NETANYAHU: WEAK, RECKLESS OR JUST SMART?
By:Daniel Grynglas/Published: March 10th, 2015/Latest
update: March 9th, 2015
To maintain a working
relationship with Obama, Netanyahu has put aside his pride and swallowed the
many insults and offences which have defined his treatment by the White House.
On his first State visit in 2010 Netanyahu was given no
reception and forced to
enter the White House through a back entrance. He was left to languish in a
White House conference room for over an hour after Obama unexpectedly left to
have supper with his wife. In 2011 an open mike picked up some derogatory
comments made by Obama who thought he was talking to French President Sarkozy
off the record. To placate Obama and bring the Palestinians to the negotiating
table, Netanyahu even released scores of felons who had murdered Israeli
civilians. More recently, in another Jeffrey Goldberg article, Netanyahu found
himself referred to as a “chicken-shit” by administration officials who were
apparently gloating over the fact that he didn’t have the nerve to attack Iran
and that now it was too late. And the list goes on.
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| March 3, 2015 |
Recognizing that the United
States is the only power that can decisively deal with the Iranian threat,
Netanyahu has ignored insult and injury in exchange for Obama’s pledge to
prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. At this point in the game, it has
become clear to everyone including Netanyahu that his strategy of playing ball
with Obama and eating crow on the side has clearly not gotten that results he
had hoped for. After years of talks and as we enter the 13th month of a final
6-month round of negotiations, we are yielding on one issue after another to
Iranian demands.
In the President’s latest State of the Union speech, he has
confirmed that the White House is ready to lift the sanctions on Iran in
exchange for the most modest concessions. Experts differ in their estimates of
how many weeks or months it would take Iran to produce a bomb, but Obama has
made it clear that he is willing to accept Iran as a threshold nuclear state.
In his determined quest for some semblance of a foreign policy success, Obama
has displayed his eagerness to strike a deal with Iran that leaves the mullahs
within sprinting distance of a bomb and permanently endangers both Israel and
the free world.
Netanyahu has been forced to
recognize that Obama’s pledge to stop Iran from going nuclear has turned out to
be just another of his famous vanishing red lines. Hence when House Speaker
Boehner invited him to address Congress on Iran, Netanyahu promptly seized the
opportunity. By accepting Boehner’s invitation, Netanyahu indeed insulted the
President and probably caused an irreparable fallout with the current
administration. But given Obama’s politics of appeasement, Netanyahu has made
the decision to turn to Congress as Israel’s last best hope for help in
dismantling Iran’s nuclear program.
It is a bold and risky move, but
Netanyahu deserves praise for pursuing it. Although he was often criticized
domestically for not standing up to Obama, Netanyahu acted with caution and
humility through the long years when there was hope that Obama would stop Iran.
Now that this charade is over, Netanyahu has demonstrated that he can act
decisively and assertively when it matters. He has shown that he is willing to
risk confrontation, not for personal pride, but for the welfare of his nation.
The Jeffrey Goldbergs inside the
beltway will continue to criticize Netanyahu severely for antagonizing the
great power on whose good will Israel depends. But Netanyahu has given a no
confidence notice to the present administration, and he has chosen to place his
bets on Congress instead. By addressing Congress and the American people
directly, there is a chance that he may inspire America to rise to occasion and
stop Iran. And if this fails to materialize, there will be, at the very least,
a much clearer understanding all around of why Israel will do what it must do.
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