Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu blasted the world's hypocrisy on Monday, saying there is a wave of condemnation of Israel when it "builds a balcony in Jerusalem," but only a drizzle of censure when Iran tries to smuggle long-range missiles into Gaza.

Netanyahu, standing at a naval base in Eilat in front of rows of interdicted Syrian missiles and Iranian mortar shells, said that there are those in the world who did not want Israel to show the intercepted ordnance because they were not interested in knowing what was truly happening inside Iran, but rather to "develop the illusion that Iran has changed direction."
"But the facts," Netanyahu said, "prove the exact opposite." Without mentioning EU policy chief Catherine Ashton by name, he did refer critically to her current visit to Iran.

"I heard only isolated and weak condemnation of Iran from the international community regarding this deadly shipment," he said. "By contrast, we are witness to smiles and handshakes of representatives of the west with the representatives of Iran in Tehran at the very time that these missiles were being unloaded in Eilat.”
On Sunday Netanyahu said he expected Ashton to raise this issue during her visit in Iran. Diplomatic officials told The Jerusalem Post that relations between Ashton and Netanyahu are strained, and that the two have not spoken since August.

Netanyahu said that the world's ignoring Iran's involvement in the deadly shipment "is more evidence of the era of hypocrisy in which we live." This hypocrisy is not only morally wrong, he said, but dangerous.

"This time there were long-range missiles in these containers," he said. "In the containers in the future Iran can arm nuclear suitcases that it can send to every port in the world. The world must wake up from its illusions before it is too late and prevent Iran from getting the capability to manufacture nuclear weapons."