MIDDLE EAST: Wikileaks revelations show common regional interest over Iran - Netanyahu

Record ID: 395855

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: Wikileaks revelations show common regional interest over Iran - Netanyahu
  • Date: 30th November 2010
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) BARBARA BEN JOSEPH, JERUSALEM RESIDENT, SAYING: "I think it's an absolute scandal and I don't understand how it happened and I think it should have been prevented by the government, by the American government." RESIDENTS WALKING BY
  • Embargoed: 15th December 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Communications,International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA79LK92G6XLTKW3AZEC4D0F7QO
  • Story Text: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday (November 29) that leaked U.S. diplomatic cables had exposed widespread Arab fear of Iran's nuclear programme and vindicated his priorities in peacemaking.
    On Sunday (November 28), the expected leaks were viewed as a potential damper to secret coordination between Washington and its allies. On Monday Netanyahu saw a hope for new rhetoric from Middle East leaders long wary of publicly echoing Israeli concern over Iran.
    "For the first time in modern history, there is not an inconsequential agreement in Europe and in the region -- in Israel and countries in the region -- that the main threat stems from Iran, its expansion plans and its weaponisation steps. This was exposed in a very persuasive way in the latest disclosures, although it was known, while it was not said directly," Netanyahu said in a speech to newspaper editors in Tel Aviv.
    Israel says an Iranian bomb would embolden those opposed to Middle East peace and endanger its existence.
    Such concerns found echoes in the Wikileaks trove, which described Saudi Arabia urging the Americans to "cut off the head of the snake" by attacking Iran. One Arab dignitary even compares Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Hitler.
    Netanyahu said he hoped Arab leaders would be courageous enough to say publicly what they think secretly.
    Israel, which is reputed to have the region's only atomic arsenal, sees itself as uniquely threatened by Iranian uranium enrichment and has long lobbied for foreign intervention.
    Alon Liel, a former Israeli diplomat, said that the revelations made on the whistle-blowing website were not groundbreaking.
    "We have seen in the last few years leaks and quotes about leaders in Europe and elsewhere that were more embarrassing than the quotes we are seeing now so if it is an earthquake it is not a mega-earthquake. It's... I don't see many casualties. The main casualty is American diplomacy but I don't see bilateral relations with friendly countries really being damaged as a result of the leaks," Liel told Reuters Television in his home in Mevasseret Zion.
    While Israeli newspaper headlines read 'top secret' and 'nuclear leak' in big, black and red writings, residents of Jerusalem stayed relatively indifferent to the whistle-blowing website publication.
    "It's really really not ethics to do something (like this), because it is secret and it is private things and it is terrible to do it," said Ray Sherf, a Jerusalem resident, adding "Maybe it can also bring good things I don't know,"
    Another resident of Jerusalem, Barbara Ben Joseph said the leaks were a scandal and should have been prevented.
    "I think it's an absolute scandal and I don't understand how it happened and I think it should have been prevented by the government, by the American government," Ben Joseph said.
    The White House condemned the release by WikiLeaks and said the disclosures may endanger U.S. informants abroad. WikiLeaks said its website was under attack and none of the underlying cables was visible there Sunday night, though some were posted by news organisations.
    The leaked documents were made available for an advance look to Britain's Guardian newspaper, France's Le Monde, Germany's Der Spiegel and Spain's El Pais.
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