WJC praises Netanyahu’s call for resumption of peace negotiations
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) today hailed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Neyanyahu’s call at the United Nations for the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table and lauded Netanyahu’s remarks that Israel and Arab states are cooperating against radical Islam.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu today took a significant stand at the UN today for peace in the Middle East, in calling for the Palestinians to return immediately and without preconditions to the negotiating table while restating Israel’s firm commitment to a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder.
Meanwhile, “It is Israel, a tiny sea of democracy and stability in the Middle East, that is standing up for the free world by working with moderate Arab nations to confront Islamic radical forces such as ISIS on the front lines of terror,” Lauder said.
Lauder yesterday urged Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to focus on the portion of his own speech in which he said his “hands remain outstretched” for peace. Lauder made the comments after Abbas said the Palestinians no longer consider themselves bound by the Oslo peace accords.
Over the past month, Lauder has met with both Abbas and Netanyahu as part of a continued campaign by the WJC to strengthen and revive the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
The WJC and Lauder have also remained on the forefront of those organizations calling for world leaders not to remain silent in the face of radical Islam, and to intercede on behalf of migrants from civil war-torn Syria. Prime Minister Netanyahu, speaking today at the UN about the UN’s inaction against Iran’s attempts to acquire nuclear weapons and arm radical Islamic forces, halted his speech for 20 seconds as symbolic moment of silence.