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Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday criticized President Biden’s approach to Iran in his recent “scorched-earth” address to parliament — contrasting the US’s return to the Iran nuclear deal with President Franklin Roosevelt’s refusal to bomb train tracks to Auschwitz when given the opportunity.
In his final speech to the Knesset as prime minister, a defiant Netanyahu spoke for more than half an hour, declaring that he would no longer keep his foreign policy differences with the Biden administration “behind closed doors.”
“The new US administration has asked that our differences over the Iran nuclear deal be kept behind closed doors, and not shared publicly,” Netanyahu said Sunday, according to The Times of Israel. “I told them I wouldn’t act that way.”
In 1944, at the height of the Holocaust, US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt refused to blow up the railroad to the extermination camps, and refused to bomb the gas chambers, which could have saved millions of our people. We wished others would save us, and they didn’t come. Facing the threat of annihilation, we were helpless.
People celebrate after the Israeli parliament’s vote on a new coalition government, ending Benjamin Netanyahu’s 12-year hold on power, at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, Israel.
“Our voice was not heard among the nations. We had neither a state nor an army. But today we have a voice. We have a state and we already have a defensive power.”
In addition to criticizing President Biden in his recent speech, Benjamin Netanyahu declared that he and his allies would “return to power.” EPA / ABIR SULTAN
The prime minister was ousted on Sunday, when parliament voted to install a new government after Netanyahu failed in March to form a government after the elections. According to the deal, Naftali Bennett, who is said to be opposed to the Iran deal, will serve as prime minister for two years, to be replaced in 2023 by centrist Yair Lapid.
Netanyahu, who has been prime minister since 2009, accused the new coalition in power of being unwilling and unable to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
Naftali Bennett will serve as Israel’s new prime minister for two years AP / Ariel Shalit
“I heard what Bennett said [about standing firm against Iran]And I’m worried, because Bennett is doing the opposite of what he promised,” Netanyahu said.
The Prime Minister of Israel must be able to say no to the President of the United States in matters that endanger our existence. I would be happy if this does not materialize, but from the moment the United States returns to the Iran deal, this government will not approve operations against Iran to stop its armament,” Netanyahu said, according to the Jerusalem Post.
A senior Israeli diplomat told me that Netanyahu’s attacks against the Biden administration in his speech show that he decided to damage the US-Israel relationship for his own personal interests and is trying to leave scorched earth for the next government
– Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) June 13, 2021
But while the embattled prime minister is leaving office, Netanyahu has insisted he and his allies will soon return to lead.
“I have one modest request,” he told the incoming government, according to The Times of Israel. “Try to destroy the economy we leave as little as possible, so that we can fix it as quickly as possible when we return to power.”
A senior Israeli diplomat was reportedly not happy with Netanyahu’s speech.
New Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett (front row, left), Israeli President Reuven Rivlin and Alternate Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid pose for a joint photo with the new cabinet ministers.
One told Israeli reporter Barak David that his attacks would damage the country’s relationship with America, a key ally, for his own benefit. The official suspects that Netanyahu is trying to “leave scorched earth to the next government,” according to Ravid.
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