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Last update - 12:12 06/08/2008
Mofaz: Iran is the root of all evil, threat to world peace
By Mazal Mualem, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters
Tags: Mofaz, Iran, nuclear 

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, a contender to succeed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, denounced his native Iran on Wednesday as "the root of all evil," saying that the Islamic republic's nuclear program constituted a threat to world peace.

Mofaz was speaking a day after he launched a campaign for a party leadership primary election, scheduled for next month, whose winner will be named prime minister.

Opinion polls show that Mofaz, a deputy prime minister and former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff and defense minister, is a frontrunner in the contest to lead the centrist Kadima party but trails Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
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Olmert, dogged by a corruption probe, said last week he would step down once a successor for the party leadership was chosen.

"The Iranians are the root of all evil," Mofaz said in a live interview on Israel Radio, adding that Tehran's nuclear program would pose "a threat to Israel's existence".

He urged the West anew to impose stiffer sanctions on Tehran to pressure Iran to stop enriching uranium, which Israel believes is intended to produce atomic weapons.

Mofaz, who was born in Tehran before many Iranian Jews moved to the new state of Israel, accused his native country of trying "simply to bide its time," by rejecting Western proposals to stop enriching uranium.

"This has been the Iranian strategy for years, to bide their time and continue with their enrichment," Mofaz said.

The security cabinet met behind closed doors on Wednesday to discuss its intelligence assessments that Iranian-backed Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon have been rearming with rockets since the 2006 Second Lebanon War.

Mofaz: I will personally lead peace talks with the Palestinians

In an interview with Haaretz on Tuesday, Mofaz address the ongoing peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, saying "as soon as I have the authority vested in the prime minister, I will lead the negotiations with the Palestinians by myself; I won't let anyone else do it."

"I have more years of experience than others. I will give the negotiations with the Palestinians utmost priority. I will do my best to advance them and to achieve results, and that's a promise. I will put all of my weight behind it and will deal with it personally," he said.

Regarding fears voiced by senior Palestinian officials that Mofaz as prime minister would spell disaster for the peace talks, he said: "I want to remind [people that] the one who signed the Wye River Accord with [the Palestinians] and carried it out was me, as head of the [Israel Defense Forces] Planning Administration. I spent nights with them and solved security, economic and humanitarian issues, both as chief of staff and as defense minister.

"They know me, after all," Mofaz continued, "Abu Mazen [Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas], [Palestinian Authority Prime Minister] Salam Fayyad and [PA chief negotiator] Saeb Erekat. They'll say that everything I promised, I delivered. True, I don't go easy in negotiations, I'm not a man of words - I'm a man of actions and I promise to bring results. It won't happen in two days and maybe not in a year, but there will be results."

In his speech Tuesday night next to the Old City of Jerusalem walls, Mofaz said that he, as someone who had seen the sights of war, understands the significance of peace.

"For years I experienced the hardship of war, the suffering of battles and the loss of friends, subordinates and commanders .... Kadima under my leadership will continue the path of previous prime ministers who worked to bring peace and security for Israel," Mofaz said.

