Politics

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, today (Sunday, 16 June 2013), made the following remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting:

"Regarding the results of the elections in Iran, let us not delude ourselves. The international community must not become caught up in wishes and be tempted to relax the pressure on Iran to stop its nuclear program. It must be remembered that the Iranian ruler, at the outset, disqualified candidates who did not fit his extremist outlook and from among those whose candidacies he allowed was elected the candidate who was seen as less identified with the regime, who still defines the State of Israel as "the great Zionist Satan."

In any case, the ruler of Iran is the Supreme Leader, not the president, and it is he who determines nuclear policy. The more the pressure on Iran increases, the greater is the chance of stopping the Iranian nuclear program, which remains the greatest threat to world peace. Fifteen years ago, the election of another president, also considered a moderate by the West, led to no change in these aggressive policies. Over the last twenty years, the only thing that has led to a temporary freeze in the Iranian nuclear program was Iran's concern over aggressive policy against it in 2003. Iran will be judged by its actions. If it continues to insist on developing its nuclear program, the answer needs to be very clear – stopping the nuclear program by any means.



As I stated at the beginning of the government's term, we are committed to enacting a comprehensive reform of Israel's sea ports. Over the weekend, I spoke with Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and Finance Minister Yair Lapid and discussed ways to advance implementation of the reform. We are not prepared to countenance the unacceptable phenomenon of wasteful, exploitative and inefficient monopolies at the ports that exact a high and unnecessary price from Israel's citizens for goods and products. Reform at the ports began ten years ago. The previous government privatized Eilat port and this government will complete the work in order to open Israel's ports to competition. The monopoly at the sea ports hurts the competitiveness of the Israeli economy and causes a higher cost of living here. We are determined to change this situation and we will change it.



Today, we will also establish an inter-ministerial team led by Home Front Protection Minister Gilad Erdan to formulate a comprehensive home front protection policy. The team will present, inter alia, ways to reduce the gaps in structural reinforcement and shelters in face of the gathering threats around us."