Yesh Atid party chairman Yair Lapid met Thursday with ambassadors from the European Union (EU) to discuss Israel’s security challenges and the Iran nuclear deal.

Lapid emphasized to the ambassadors that Iran is not only a problem for the State of Israel but for the entire international community. “Iran is lying all the way. They said to the entire world that they do not have a military plan for nuclear weapons, and we all know that it was a lie. It could be a nightmare for every one of you here: an extremist Islamic regime with nuclear capability.”

“The Iranian nuclear agreement is bad. It has significant problems. An international coalition must be created to solve the serious problems in this agreement: the ballistic missiles, the validity of the agreement, and Iranian support for terrorism,” Lapid added.

Lapid told the ambassadors that Israel will not be patient in the face of an Iranian presence in Syria. “You have to make it clear to Russia that there will be no stability in Syria as long as there is an Iranian presence. It can be one or the other. It can either be a stable Syria or there can be an Iranian presence.”

“It may be a problem for the Middle East at the moment, but it will become a bigger problem for Europe very quickly,” he added.

Lapid also referred to events on the southern border and accused Hamas of fomenting the violence at the Gaza security fence. “Hamas is using children and women as human shields. Israel is not interested in harming innocent people, but there is no country in the world, including none of your countries, that would allow hundreds of terrorists to infiltrate into its territory in order to carry out a terrorist attack and harm civilians.”

Lapid asked the ambassadors to act in their countries in order to work to outlaw the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Europe. “As long as Hezbollah’s political wing is not defined in Europe as a terrorist organization, Hezbullah continues to transfer funds to terror and recruit activists in Europe. Outlawing Hezbollah will allow us to stop Hezbollah’s money track, which is used, inter alia, to acquire missiles and weapons directed against Israel.”

Earlier Thursday, Lapid stated that he was opposed to the unilateral cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal.

“Netanyahu is trying to unilaterally cancel the agreement, I say let’s take six more months,” Lapid said during an interview with Army Radio. “I am opposed to the nuclear deal, but I am not in favor of canceling it unilaterally.”

“We should involve and coordinate this with the Europeans if we want sanctions on the ballistic missile program, on promoting terrorism and making the inspections stricter,” continued Lapid, who alleged that the US “doesn’t fully understand” what Israel seeks out of the deal.

Source » israelnationalnews