Prime Minister Naftali Bennett for the first time on Thursday publicly presented the shift on Iran policy from the previous government, saying that Israel will work closely with its allies on countering Tehran’s nuclear program, while maintaining a credible military threat.
“We will continue to consult with our allies to convince, to talk, to share information and understandings, through deep mutual respect,” Bennett said at the graduation ceremony for new Israel Air Force pilots.
“But, in the end,” he added, “we will retain responsibility for our fate in our own hands, and not in anyone else’s hands. We will behave responsibly and seriously to protect the great legacy of which we are custodians.”
Israel would prefer a world that understands that “this violent, fanatical regime, that elected ‘the hangman of Tehran’ as its president, that is willing to starve its nation for years in order to attain a military nuclear program, is a regime with which one cannot do business,” Bennett said.
“Unfortunately, that is not the case.”
Bennett said there will be no compromise in protecting Israel’s security and ensuring its existence.
The graduation ceremony also commemorated 40 years since Operation Opera, when the IAF bombed and destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor, and Bennett said that “the years have passed and our enemies changed and developed. Then, it was Iraq, now it is Iran.”
“The other side’s level of sophistication and determination has advanced, but our enemies know – not from declarations, but from actions – that we are many times more determined, many times more sophisticated and do not hesitate to act when necessary. Then, and now as well,” Bennett said.Earlier this week, a drone attacked one of the buildings of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, a site at which Iran manufactured centrifuges. Intelligence sources said the strike caused major damage, but Iran claimed it had been foiled. The site was on a list of targets Israel presented to the Trump administration last year, The New York Times reported.
Bennett’s speech indicates a change from former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies days after the end of a sixth round of indirect negotiations in Vienna between the US and Iran to return to the 2015 nuclear deal.
While both oppose the Iran deal, Netanyahu refused to discuss it with US President Joe Biden and his administration, preferring previous president Donald Trump’s policy of heavy sanctions and not wanting to bind Israel or grant legitimacy to any version of the Iran deal by consulting with the US on its details.
Bennett, however, has responded to the likely scenario of an American return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action by trying to cooperate with the Americans to reduce the possible damage to Israel’s security.
The prime minister has allowed Israeli sanctions experts to go to Washington to discuss which sanctions Israel thinks should be kept in place if the US returns to the deal. Israeli experts are also expected to discuss with the Biden administration enforcement mechanisms to restrict Iran’s nuclear program.
Foreign Minister Yair Lapid plans to meet with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Rome on Sunday, and Iran is one of the items on the agenda. Lapid will also become the first Israeli minister to make a state visit to the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday; Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi share security concerns about Tehran.
Bennett’s speech can also be viewed as a response to comments by Netanyahu on Monday, in which the opposition leader claimed that Lapid saying that he and Blinken agreed to “no surprises” is a sign of weakness.
Netanyahu argued that by not surprising the Americans, Bennett and Lapid are tying Israel’s hands.
“I never, ever, agreed to tell them about all our operations, because it would invite pressure not to carry them out, or leaks to the press that would prevent the operation and take away our freedom to act against Iran on existential matters,” he said.