Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gets the most extended standing O of the conference. No surprise.
Wow, just like in the Knesset.
Laughter.
The applause can be heard as far away as Jerusalem — that’s Jerusalem, the eternal united capital of Israel.
Another standing ovation.
Asks the crowd to applaud Congress "for standing with the state of Israel."
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Huh. No Obama applause line yet.
But it’s only 9:51 pm.
A nod to Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), the Iran sanctions champion who is recovering from a stroke.
Israel must always reserve the right to defend itself.
Another standing O.
First mention of Obama: Props to US ambassador to Israel, Dan Shapiro, and he notes that "President Obama was right," Shapiro’s Hebrew is improving.
I’m not going to talk to you about what Israel will do or not do. I never talk about that.
A nod to his agreement with Obama to keep shtum on the war talk. (More precisely, Netanyahu was asking for silence before Obama did yesterday.)
First serious Obama mention, on a nuclear Iran:
President Obama has reiterated his commitment to prevent that from happening. He stated clearly that all options are on the table and that American policy is not containment. Israel has exactly the same policy.
On claims that Iran is not developing a nuke:
It’s time to start calling a duck, a duck. Fortunately, President Obama and most world leaders, they understand that the claim that Iran’s goal is not to declare nuclear weapons is ridiculous.
Lists Iran’s abuses, its backing of terrorism, its denial of the Holocaust, of 9/11
Thre’s been a lot of talk lately about the cost of stopping Iran, I think it’s time we started talking about the cost of not stopping Iran.
A nuclear Iran could make good its threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.
For the sake of our children, Iran must not be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons.
Notable language: acquire nuclear weapons — not acquire the capability. He’s using Obama’s terminology.
I appreciate President Obama’s recent efforts to impose even tougher sanctions against Iran, and these sanctions are hurting Iran’s economy, but unfortunately Iran’s nuclear program continues to march forward
We’ve waited for diplomacy to work, we’ve waited for sanctions to work, none of us can afford to wait much longer.
As prime minister of Israel, I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihiliation.
Standing ovation.
Brings out facsimiles of letters US government sent to World Jewish Congress in 1944 (he keeps them in his desk!) denying hte request to bomb the tracks to Auschwitz.
2012 is not 1944, the American government today is different. You heard that in President Obama’s speech yesterday.
But here is my point, the Jewish people is also different today. We have a state of our own, and the purpose of a Jewish state is to defend Jewish lives and secure our future. Never again.
Israel must always have the ability to defend itself by itself against any threat.
When it comes to Israel’s survival, we must always remain the masters of our fate.
He wraps up with the Queen Esther reference, and a nod to the fury U.S. Jewish women leaders have expressed at the plethora of discrimination stories in recent months:
As prime minister of israel I will always protect Israel’s democracy, always. Most especially, I will never tolerate discrimination against women.
