Israeli Prime Minister Prepares to Convince the World that Iranian Danger Remains

As Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu left for New York and his uphill battle to convince the world not to buy into the moderate image being painted of Iranian President Hassan Rohani by Western media, Israeli diplomats joined their counterparts from the Gulf States in assessing the ramifications of the rapprochement-in-the-making between the United States and Iran. Ironically, it appears to be only those Arab nations who agree with Jerusalem’s assessment of Iranian duplicity and share Netanyahu’s belief that Rohani is a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are reported to be enraged over the latest development: the telephone call between President Obama and Rohani. For the Israelis, the expectation is that the Jewish state will be forced into making some gesture to prove to Tehran that the Americans are serious, possibly something that will erode its nuclear ambiguity – the lynchpin of its defense strategy and the target of an all-out assault by the Arab nations. On Saturday, the Egyptian Foreign Minister in his address to the General Assembly called for the Middle East to be a nuclear weapons-free zone and for Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. All American administrations had meticulously protected Israel’s nuclear ambiguity until former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton accepted the nuclear-weapons-free-zone idea “in-principle” during President Obama’s first term, albeit with the caveat that the time is not ripe for doing so. Meanwhile, Netanyahu put his government under a gag order, prompting American-based representatives including the Israeli ambassador to cancel media appearances and interviews. Netanyahu is reportedly trying to prevent criticism of President Obama that he sees as inevitable. The prime minister will visit the White House on Monday before returning to New York where he will be the final speaker to address the General Assembly’s opening sessions.