ABC’s This Week immediately busted Netanyahu during their interview for his favorite talking point that President Obama supports a deal on Iran’s nuclear program that would threaten the survival of Israel.
Video:
https://youtu.be/8-cJ3civh-M
To get more stories like this, subscribe to our newsletter The Daily.
MARTHA RADDATZ, HOST: Joining us now, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Prime Minister, why do you think President Obama and John Kerry would want an agreement that, as you say, threatens the survival of Israel and paves the path to a bomb?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m — it’s more they think it’s a good deal, but we differ. I think this is a — a bad deal. It leaves Iran with a vast nuclear infrastructure. It lifts the sanctions on them fairly quickly and enables them to get billions of dollars into their coffers. They’re not going to use it for schools or hospitals or roads, Martha, they’re going to use it to pump up their terror machine worldwide and their military machine that is busy conquering the Middle East now.
Netanyahu went on to call his criticism of the Iran deal a difference of opinion with President Obama, and spent the rest of the interview repeating the same neocon talking points that lay the groundwork for war that he has been using for decades.
The idea that President Obama wants a deal that would “threaten the survival of Israel” is a favorite talking point of both Netanyahu and the Republican Party. The unspoken message behind this bit of false information is that President Obama hates Israel.
Netanyahu hid his neocon agenda behind his claim that the current deal is a bad deal, but he never specified what a good deal would look like outside of tough language related to Iran’s support of terrorism. Netanyahu was of the typically delusional neocon belief that a regime can be broken and forced into accepting a deal with sanctions.
North Korea is the prime international example of why this strategy doesn’t work.
ABC’s Martha Raddatz asked some common sense questions that challenged Netanyahu talking point. The takeaway from the This Week interview was the same after his speech before Congress. Behind Netanyahu’s right-wing talking points is nothing. He is a toothless tiger, who is now afraid to publicly criticize President Obama.
Until Netanyahu and his Republican pals can explain what a “better deal” looks like, their criticisms deserve to be chalked up to partisan ideological whining.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
