Moshe Arens, the veteran Israeli politician and diplomat who is widely known as the new prime minister’s political mentor, has delivered a strong message about the direction the peace process will take under the leadership of Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The Arabs are going to have to learn that the time has come that they’re not going to get whatever they want from the Israeli government,” Arens said here Monday at a small dinner given for supporters of the College of Judea and Samaria, which is located in the West Bank city of Ariel.
“Under Peres, whatever they asked for, they got,” said Arens, who is also being touted as a serious contender to become the next Israeli ambassador to the United States.
The gathering was organized by the National Council of Young Israel and held at Mendy’s, a kosher deli in midtown Manhattan.
Arens served as ambassador to Washington under then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin during the active phase of the war in Lebanon. He also served as Israel’s minister of defense, most recently under the Shamir government.
He was born in Lithuania but spent part of his youth and young adulthood in the United States, where he served in the army. He emigrated to Israel in 1948.
Of the extremely narrow margin by which Netanyahu beat Shimon Peres, he said, “We were just saved from the abyss.
“Now we will have a government that will lead us in the right direction.”
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