Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog said that there is “no daylight” between his position on the emerging nuclear deal with Iran and the position of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in an interview with The Telegraph published today.
If the US Administration hoped that Mr Herzog might dilute Israel’s visceral suspicion of an imminent nuclear deal with Iran, however, then he seems likely to disappoint. …
“There is no difference between me and Netanyahu in reading the threat of Iran. There is no daylight between us on this issue at all,” said Mr Herzog. “I do not oppose the diplomatic process. However, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. We want to know ‘what is the deal?’ What’s the best deal possible that can be reached and would it change the region in a better direction? And here we are worried.” …
“There are some issues that must be improved substantially and we are waiting to see. I’m actually worried that they won’t be fully met,” he said. “One is inspections: it has to be clear that the inspection chapter includes the ability to have thorough, immediate inspections of all installations, 24/7. There are rumours of some vagueness. I’m extremely worried. I think that’s the main tool to enable the agreement.”
In a speech to the Jewish Agency’s board of governors on Monday, Netanyahu pointed out that the deal would not only provide Iran with a path to a nuclear bomb, but would also strengthen Iran’s ability to destabilize the Middle East.
Speaking to the heads of national communities as well as the various religious denominations at the Jewish Agency’s thrice yearly board of governors meeting in Tel Aviv, Netanyahu said Iran, which he termed “the most aggressive power in the world,” will step up its arming of terrorist groups as soon as the deal is signed and Tehran receives a “cash jackpot of $150 billion” in unfrozen assets.
“What do you think will happen with that money?” which is almost half of the country’s GDP, Netanyahu asked. “Will it go to courses and classes on coexistence with Israel and harmony among peoples or do you think it will go to arm the revolution? “The consequences of the Iran deal are not merely a nonconventional threat that will be hanging over our heads, it’s the immediate conventional threat” against Israel, Yemen and other regional countries, as well as more terrorism worldwide, he asserted.
“The number one threat facing Israel and the Jewish people is Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and we are now at a historic crossroads. The negotiators are discussing a deal that will endanger Israel’s survival.
During the election campaign earlier this year, Herzog wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times warning of the dangers of a nuclear Iran:
[A] nuclear Iran would endanger not only Israel. If it goes nuclear, the Middle East will go nuclear, putting world peace itself in jeopardy. This is why the Iranian nuclear challenge must not be seen as Mr. Netanyahu’s obsession, or anyone’s partisan issue, but as a central issue for the whole international community to address.
In April, Herzog and former Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni released a statement calling the nuclear understandings “problematic,” and asked the United States to “legitimize any action Israel will be forced to take in order to preserve its security in the situation that is created.”
[Photo: HerzliyaConference / YouTube ]