim states, and urged Middle Eastern countries not to allow Tel Aviv to create "further trouble for the region."
Israel has enjoyed improving relations with a number of Arab countries in recent months amid reported US plans to create a so-called "Arab NATO" to try to contain Iranian influence in the Middle East. In August, Netanyahu hinted that Israel might jointhe new anti-Iranian coalition if Tehran attempted to block the strait between Yemen and Africa which serves as the entrance to the Red Sea.
Comment: Critics of Islam often point out that many Islamists want to revert to the pseudo-morality of past ages. That's true. What's also true is that Netanyahu (representing a large segment of Israeli sentiments) wants the same thing. He forgets that Israel is the only modern country to invade, ethnically cleanse, occupy, and steal land by military conquest in the post-WWII world. It's a backward nation whose values are incompatible with western (and eastern) civilization.