Israel is concerned over the thaw in Western-Iranian ties that has been developing at breathtaking pace in the last few days and culminated Friday with a phone call between the American and Iranian presidents.
“I am going there to represent the interests of the people of Israel, our readiness to defend ourselves and our hope for peace,” Netanyahu told reporters on the plane before taking off for the US. “I will say the truth. In the face of the sweet talk and the smiles one needs to tell the truth. Only the truth, today, is vital to the security of the world, and of course essential to the security of our country.”
On Monday, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet US President Barack Obama at the White House. A day later, he will be the final world leader to address this year’s United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The prime minister has said he regards Iran’s outreach as a “smokescreen” designed to “fool” the West while the regime advances toward a nuclear weapons capability. He has set out conditions that he wants the international community to maintain before any lessening of economic sanctions.
Netanyahu’s meeting with Obama will mark the first time the two leaders have sat together since the American president’s March visit to Israel, and, more dramatically, since the historic phone call between Obama and his Iranian counterpart, Hassan Rouhani — the latest in a series of developments last week that signaled a warming of ties between the new nations. The last time a sitting US president spoke to a sitting Iranian president was before the Islamic Revolution in 1979.
Netanyahu issued no direct comment on the Obama-Rouhani conversation and instructed his ministers to remain mum. He intends to discuss Israel’s position on the Iranian president’s charm offensive – which included more benevolent rhetoric on ties with the US and the West, a stated willingness to compromise on transparency of the Iranian nuclear program and an acknowledgement that the Holocaust occurred – during his meetings with senior US officials. He will also make a public plea against easing the sanctions on the regime during his speech Tuesday at the General Assembly.
On Monday, Netanyahu, who is being accompanied by Deputy Foreign Minister Ze’ev Elkin, will fly to Washington for an 11:15 a.m. meeting with Obama. The meeting has tentatively been scheduled to last two hours and 15 minutes, and is expected to deal with the Syrian crisis and the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, in addition to the Iranian nuclear program and the West’s response to Rouhani’s outreach.
Later on Monday, Netanyahu is also to meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State John Kerry, before attending a farewell ceremony for outgoing Israeli ambassador to Washington Michael Oren on Capitol Hill.
On Tuesday, Netanyahu will be the last speaker to address the 68th General Assembly at the UN’s headquarter in New York. After his speech, he will meet with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. A meeting with American Jewish leaders is scheduled for Wednesday, before he returns to Israel.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday ordered his government colleagues and ambassadors not to respond to the latest, dramatic development in Iran’s outreach to the West, in which President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani broke a 30-year US-Iran rift and spoke by telephone on Friday.
Israel was informed ahead of time that the call would take place, but “there was no advance coordination of positions” between Israel and the US on the content of the talk, Israel’s Channel 2 reported Saturday night, adding that Netanyahu remains convinced that Iran’s ostensible outreach is “a fraud” designed to get sanctions lifted without truly abandoning the drive to nuclear weapons.
Netanyahu told his Ambassador to the US Michael Oren to cancel a scheduled interview with Channel 2 news Saturday night, told his Minister for Strategic Affairs Yuval Steinitz also to cancel a planned TV interview, and instructed members of his government to make no comments on the new atmosphere of conciliation in American-Iranian ties.
Netanyahu’s order came hours after Tzachi Hanegbi, a member of the prime minister’s ruling Likud Party and a member of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, told Israel Radio that unless a substantive nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic is reached soon, Israel will take the necessary steps to defend itself and remove the threat.Those in Netanyahu’s circle said Saturday night that the prime minister, who has repeatedly urged the world in recent days not to be “fooled” by Rouhani’s charm offensive, sees his role as reminding the international community that Iran is not to be trusted, and that it is seeking to have economic sanctions lifted without abandoning its drive to nuclear weapons. Netanyahu knows he is “in the minority” internationally, but remains determined to stress the imperative for Iran to be judged by deeds not words.
Israel’s position was set out by Netanyahu before Rouhani went to New York and it remained unchanged, they said: Unless or until Iran fulfills four conditions — halting uranium enrichment, removing already enriched material from the country, shutting down the Fordo facility, and discontinuing the plutonium track – there should be no easing the pressure on the regime.
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