T. Belman. Netanyahu was upbeat after meeting with Austin and said that he appreciates “US President Joe Biden’s and Austin’s commitment to Israel’s security.” He seems to have received assurances.
The question is, what assurances did he give in return.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Ben Gurion Airport about to board a plane for Rome on March 9, 2023. (Lazar Berman/Times of Israel)
After meeting with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the meeting was “important and comprehensive.”
He adds that he deeply appreciates US President Joe Biden’s and Austin’s commitment to Israel’s security.
“If there is anyone in Tehran who thinks that they can progress toward a nuclear bomb, they are mistaken,” he says.
He says he sees a shift in the US and Western attitude to Iran in recent months to a more aggressive stance that needs to intensify further, saying that this will be at the center of his conversations in Rome and other European capitals.
He also speaks about the ongoing protests around judicial overhaul plans.
“All of our efforts at dialogue have been met with total refusal from the opposition and attempts to bring the country to anarchy,” he says, adding that he won’t let the opposition bring down Israel’s democratically elected government – their true goal, he claims.
“We won’t let anyone disrupt Israel’s democracy and cancel the decision of the majority in Israel, as expressed in the recent elections,” he concludes.
The same zeal that saw Israel become the most vaccinated country in the world, needs to be restrained to keep its own counsel about Iran or any matter until the day another administration more favorable is in charge here. This means assuming the worst about allies’ assurances because the fight will have no rescue in words. Assume the entirety of Obama’s past dealings with America’s best Middle Eastern ally hold sway now in the Biden administration and are not hospitable to anything that sustains the Jewish state. On every front, no matter how indispensable to United States’ interests Israel believes it has made itself it can only rely on its strength, its vision. This should not need to be said because it is a truism of sovereignty to guard a nation’s own interests but the protectors must not misjudge who is in power in Washington.