“Israel is what’s right with the Middle East”

Excerpts from Netanyahu’s speech to AIPAC.  Please note his clarity, as opposed to the muddled, self-exculpatory, whining, ahistorical, ignorant speech of our own “great communicator.”

Yesterday, they let me out.

My wife got to visit Washington’s majestic memorials.

I read Jefferson’s timeless words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.”

I read Lincoln’s immortal address reaffirming “Government of the people, for the people, and by the people.”

You know why these words resonate so powerfully with me and with all Israelis.

Because they are rooted in ideas first championed by our people, the Jewish people.

The idea that all men are created in God’s image.

That no ruler is above the law.

That everyone is entitled to justice.

These revolutionary Jewish ideas were spoken thousands of years ago when vast slave empires ruled the earth.

Israel is the cradle of our common civilization, crucible of our moral ideals.

The Jewish state was founded on these eternal values.

This is why Israel’s more than one million Muslim citizens enjoy full democratic rights.

This is why the only place in the Middle East where Christians are completely free to practice their faith is in the democratic State of Israel.

And this is why only Israel can be trusted to ensure freedom for all faiths in our eternal capital, the united city of Jerusalem.

[snip]

Now, more than ever, what we need is clarity.

Events in our region are finally opening people’s eyes to a simple truth.

The problems of the region are not rooted in Israel.

The remarkable scenes we are witnessing in town squares across the Middle East and North Africa are occurring for a simple reason.

People want freedom.

They want progress.  They want a better life.

For many of the people in the region, the 20th century skipped them by.

Now 21st century technology is showing them what they missed.

[snip]

It’s time to stop blaming Israel for all of the region’s problems.

Let me stress one thing.

Peace between Israelis and Palestinians is a vital need for us.

Peace would be the realization of a powerful and eternal dream.

But it is not a panacea for the endemic problems of the Middle East.

It will not give women is some Arab countries in the Middle East the right to drive a car.

It will not prevent Churches from being bombed.

It will not keep journalists out of jail.

What will change all this?  One word.

Democracy.  Real, genuine, democracy.

By democracy, I don’t just mean elections.

I mean Freedom of Speech.  Freedom of the Press.  Freedom of Assembly.

The Rule of Law.   Rights for women, for gays, for minorities, for everyone.

What the people of the Middle East need is what you have in America, and what we have in Israel.

Democracy.

It’s time to recognize this basic truth:

Israel is not what’s wrong about the Middle East.

Israel is what’s right about the Middle East.

You can read the whole thing here.