Netanyahu: 1967 Borders 'Indefensible'

Protesters heckle Israeli prime minister at AIPAC
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted May 24, 2011 6:50 AM CDT
Netanyahu: 1967 Borders 'Indefensible'
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting in Washington, on Monday, May 23, 2011.   (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Benjamin Netanyahu stuck to his guns in a speech to AIPAC yesterday, vehemently rejecting President Obama’s call for a return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders. Any peace agreement “must leave Israel with security, and therefore Israel cannot return to the indefensible 1967 lines,” he told the pro-Israel lobby, according to the Global Post. He heaped blame on the Palestinians, saying, “This conflict has raged for nearly a century because the Palestinians refuse to end it.”

His speech was interrupted multiple times by Code Pink protesters, who echoed Netanyahu’s words back at him, telling him that “Starving Gaza is indefensible” and “Silencing dissent is indefensible” and so forth, according to Haaretz. Some of the protesters said they were Jewish. “I will not allow my faith to be misused as a weapon,” one protester said. “Discrimination is not a Jewish value.” Netanyahu replied, “Do you think they have these protests in Gaza?” implying that it was Hamas silencing dissent. (More Israel stories.)

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