Testimony before the 45th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council by UN Watch Executive Director Hillel Neuer Mr. Chair, They said it could not be done. They said it was impossible. But after the latest remarkable advances toward resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict, the world must acknowledge and say to the Islamic Republic of Iran: You did the impossible. For decades, Arab states and Israel fought each other in wars, while the Arab League enforced a global economic boycott of the Jewish state. Whatever happened, the Arab states would always blame Israel. But since around 2006, this began to change. And if anyone most deserves the credit, it’s Iran. If not for Iran’s escalating aggression across the Middle East; if not for its sponsorship of wars and terror through Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and other proxy militia in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Gaza; if not for Iran’s subversion in other countries, like the terrorist plot by the Qassam Suleimani Brigade just uncovered this week in Bahrain, Arab nations might never have concluded that the greatest threat to their security is not Israel, but, on the contrary, that both Arabs and Israelis face a common and increasingly dangerous threat: the hatred, terror and war fomented by Iran. Indeed, if not for Iran’s aggression, imperialism and terrorism, it is impossible to imagine that so many Arab nations would be abandoning ardent, age-old antagonism, to open unprecedented new relations with Israel. Mr. Chair, They said it could not be done. They said it was impossible. But today we tip our hat and say: Iran, you did the impossible. Thank you. |