Former Prime Minister, MK Benjamin Netanyahu, said this evening (Monday) in an interview with Laura Slayer on i24NEWS that it is time to do more against the Iranian threat.
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Netanyahu was asked whether it was a mistake to encourage the Americans to withdraw from the deal - and replied: "No, it was the only thing that was right. Because the only thing that will work with Iran is not to give them a deal when the previous deal had already paved Iran's way to a bomb.".
""The new deal is even worse," Netanyahu said. "It allows Iran, with the stamp of approval of the international community, to enrich uranium indefinitely. It feeds them billions of dollars to continue their campaign of terror in the Middle East and around the world. The deal is terrible. In fact, Iran will get the bomb if it keeps the deal, so the deal is useless.".
'"What really needs to be done is to impose crippling sanctions and a credible military threat on Iran, to make sure that it dismantles its nuclear enrichment program, its underground bunkers, its ballistic missiles that are supposed to launch its nuclear arsenal anywhere in the world, to Europe, to the United States, anywhere else. So if you want to stop Iran, this deal is not the way to stop it. The way to stop Iran is with decisive pressure, and that's what I asked the previous United States administration to do.".
Netanyahu said that Iran has not yet implemented its nuclear program, because "we were led, and I pushed for it resolutely, not only to strong sanctions against Iran, but also to actions against Iran's nuclear program, which I will not detail here. You know what we did, among other things, we sent the Mossad to the heart of Tehran, we brought back the secret nuclear archive that proves that they lied to the world with a determined forehead. These actions, the economic sanctions and the tangible military threat, are what held Iran back for ten years.".
Netanyahu added: "If America is aggressive with the sanctions, everyone, including China, will align with its line. Why? Because companies and governments must choose between an economy the size of Israel, which is the Iranian economy, because Israel, which is 10 times smaller, has a tremendous GDP per capita, but Iran does not, so when they have to choose between a small economy like Iran or a huge economic power like the United States, with trillions of dollars, everyone aligns accordingly.".
""The reason sanctions don't work is that if you 'lift' the sanctions, which unfortunately the United States has just done to some of them, everyone will say, 'Okay, we can go do business with Iran.' If you are strong and you work to become even stronger, then others will join because they will be forced to choose - it's Iran or America. And they will always choose America economically.".
Netanyahu was asked whether the United States is listening to Israeli demands on the nuclear issue - and replied: "First, I hope that Israel expresses these concerns, because we have to do it. We are the first target, but the rest of the world is the next target. I think the most important thing is what is the right policy and what is the wrong policy. Not who is implementing it. When I saw American administrations over the years adopt policies that I thought would be dangerous for my country, I opposed it.
'"Sometimes they were Republicans and sometimes Democrats. So I think the issue is not the identity of the administration but its policy. And the policy right now is weak. And the right policy from Israel's perspective should be to go against it. I went to speak before the American Congress, to go against a sitting American president, I didn't do it lightly, I knew I was doing something unprecedented.
""But I knew that the survival of my country, and I think the survival of many countries, was at stake. I spoke in American forums and in countless television interviews. I did everything I could to move the Congress and the Senate against what I thought was a dangerous agreement, for the United States, for Israel and for everyone else. That's what I think needs to be done now. If it's done now, people will take notice. No one will be more pro-Israel than the Israelis themselves.".
Netanyahu was asked if he regretted not taking military action against Iran during his term, and replied: "I can't address everything we did. We did a lot of things over the years, some of which you've read about, others you haven't. I think these actions actually slowed down the Iranian nuclear program. To those who say, 'Look how far Iran has come' - Iran would have a nuclear arsenal, with dozens of nuclear bombs, if we hadn't done everything we did, both operationally and politically and economically. And I think it's time to do more.
'"Was there a moment when we could have done more? Yes, but these resolutions need to be passed. I am not a monarch. Even though there are those who say 'King Bibi'. No, you need to be elected and beyond that you need a majority to pass the resolutions. I couldn't pass all the resolutions I wanted and I think in retrospect people can see that what is needed is consistent aggressive activities against the most toxic and aggressive government in the world. You don't want the ayatollahs with nuclear weapons.".
Netanyahu was asked about the Abraham Accords and whether he was satisfied with the way the agreements were progressing under the current government: "I think it's great, I'm not one to take credit, I don't care about that. I've always believed that there are three things that must happen: The first thing is to get rid of the Palestinian veto (...). The second thing that is needed is the incentive, the negative incentive of Iran, because people saw, especially after my speech in Congress that I was even ready to confront the president of the United States, an important ally of ours, but in order to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions, they realized that Israel is an excellent ally, so the Gulf states approached Israel on this point, because they are also under the nuclear threat just like us. And the third thing that had to happen is a positive incentive, this is the promise of Israeli technology in water, in health, in cyber, in everything. They really saw that there were opportunities to improve the lives of their citizens.".
When Netanyahu was asked what he advises the parties taking part in the negotiations in Vienna and whether to abandon the negotiations, he replied: "Yes, of course! Or demand a better deal. A deal that forces Iran to dismantle its nuclear military infrastructure, that does not allow them to develop ballistic missiles, to stop developing weapons, to stop terrorism, that conditions progress in lifting sanctions on Iran on steps that Iran will take and not on predetermined timetables, which is what this deal does.
""I think that's what I would advise, but I would say that from my perspective, as someone who was the prime minister of Israel and has worked against such deals for a long time, the most important thing to say is that with or without a deal, Israel must do what it needs to do to defend itself against this enormous threat to its existence.".
