Netanyahu: Islamic Radicalism Will Be Defeated

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that the majority of Muslim society favors advancements over radicalism and terrorism. Therefore, Netanyahu believes the Palestinians will eventually find the strength to overthrow the Hamas regime.

Etgar Lefkovits in the Jerusalem Post reports:

"In the struggle between darkness and terror, advancement and prosperity, the vast majority of Muslim societies would pick advancement and prosperity," Netanyahu said, in an address to the graduating class of the National Security College at a ceremony at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"Prosperity and peace will win in the struggle and, in the end, Islamic radicalism will be defeated," he [Netanyahu] said, adding that the need to stop Iran's nuclear program was an essential condition for a victory of moderates in the region.

While Netanyahu does not believe that the Gazans currently have the power to overthrow the Islamic radicals of Hamas, he believes that in the future they will. To substantiate this belief, Netanyahu cited the recent events in the West Bank saying, "We have seen this in Teheran and in the West Bank and tomorrow we will see it in Gaza."

On the current economic status of the West Bank, Lefkovits reports:

Netanyahu noted that the question for the Palestinian Authority running the West Bank, where he is seeking to promote the Palestinian economy as a cornerstone of a future peace deal, is "do they progress economically like Dubai , or do they go backwards like Gaza?"

During a 90-minute ceremony, Netanyahu also outlined the five principles necessary for Israel to create a peace deal with the Palestinians.  This includes: Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, a demilitarized Palestinian state, Palestinian refugees remain outside of Israel, international guarantee that the agreements will be upheld, and an agreement that the peace plan will lead to an end to the conflict.

Lefkovits concludes his article with:

Netanyahu conceded that such acceptance of Israel would take time, but he said that peace would come.

"It will take a generation of Palestinians to internalize the permanent recognition of the State of Israel," he said. "We will overcome the difficulties and create a future of peace between us and our neighbors."

Along with expressing hope for the future of Gaza and the West Bank, Netanyahu also discussed Islamic radicalism in Iran.

Ariel Kahane in Makor Rishon-Hatzfone reports:

The prime minister said he believed that radical Islam was on the decline and that Hamas was likely to lose its control over Gaza-provided Iran did not obtain nuclear weapons. "Ultimately, radical Islam will be defeated by the information revolution throughout the world, by the freedom of ideas and by means of technology. That isn't going to happen immediately, but it is going to happen. The only thing that might delay and disrupt the pace of extremist Islam's decline is the possibility that it will arm itself with nuclear weapons."