Photo: REUTERS/Lucas Jackson http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=286073
While some bloggers and critics skewered Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu for
his “Looney Tunes” bomb graphic at the UN on Thursday, Netanyahu said over the
weekend his goal was achieved: to get the world talking about red lines for
Iran.
Netanyahu, in interviews from New York with Israeli television networks, said his objective was to translate the principle of setting red lines on Iran into simple, practical terms. “This is resonating today around the world,” he said.
“Hundreds of millions of people saw it and understand now what they perhaps did not understand beforehand – what it means to stop Iran, at what phase and what stage of its nuclearization. The red line needs to be before Iran finishes the second stage of enriching the material it needs for an atomic bomb.”
The prime minister deflected charges that the use of the graphic was a gimmick, saying instead that it was an effective way to convey a message. The image of Netanyahu drawing a line with his red pen on the graphic of the bomb was the front page picture Friday in most of the major newspapers in the world.
It is always a difficult challenge, Netanyahu said, to take complicated ideas and make them simple. “You need to invest a lot of thought in that, and I did. I see that people are talking about this. They took it in the digital world and the Internet and turned it into a tool to increase and amplify discussion on the topic – and the more they are talking about this, the better it is for Israel.”
Netanyahu said his job as prime minister is to focus the world’s attention on Iran’s nuclear efforts. “I think that what I did serves that purpose,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who told reporters on his plane that he spoke to Netanyahu following his UN speech, joked about the graphic.
“I complimented him on his address at the UN,” Romney said. “I suggested that his graphic was not up to the normal Boston Consulting Group Standards. No, I didn’t actually do that, but I was thinking about it.” The two men worked together briefly at the Boston Consulting Group in the late 1970s.
WRH:
Netanyahu, in interviews from New York with Israeli television networks, said his objective was to translate the principle of setting red lines on Iran into simple, practical terms. “This is resonating today around the world,” he said.
“Hundreds of millions of people saw it and understand now what they perhaps did not understand beforehand – what it means to stop Iran, at what phase and what stage of its nuclearization. The red line needs to be before Iran finishes the second stage of enriching the material it needs for an atomic bomb.”
The prime minister deflected charges that the use of the graphic was a gimmick, saying instead that it was an effective way to convey a message. The image of Netanyahu drawing a line with his red pen on the graphic of the bomb was the front page picture Friday in most of the major newspapers in the world.
It is always a difficult challenge, Netanyahu said, to take complicated ideas and make them simple. “You need to invest a lot of thought in that, and I did. I see that people are talking about this. They took it in the digital world and the Internet and turned it into a tool to increase and amplify discussion on the topic – and the more they are talking about this, the better it is for Israel.”
Netanyahu said his job as prime minister is to focus the world’s attention on Iran’s nuclear efforts. “I think that what I did serves that purpose,” he said.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who told reporters on his plane that he spoke to Netanyahu following his UN speech, joked about the graphic.
“I complimented him on his address at the UN,” Romney said. “I suggested that his graphic was not up to the normal Boston Consulting Group Standards. No, I didn’t actually do that, but I was thinking about it.” The two men worked together briefly at the Boston Consulting Group in the late 1970s.
WRH:
Memo to Prime Minister Netanyahu; actually, both in Israel and around the world, the issue of "red lines" has more to do with your current state of mental competency and sanity than Iran.
It is unfortunate that, after over 60 years of existence, Israel has no Constitution. Because if it did, there might have been a provision somewhat similar to the 25th Amendment to the US Constitution, enabling the government to remove high officials for physical or mental incompetency.
I would be willing to bet real money that there are those in the Knesset, as well as individual Israelis, who are very worried about your current state of mind, and very concerned that there is nothing they can do, short of a new election, and THAT appears to be pushed off until next year due to the inability of the current coalition to pass a budget.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told his coalition partners he will have to call an early election if they do not back a "responsible" budget he must present by the end of the year. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Sebastian Scheiner/Pool Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem July 30, 2012. REUTERS/Sebastian Scheiner/Pool Netanyahu said he would start meeting coalition partners after he returns home from New York on Sunday. Failure to pass the budget by December 31 would mean bringing forward a national ballot currently scheduled for October 2013. "I'm sorry to say that it depends on each and every (coalition member)," Netanyahu told Israel's Channel 1 television in an interview recorded in New York on Friday and aired in Israel on Saturday night.
Could it possibly be that your irrational push for war against Iran was simply a smokescreen over financial difficulties Israel is experiencing right now, Mr. Prime Minister?
Just checking, sir.
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