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British Prime Minister Addresses Knesset

[British Prime Minister's Office ] Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, told the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday: Let me tell the people of Israel today: Britain is your true friend. A friend in difficult times as well as in good times; a friend who will stand beside you whenever your peace, your stability and your existence are under threat; a friend who shares an unbreakable partnership based on shared values of liberty, democracy and justice. And to those who mistakenly and outrageously call for the end of Israel let the message be: Britain will always stand firmly by Israel's side. My father was a Minister of the Church who learned Hebrew and had a deep and life-long affection for Israel. For three decades he was a member of - and again and again Chairman of - the Church of Scotland's Israel Committee. And he traveled back and forth to Israel twice every year, often more. I am proud to say that for the whole of my life, I have counted myself a friend of Israel. To those who question Israel's very right to exist, and threaten the lives of its citizens through terror, we say: the people of Israel have a right to live here, to live freely and to live in security. And to those who believe that threatening statements fall upon indifferent ears we say in one voice: that it is totally abhorrent for the President of Iran to call for Israel to be wiped from the map of the world. Just as we have led the work on three mandatory sanctions resolutions of the UN, the UK will continue to lead - with the U.S. and our EU partners - in our determination to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapons program. We stand ready to lead in taking firmer sanctions and ask the whole international community to join us.
2008-07-22 01:00:00
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