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      1.   Mofaz and Iran 12:55  |  I.Kemp 06/08/08
      2.   Kadima holhim ahora... 13:05  |  Danny 06/08/08
      3.   World must serve Israel 13:30  |  Truth Seeker 06/08/08
      4.   The Root of All Evil!!!! 14:00  |  MR 06/08/08
      5.   the root of all evil,is the traitorous KADIMA gangsters 14:05  |  chaim 06/08/08
      6.   #1 - good negative response, but who would you vote for ? 14:17  |  redmike 06/08/08
      7.   Israel 14:52  |  Worlder 06/08/08
      8.   Mofaz boasts that..... 15:27  |  Esther 06/08/08
      9.   Here we go again,does anyone believe in this guy`s rhetoric,does 15:33  |  lakshmi 06/08/08
      10.   Mofaz 16:01  |  Steven 06/08/08
      11.   Livni & Mofaz = blind ambition 16:14  |  Alex 06/08/08
      12.   Root of all evil 16:14  |  Brod 06/08/08
      13.   Brod, Youre A Fool... and a Menace 16:25  |  Jimmy 06/08/08
      14.   WHAT IS HE TRYING TO PROVE 16:28  |  indrajaya 06/08/08
      15.   Mofaz 16:33  |  Steven 06/08/08
      16.   Israel Is No Saint!! 16:37  |  Cool B 06/08/08
      17.   Who would I vote for ? 16:49  |  I.Kemp 06/08/08
      18.   Jimmy #10 16:59  |  Brod 06/08/08
      19.   Mofaz. if you love Israel, stay out of it...! 17:07  |  Esther 06/08/08
      20.   For Redmike #6... re Tzipi Livni... 17:27  |  Esther 06/08/08
      21.   #16 17:43  |  ny 06/08/08
      22.   World polls: Israel biggest threat to world peace 18:30  |  gottlieb 06/08/08
      23.   ??? is the root of all evil, threat to world peace 18:34  |  Natallie Durson 06/08/08
      24.   Jimmy #10 18:38  |  Brod 06/08/08
      25.   Coul dnot hav e said it better 18:41  |  Septimus 06/08/08
      26.   #16 - thanks. I quite like Meir Shetrit but .. 19:06  |  redmike 06/08/08
      27.   leibe gott 0.002% of the world threatens peace 19:06  |  victor hardman 06/08/08
      28.   Jimmy #10 19:16  |  Brod 06/08/08
      29.   Is being crazy a Job Requirement for PM? 19:49  |  D. 06/08/08
      30.   Jimmy #10 19:58  |  Brod 06/08/08
      31.   Poor Esther! Reality is consistently worse than our peace dreams! 20:09  |  S 06/08/08
      32.   Durson reassues us that Iran no threat to US or Europe 20:28  |  Stephen in New York 06/08/08
      33.   Brod on logical fallacies... 20:28  |  BBSNews 06/08/08
      34.   Israel wants to be the only bully on the block 20:35  |  L A 06/08/08
      35.   Full exposure 20:46  |  Blogowitz 06/08/08
      36.   BBSNews #23 20:52  |  Brod 06/08/08
      37.   The propaganda of Bush and Mofaz 20:52  |  Jay Bob 06/08/08
      38.   alot of tribes have seen judaio/christians 20:52  |  billy jack 06/08/08
      39.   Iran opposes the Occupation, not Israel. Go Saudi Solution! 20:55  |  Ivar 06/08/08
      40.   mofaz is the most racist, most horrible, most merciless 21:06  |  mehmet 06/08/08
      41.   Iran does not have nuclear weapons 21:09  |  Edith 06/08/08
      42.   SNY on EMP hysterics... 21:10  |  BBSNews 06/08/08
      43.   Hahaha 21:12  |  Fritrz T. 06/08/08
      44.   @ mehmet 21:22  |  Ralph 06/08/08
      45.   Poor Esther! Reality is consistently worse than our peace dreams! 21:23  |  S 06/08/08
      46.   Mofaz and Ahmad has the same mentality! 21:25  |  Jack 06/08/08
      47.   The idiot is correct this time. 21:40  |  Fortuna Benmayor 06/08/08
      48.   the other way around 21:57  |  najoure 06/08/08
      49.   #36 - I didn`t know Mofaz was a Muslim ?! 21:58  |  redmike 06/08/08
      50.   say it with bombs. 22:25  |  frenz 06/08/08
      51.   Another wild-eyed Israeli politician . . . 22:28  |  Maki 06/08/08
      52.   Ivar #37 22:31  |  Brod 06/08/08
      53.   #39 ivar and what occupation? arabs on israels land 22:42  |  victor hardman 06/08/08
      54.   Money remains the root of all evil, signed Jesus. 22:49  |  John Isenhower 06/08/08
      55.   Mehment #40 22:53  |  Brod 06/08/08
      56.   Victor, others have rebutted your de jure, irrelevant to peace 23:42  |  Ivar 06/08/08
      57.   #56 - seems like you don`t understand the word apartheid 23:58  |  redmike 06/08/08
      58.   Re S #31 00:03  |  Esther 07/08/08
      59.   Re S #31 00:10  |  Esther 07/08/08
      60.   Go back to sleep, Mofaz, you don`t know what you`re talking about 00:13  |  Uzi Hirschberg 07/08/08
      61.   Something tells me he himself is Iranian 00:14  |  uh-oh 07/08/08
      62.   Evil Iran will continue enriching only 3.5% uranium - not weapons 00:32  |  Pablo B 07/08/08
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