Tuesday, 31 August 2021 (YJC)_ A member of the Knesset claimed Bennett should have learned from Netanyahu’s controversial 2015 speech to Congress on the Iran deal to stand up to pressure from US President Joe Biden.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett failed to stand up to pressure from US President Joe Biden on the Iranian issue, opposition representative Tzachi Hanegbi (Likud) said on Tuesday in a special session of the Knesset during its summer recess.
Hanegbi, who is one of the longest-serving MKs, recounted and claimed the history of Israeli prime ministers resisting pressure from US presidents, from Menachem Begin to Benjamin Netanyahu, and said Bennett failed to follow in their footsteps.
He claimed that Bennett should have learned from Netanyahu’s controversial 2015 speech to Congress on the Iran deal, which Hanegbi attended.
“It wasn’t easy or comfortable for them, but our prime ministers are not elected in order to receive compliments in the White House,” Hanegbi said.
“Bennett collapsed when he should have said ‘Mr President, I respect your view that the Iran deal should be resumed, but we will not be obligated by the agreement and we will not let Iran gain the power to wipe us off the map. We don’t need permission to defend ourselves.’ That is what was not said in the White House, and because it was not said, we have no confidence in this government.”
Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina), a close confidant of Bennett, responded on his behalf that the government inherited the situation with Iran from Netanyahu and was not party to the Iran deal.
“Israel reserves the right to decide for itself on the Iran issue,” Kahana said. “On the Iranian issue, the opposition should give its support and not make it a tool for politics.”
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