Netanyahu in Warsaw: For Arab leaders, Iran threat more urgent than Palestinians

PM Netanyahu said today that 4 Arab foreign ministers who spoke at the Warsaw Middle East summit affirmed Israel's right to defend itself against Iranian aggression.

Speaking to reporters shortly after he left the event, most of which was closed to the press, the prime minister hailed the very fact that 10 Arab foreign ministers agreed to share a conference stage with an Israeli leader as the breaking of a taboo.

"Four out of five Arab foreign ministers who addressed the conference [on Thursday] spoke strongly and clearly against Iran, saying exactly what I've been saying for years," Netanyahu said. "They were as clear as possible about the issue, and Israel's right to defend itself against Iranian aggression."

Netanyahu did not specify which Arab foreign ministers spoke out.

Asked when and how further Arab states would fully normalize relations with Israel, which has peace treaties only with Jordan and Egypt, Netanyahu replied that what happened in Warsaw over the last 24 hours shows that they are already half-open.

"Here you have Arab foreign ministers, who say that Israelis have the right to defense themselves, and don't say it in secret but on a stage with 60 other countries present," he said.

"It was a very important meeting and I don't think we exaggerate its importance," he added. "There is great importance in that they sit in one room, full of cameras" to discuss the Middle East, he said, noting that it was clear to the Arab representatives that, even though most of the conference proceedings were held behind closed doors, it would become public knowledge that they sat together with the Israeli prime minister.

The Palestinian issue came up during the conference, Netanyahu said, but added that the Arab officials preferred to focus their remarks on Iran.

"Once the Palestinian issue took center stage. Now they say that first and foremost the Iranian issue needs to be dealt with," Netanyahu said. In fact, the Arab officials who addressed the summit all agreed that an Israeli-Palestinian peace cannot be achieved as long as the Iranian problem is not addressed, he said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-in-warsaw-for-arab-leaders-iran-threat-more-urgent-than-palestinians/