(Communicated by the Prime Minister's Media Adviser)
 
Following are two excerpts from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's remarks, today (Thursday, 25 June 2015), at the Israel Air Force pilots course graduation ceremony:
 
"The foremost threat that endangers our security is Iran's effort to arm itself with nuclear weapons. Concessions to Iran are increasing as we approach the date that has been determined between the major powers and Iran for achieving the goals. These concessions are whetting Iran's appetite. Every day it raises its demands in order to extort even more concessions.

Recently, Iranian ruler Khameini even ruled out the most basic conditions in the bad agreement being formulated in Lausanne - no to the restrictions that were planned for the nuclear program in the coming decade, no to conditioning the lifting of sanctions on Iran's fulfilling the agreement, no to inspections of military sites. Even if, in the next few days, Iran would concede on some of these demands, the basic concession by the major powers would still be considerable and there will be a glaring withdrawal from the red lines that the major powers had previously declared in public.

This agreement is fundamentally flawed. It leaves Iran with a path to achieve an arsenal of nuclear bombs within a decade. It enables Iran to break out to nuclear weapons before then, thanks to monitoring that is full of holes. It immediately gives Iran many billions with which it will increase its subversive activities, occupation and terrorism, against Israel, the entire Middle East and beyond. It is still not too late to take stock. It is still not too late to insist on a good agreement. And it is certainly still not too late to not move forward on a bad agreement. It has always been said by various world leaders, by the leaders of the major powers, and I repeat it now – No agreement is better than a bad agreement. But whatever happens, Israel will always defend itself and in this the air force will play a major part."
 
(…)
 
"Today the Security Cabinet unanimously approved accelerating the development and expansion of the natural gas fields that have been discovered off Israel's coasts. This was in consideration of the State of Israel's security needs and its foreign relations. We are advancing a realistic solution that will bring gas to the Israeli economy and not a populist solution that will leave the gas deep underground. I have already seen enough countries that succumbed to populism and their gas has remained underground or in the depths of the sea. This outline breaks up the monopoly. In the coming decades, it will add hundreds of millions of shekels to education, social welfare and health for all Israeli citizens. After years of discussion and debate, I am certain that this is the prudent, correct and necessary solution for all citizens of the state."