Terror Attacks in Mombasa, Kenya
Press Conference by Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Jerusalem, November 28, 2002
We've had a terrorist attack against Israelis in Africa, in Kenya. We
know at the moment of two dead children, others that are hurt. We are
taking emergency action to provide medical assistance to the wounded
and to bring back the rest of the Israelis to Israel.
There was in addition to this terrorist attack another attempted
downing of an Israeli civilian aircraft in Kenya by shoulder-fired
missiles. This is a very serious escalation of international
terrorism.
I want to remind you that, in the 1970s, in the late '60s, the rash
of hijackings that came from Arafat's PLO was first directed against
Israel and then spread as a worldwide epidemic. The fact that the
forces of terror - terror organizations and the regimes that back
them - have shoulder-fired missiles that can down civilian aircraft
is known. The fact is that they are using them, and the weapons that
they are using against us are growing in their ferocity and their
ability to murder us.
This could have resulted today in the death of 150 Israelis. Today
this is directed against Israeli planes in Mombasa, tomorrow they
could be directed at Israeli planes from a Palestinian state, from
Tel Aviv, and may I say that if the forces of terror and the
terrorist states are not dismantled, they will be directed at the
planes of states and countries and nationalities worldwide. This has
to be brought down today. The terror network has to be stripped, the
terror regimes have to be dismantled, the terror organizations
destroyed. If we don't destroy them, they'll destroy us.
Q: Mr. Netanyahu, who do you believe is behind this? Do you have any
information?
A: We have our suspicions. We don't yet have concrete information.
There are several possibilities, but I don't want to make a
definitive statement, because we don't know yet. We will know. I'm
being told right now that the number of dead has gone up to three.
Q: Is the assumption that the Palestinians are involved in this?
A: No, I don't know who specifically is involved in this, but yes,
Palestinian organizations have been trying to get shoulder-fired
missiles to direct at Israeli aircraft for quite some time. Hizbullah
has been very active in this effort. When you have regimes like Iran
and Syria and others, and Iraq, that are supporting these terrorists,
they have shoulder-fired missiles. So as long as this network is
around, it's just a question of time before they'll get these
weapons. It's just a question of time before they'll down civilian
aircraft. And may I say it always begins with Israel; it never ends
with Israel. So this is not just our battle: it's a common battle
against this global terror network, that President Bush set out to
unite the civilized forces against. We're merely at the cutting edge.
We have to bring down this terror network before it brings us down,
brings our planes down.
Q: What measures should be adopted by the Israeli government in
response to this morning's attack and by the international community?
A: There are defensive measures that can be taken to protect our
aircraft. There are obviously warnings that we can give to the
terrorists. But I have to say that whatever defensive measures we can
have, we cannot put an armed guard next to every tourist. We cannot
protect every plane that takes off or lands in every airfield in the
world. It's simply impossible. There are defensive measures that are
and will be intensified, but at the end of the day to win this battle
you have to defeat the forces of terror. And defeating them means
that you have to take on not only the organizations, but the regimes
that make the organizations' work possible. This is the most
important part of defeating international terror.
Q: Have you been in contact with the Americans, and what did they
say?
A: We've been in contact first with the Kenyan government and we've
been in close consultation with them about medical assistance and
logistics. We're in contact with other governments as well. Of course
we're talking with the American government and many other friendly
governments, but at the moment our efforts are primary launched at
getting immediate medical assistance to the wounded, because there
are different degrees of injury there, and we're trying to save
lives. This is the most important thing.
... We're talking about the future of Israel and we're talking also
about the future of our battle against international terrorism, and I
think this is what is at stake right now. Because you have to
understand that unless we defeat terror, it will defeat us. These are
people who have no limitation, no inhibitions, no moral compunctions.
They will use any weapons they have. If we give them the political
and military power to be independent, to be not under our control,
they will use those powers to kill as many of our citizens as they
can. Not only the citizens of Israel, but the citizens of many many
lands. There is no compromise; no possibility of compromise with the
forces of terror. They either destroy us, or we destroy them. It's
about time that we woke up to this simple reality.
Thank you very much.