We can’t say for sure that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to strike Iran imminently, but in his powerful speech before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee tonight, he laid the framework for such an action.
Netanyahu started by mocking Iran’s claim that its nuclear program was merely about producing medical isotopes, saying the world should start “calling a duck a duck.” He decried all of the talk about the cost of preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, suggesting that “It’s time we started talking about the cost of not stopping Iran.”
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He made it abundantly clear that, he “will never gamble with the security of Israel.”
A nuclear Iran, he said, would not only threaten Israel, but it could transport nuclear material to terrorist groups throughout the world, drive up oil prices and set off a nuclear arms race in the rest of the Middle East.
In a stark departure from President Obama’s remarks on Sunday in which he talked about the sanctions starting to work, Netanyahu said the sanctions were proving ineffective in slowing Iran’s march toward a nuclear weapon.
He emphasized that Israel had already “patiently waited” for years for sanctions and diplomacy to work, but “none of us can afford to wait much longer.”
Stirringly, Netanyahu recalled the failure to prevent the Holocaust, assuring the crowd that the Jewish people would “never again” allow themselves to be killed because of their faith. Now that they have Israel, he said, they will defend themselves.
“I will never let my people live in the shadow of annihilation,” Netanyahu said.
We don’t know if Netanyahu is preparing a strike for weeks or months, or if he has a different timeline in mind. But he did make the case for action.
