PM Netanyahu's Remarks at the Start of Cabinet Meeting

10/07/2011

Following are Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting today:

"Good morning. Yesterday, a new state was born, South Sudan. I hereby announce that Israel recognizes the Republic of South Sudan. We wish it success. This is a peace-seeking country and we would be pleased to cooperate with it in order to ensure its development and its prosperity. Congratulations to South Sudan.

Last week, we stopped the defiant fly-in against the State of Israel. We acted methodically and successfully in a variety of spheres – diplomacy, intelligence, public security, migration control and others, in order to frustrate this provocation. And indeed the provocation was foiled. The agents provocateurs who tried to enter the State of Israel, a considerable portion of them were stopped at their points of origin, some were stopped at Ben-Gurion International Airport and some, a minority, entered the State of Israel and were detained here.

First of all, I would like to thank our many friends around the world who helped us in this matter. I also thank Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, whom I asked to coordinate the effort in Israel and who did so very well. I also thank Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Interior Minister Eli Yishai and his people. Thanks, of course, to Israel Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino and the police, and to the security forces and the Population Authority personnel. I would also like to thank all of the Government officials who worked successfully on this issue. I would also like to make it clear that Israel will continue to frustrate provocations and attempts to break through our borders, whether by land, sea or air.

Today, the Cabinet will decide on the demarcation of Israel's exclusive economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea. This boundary will delineate the area in which the state enjoys exclusive economic rights, including the right to exploit the sea's natural resources. The area that we are talking about borders on Lebanon and Cyprus to the north. The outline that Lebanon submitted to the UN is significantly further south than the line Israel is proposing. It also conflicts with the line that we have agreed upon with Cyprus and, what is more significant in my eyes, it conflicts with the line that Lebanon itself agreed upon with Cyprus in 2007. Our goal is to determine Israel's position regarding its maritime border, in keeping with the principles of international maritime law.

ENDS

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