ISRAEL: Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes American president-elect Barack Obama is serious about denying Iran nuclear weapons

Record ID: 313761

  • Title: ISRAEL: Opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu says he believes American president-elect Barack Obama is serious about denying Iran nuclear weapons
  • Date: 9th December 2008
  • Summary: TEL AVIV, ISRAEL (DECEMBER 8, 2008) (REUTERS) ISRAEL'S OPPOSITION LEADER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU ADDRESSING CONFERENCE TITLED 'TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY WARS: COUNTERINSURGENCY AND THE CHALLENGE OF GLOBAL TERRORISM' VARIOUS OF NETANYAHU ADDRESSING CROWD NETANYAHU SPEAKING AT CONFERENCE NETANYAHU LEAVING ROOM (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAEL'S OPPOSITION LEADER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "President-elect Obama spoke to me about his view that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. I say that what counts is the goal and the result that he envisions and the way that he achieves that goal is less important. I was impressed by his commitment to prevent Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, a country that openly says that it will use the weapons of mass destruction against Israel and perhaps not only against Israel. I have no doubt that that commitment is genuine and that he will follow through with it." JOURNALIST TAKING NOTES (SOUNDBITE) (English) ISRAEL'S OPPOSITION LEADER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU SAYING: "This is an issue that endangers Israel, endangers the United States, endangers the entire world and certainly endangers peace." NETANYAHU WALKING AWAY
  • Embargoed: 24th December 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Israel
  • Country: Israel
  • Topics: International Relations,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAN7XF8U26OT9C3087PDLGBNNV
  • Story Text: The man many tip to be Israel's next leader said on Monday (December 9) he believed Barack Obama was serious about denying Iran nuclear weapons, even if the president-elect made no mention in a recent interview of a U.S.
    military option.
    Benjamin Netanyahu, whose right-wing party leads in polls ahead of a February 10 election, was responding to concerns raised by Israeli analysts that Obama did not explicitly say in an interview on Sunday that he could resort to force against Tehran if it did not accede to U.S. demands over its nuclear programme.
    "President-elect Obama spoke to me about his view that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. I say that what counts is the goal and the result that he envisions and the way that he achieves that goal is less important. I was impressed by his commitment to prevent Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, a country that openly says that it will use the weapons of mass destruction against Israel and perhaps not only against Israel. I have no doubt that that commitment is genuine and that he will follow through with it," Netanyahu told Reuters in a brief interview.
    Israel's insistence that its Iranian enemy must not be allowed to develop an atomic bomb has fuelled speculation that the Jewish state, widely assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, could mount its own pre-emptive strike.
    Obama said in an television interview that he would offer Iran economic incentives to stop pursuing nuclear technologies that have bomb-making potential, with the threat of tougher sanctions if it did not comply.
    Contrasting his latest comments with the routine refusal of outgoing President George W. Bush to rule out a military option, some Israeli commentators said Obama's statements signalled that the next U.S.
    administration, already fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, would be unwilling to open up a third front.
    Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, but its stridently anti-Israel rhetoric has stirred fears of a regional war.
    Despite speculation of an Israeli go-it-alone strike, many analysts believe that only the U.S. military has the clout to finish such a job and that any independent action by Israel would require at least tacit approval by Washington.
    Netanyahu, currently opposition leader, is seen in Israel as more hawkish on Iran than his main rival for the premiership, centrist Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
    Three years ago, Netanyahu called for Israel to reprise, against Iran, its 1981 bombing of Iraq's main nuclear reactor. But more recently he has voiced a preference for exhausting U.S.-led diplomatic and economic pressure on Tehran.
    Asked if Israel might feel circumscribed by Obama, Netanyahu said: "I think that it's important that Israel and the United States have close consultations on this issue. This an issue that endangers Israel, endangers the United States, endangers the entire world and certainly endangers peace."
    Many Israelis blame Iran, which backs the Islamist group Hamas, for disrupting peace efforts with the Palestinians.
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