Meanwhile, UPenn hosts Bibi;

Netanyahu: Iran’s aims must be combated

Netanyahu, who is the chairman of Israel’s conservative Likud party and served as the country’s minister of finance in 2003, spoke at Huntsman Hall to an audience of several hundred amid dozens of police officers and Israeli secret-service agents. All who attended the event were required to arrive early to undergo a thorough security inspection.

In his address, Netanyahu argued that conservative economic policies are essential to stimulate growth.

“The crucial thing for economic growth is an environment where it pays to innovate, invest and work,” he said.

Such an environment, he said, is attainable through tax cuts, radical reform to enhance market competition and government spending reduction.

And you thought Israel was socialist? He sounds like Ronald Reagan.

Standing in the way, he said, is militant Islam.

“Certain portions of the Islamic world have a seething resentment of Western growth,” he said. “We can no longer rely on our Western assumption that religious wars have passed from the world.”

Netanyahu warned the audience of Iran’s potential nuclear capability and suggested that Israel is merely one potential target of Iranian aggression. He stressed a need for economic vision, power and political will to combat an Iranian threat.

“The power ultimately comes from the people who transcend partisan interest and realize that lives are at stake,” he said.
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Zach Fuchs, a sophomore in Wharton and the College, said he was impressed with Netanyahu.

“He is the Winston Churchill of our times,” he said.

Terp Mole on September 7, 2006 at 9:24 AM