This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen
on .
It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
Netanyahu Will Address U.N., but Focus May Be Healing Rift With U.S.
Netanyahu, at U.N., Condemns Iran Nuclear Deal
(about 5 hours later)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel is scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday. The New York Times Jerusalem bureau chief, Jodi Rudoren, looks at what message he has and how it might be received.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel doubled down Thursday in his harsh condemnations of the Iranian nuclear deal, describing the widespread international praise for it as a grave misjudgment.
Mr. Netanyahu has generally made the Iranian nuclear program a focal point of his addresses at the United Nations, famously holding a poster of a cartoon bomb and drawing a red line through it while on the podium in 2012. But with the Obama administration and five other world powers having concluded an agreement with Tehran that Israel bitterly opposed, Mr. Netanyahu will be wary of isolating himself even further by continuing to rail against it. With a November meeting set between him and President Obama, it is time to move on, and the United Nations speech is a high-profile chance to show (or pretend) that he has.
“I wish I could take comfort in the claim that this deal blocks Iran’s path to nuclear weapons,” Mr. Netanyahu said in his speech at the annual meeting of the General Assembly. “But I can’t, because it doesn’t.”
That may be too much to ask. Lately, Mr. Netanyahu has emphasized Iran’s role in the region, as a sponsor of Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia, and a supporter of the Syrian military; the Houthi rebels in Yemen; and Hamas, the Palestinian Islamists who control Gaza. He is likely to speak broadly of Islamic extremism and terrorism, comparing Iran to the Islamic State as the antithesis of the modern, democratic, civilized world.
There had been some expectations that Mr. Netanyahu would use the podium at the United Nations to get past his bitter rift with the Obama administration over the Iran nuclear agreement, which eases sanctions on that country in exchange for guarantees that its nuclear work remains peaceful. But his remarks showed he was not letting the disagreement go so easily.
Mr. Netanyahu may well make the Palestinian issue the primary focus of his speech, though he may not engage directly with the declaration made on Wednesday by his counterpart, President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, that the Palestinians will no longer be bound by agreements with Israel if the country violates them. Mr. Netanyahu’s government says it is upholding the Oslo peace accords and other agreements.
“Most Israelis believe this nuclear deal with Iran is a very bad deal,” he said, appearing to risk further isolation not only with the Obama administration but other countries on the Iranian nuclear question. “And what makes matters even worse is that we see a world celebrating this bad news.”
Instead, Mr. Netanyahu will most likely rail against Mr. Abbas’s comments regarding the contested holy site in the Old City of Jerusalem, which Jews call the Temple Mount and Muslims the Noble Sanctuary. Mr. Abbas said Israel was trying to change the longstanding status quo prohibiting non-Muslim prayer at the site and even divide it. Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly said he was doing no such thing and accused Mr. Abbas of inciting violence there.
His speech was frequently applauded by the Israeli delegation in the General Assembly hall. Delegates from the United States, which helped lead the negotiations on the nuclear agreement, were silent.
The prime minister will also undoubtedly reiterate his readiness to restart peace talks with his Palestinian counterpart anywhere, anytime. Mr. Netanyahu insists that these talks have no preconditions — but that itself is a condition he knows the Palestinian leader will not accept. (Mr. Abbas has insisted that he will resume negotiations only if Israel releases long-serving Palestinian prisoners, halts construction of West Bank settlements and bases the talks on the pre-1967 lines that divided Israel from the West Bank and Gaza Strip.)
Mr. Netanyahu opened his speech by reminding the General Assembly how Iran had sought to expel Israel from the United Nations more than three decades ago, reinforcing his argument that Iran is one of Israel’s most dangerous adversaries.
Still, Mr. Netanyahu’s most important audience is, in many ways, Mr. Obama, who has expressed deep skepticism about the prime minister’s commitment to the two-state solution and is still deciding whether and how to press again for progress on Middle East peace. With the Iran deal behind them, both Mr. Obama and Mr. Netanyahu are looking to repair their wrecked public relationship. Mr. Netanyahu’s speech regarding the Palestinian issue is an important step in that process, whether real or made for TV.
Describing Iran as “a dark theocracy that conquers its neighbors,” Mr. Netanyahu rejected the view that Iran would use money freed by the nuclear deal’s sanctions relief for economic development.
“Here’s a general rule I learned,” he said. “When bad behavior is rewarded, it only gets worse.”
