Bibi: Iran Will Be Big Issue of Next Term
Iran’s perceived nuclear threat against Israel will be the central issue concerning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government if he is re-elected in a month’s time, the Israeli leader said on Saturday.
Netanyahu has set out a mid-2013 “red line” for tackling Iran’s uranium enrichment project. The West says this programme is aimed at developing the means to build atomic bombs. Tehran denies this, saying it is enriching uranium for civilian energy.
“Preventing Iran becoming a nuclear (threat) is, I would say, the central aim in my next term if I earn the confidence of voters,” Netanyahu told Israel’s Channel 2 in a recorded interview.
Opinion polls have consistently shown Netanyahu’s rightist Likud Beiteinu party as the clear front-runner for the Jan. 22 elections, meaning he would be called upon to form a new coalition government.
Since announcing elections on October 9, Netanyahu discussed Iran nuclear programme in public less frequently than he had before setting the “red line” in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on September 27.
But he told interviewers that he was dealing with the issue on a daily basis.
“There is not a day on which I do not speak to foreign leaders about Iran, this was the case and it remains so,” he said.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning journalism this Passover.
In this age of misinformation, our work is needed like never before. We report on the news that matters most to American Jews, driven by truth, not ideology.
At a time when newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall. That means for the first time in our 126-year history, Forward journalism is free to everyone, everywhere. With an ongoing war, rising antisemitism, and a flood of disinformation that may affect the upcoming election, we believe that free and open access to Jewish journalism is imperative.
Readers like you make it all possible. Right now, we’re in the middle of our Passover Pledge Drive and we need 500 people to step up and make a gift to sustain our trustworthy, independent journalism.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
Our Goal: 500 gifts during our Passover Pledge Drive!
