Benjamin Netanyahu
“But while Israel has shown willingness, Hamas remains entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power. Israel cannot accept that.”
15 hours ago
Bernard Smith
“I know my colleagues who were working out of occupied East Jerusalem have now stopped working out of there, and both Arabic and English channels have stopped broadcasting from there. The reason that those of us here in Ramallah and Gaza are still operating is because this is the occupied Palestinian territories. The Cabinet decision applies in Israel and Israel's domestic territory. To close Al Jazeera's operations in this part of the occupied West Bank, a military order from the governor would be required. That hasn't come yet. The network might be looking at some legal appeal, but it's a 45-day closure for now. It could be extended again, but it gives the Israeli authorities the right to seize Al Jazeera's broadcasting equipment and cut the channel from cable and satellite broadcasters. We know that's already happened in the last couple of hours in Israel; any operators that have been broadcasting Al Jazeera English or Arabic now have a sign on their screens saying they're no longer allowed to transmit and receive Al Jazeera.”
15 hours ago
Omar Shakir
“Their [Al Jazeera] offices have been bombed in Gaza. Their staff have been beaten in the West Bank. They've been killed in the West Bank and Gaza. Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, Israel should stop committing them.”
15 hours ago
Benjamin Netanyahu
“But while Israel has shown willingness, Hamas remains entrenched in its extreme positions, first among them the demand to remove all our forces from the Gaza Strip, end the war, and leave Hamas in power. Israel cannot accept that.”
15 hours ago
Bernard Smith
“I know my colleagues who were working out of occupied East Jerusalem have now stopped working out of there, and both Arabic and English channels have stopped broadcasting from there. The reason that those of us here in Ramallah and Gaza are still operating is because this is the occupied Palestinian territories. The Cabinet decision applies in Israel and Israel's domestic territory. To close Al Jazeera's operations in this part of the occupied West Bank, a military order from the governor would be required. That hasn't come yet. The network might be looking at some legal appeal, but it's a 45-day closure for now. It could be extended again, but it gives the Israeli authorities the right to seize Al Jazeera's broadcasting equipment and cut the channel from cable and satellite broadcasters. We know that's already happened in the last couple of hours in Israel; any operators that have been broadcasting Al Jazeera English or Arabic now have a sign on their screens saying they're no longer allowed to transmit and receive Al Jazeera.”
15 hours ago
Omar Shakir
“Their [Al Jazeera] offices have been bombed in Gaza. Their staff have been beaten in the West Bank. They've been killed in the West Bank and Gaza. Rather than trying to silence reporting on its atrocities in Gaza, Israel should stop committing them.”
15 hours ago
“If there was any illusion that we could one day rely on our Western partners, this illusion is no longer there. What the Americans want is a unipolar world which would not be like a global village but like an American village - or maybe like a saloon where you know the strongest calls the shots. We will now have to rely only on ourselves and on our allies who stay with us. We are not closing the door on the West - they are doing so.”
“Neutral status is now being seriously discussed along, of course, with security guarantees. Now this very thing is being discussed in negotiations - there are absolutely specific formulations which in my view are close to agreement.”
“We will not persuade anyone to buy our oil and gas. If they want to replace it with something, they are welcome, we will have supply markets, we already have them.”
“We will come out of this crisis with refreshed views of the world - with no illusions about the West. We will try to never again be dependent on the West.”
“Kosovo and some other parts of the Western Balkans are becoming a hotbed of crime. There are terrorists, drug dealers. Mercenaries are recruited there for military conflicts ignited by the US, among others. There is information that militants from Kosovo, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina are being recruited to knock Russia off balance, which includes sending them to Donbass [in eastern Ukraine].”
“We are very concerned by the reports of recent days - yesterday and the day before there was a sharp increase in shelling using weapons that are prohibited under the Minsk agreements. So far we are seeing the special monitoring mission is doing its best to smooth over all questions that point to the blame of Ukraine's armed forces.”
“I'm honestly disappointed that what we have is a conversation between a dumb and a deaf person...Our most detailed explanations fell on unprepared soil. They say Russia is waiting until the ground freezes like a stone so its tanks can easily cross into Ukrainian territory. I think the ground was like that today with our British colleagues, from which numerous facts that we produced bounced off.”
“We want good, equal, mutually respectful relations with the United States, like with every country in the world. Learning from bitter experience, we do not want to remain in a position where our security is infringed daily.”
“There was no positive response to the main question [NATO expansion] but there is a response, which gives hope for the start of a serious conversation on secondary questions.”
“[The West] is trying, as they say, to punish those who pursue an independent policy, primarily our country and the People's Republic of China, using all variety of unsuitable tools such as various sanctions, demonization in the media space, provocations by special services and much more.”
“If we don't receive a constructive answer, and the West continues its aggressive course, then Moscow, as our president said earlier many times, will undertake appropriate responsive measures.”
“We have serious doubts that the key thing in the proposals - the unconditional demand for a halt to NATO's eastward expansion - won't fall by the wayside.”
“We will be holding a major round of [security] talks with the United States that will take place immediately after the end of the New Year holidays. NATO is now a purely geopolitical project to develop territory that has become ownerless after the disappearance of the Warsaw Pact and after the collapse of the Soviet Union. This is what they are doing.”
“Negotiations would start at the very beginning of next year. The first round will be held in the form of a bilateral contact between our and US negotiators, who have already been named and are acceptable for both sides. We do not want war. We do not need conflicts and, hopefully, everyone else does not view conflicts as a desirable course of action.”
“We're going to make sure we are heard but the main thing is our security. So if NATO still refuses to discuss this theme or the guarantees or ideas put forward by the president of Russia Vladimir Putin, of course we will take measures to ensure that our security, our sovereignty and our territorial integrity does not depend on anyone else.”