Netanyahu incites for more unrest in Iran, hailing 'courage' of Iranian demonstrators

Netanyahu hails 'courage' of Iranian demonstrators

Sun Jun 21, 2009, 11:51 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) –

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday hailed the "incredible acts of courage" by Iranian demonstrators as they flooded into city streets and "unmasked" the true nature of the regime.

"Obviously you see a regime that represses its own people and spreads terror far and wide," Netanyahu told NBC's Meet the Press in an interview from his Jerusalem office, repeating Israel's longstanding position towards an Iranian leadership which has vowed the destruction of the Jewish state.

He then took the rare move of praising Iranians whose boisterous defiance on the streets of Tehran and elsewhere have pushed the regime to the brink.

"It is a regime whose real nature has been unmasked, and it's been unmasked by incredible acts of courage by Iran's citizens," Netanyahu said.

"They go into the streets and face bullets, and I tell you, as somebody who believes deeply in democracy that you see the Iranian lack of democracy at work, and I think this better explains and best explains to the entire world what this regime is truly about."

Thousands of Iranians have poured into the streets to contest the June 12 presidential election victory claimed by incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and endorsed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran says at least 17 people have been killed in the unrest, in what has emerged as the largest outpouring of public anger since the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"I think something very deep, very fundamental is going on, and there's an expression of a deep desire amid the people of Iran for freedom," Netanyahu said.

Israel considers Iran its chief threat following numerous calls by Ahmadinejad denying the Holocaust and saying (that Israel should have been established in Europe, where Jews were persecuted).

Widely considered the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, Israel suspects Iran of trying to develop atomic weapons under the guise of its nuclear programme, a charge Tehran denies. (The objective is for Israelis to maintain their hegemonic nuclear status in the oil-rich region).

Netanyahu stressed that he and Washington shared the same goal of preventing Iran's development of nuclear weapons, but he stopped short of commenting on whether President Barack Obama had spoken out strongly enough in defense of the Iranian demonstrators.

"I'm not going to second guess the president of the United States," the Israeli leader said.

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