Will Netanyahu Be Satisfied With Trump’s Assurance?
Several commentators have recently pointed out that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu resembles the “Boy Who Cried Wolf” in the Aesop’s fable.
In 1992, the then-parliamentarian gave an address to the Knesset in which he asserted that Iran was “three to five years” away from reaching nuclear weapons capability, and that this danger needed to be “uprooted by an international front headed by the U.S.”
In his 1995 book, Fighting Terrorism, he made a similar claim, as he did in addresses to Congress in 1996 and in 2002. During the latter address, he claimed that Saddam Hussein was also close to getting a nuke.
A 2009 U.S. State Department cable released by Wikileaks reported that the then-prime ministerial candidate Netanyahu had assured a visiting Congressional delegation that Iran was “probably one or two years away” from developing nuclear weapons capability. Another 2009 cable reported the re-elected Prime Minister telling another delegation of American politicos that “Iran has the capability now to make one bomb … [or] they could wait and make several bombs in a year or two.”
In a 2010 interview with Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic, he asserted “You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs . . . that’s what is happening in Iran.”
In 2012 Netanyahu said in talks reported by Israeli media that Iran is just “a few months away” from attaining nuclear capabilities.” Later in 2012 he addressed the United Nations and asserted that Iran would be able to build a nuke in roughly one year.
To be fair
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