Analysis – After waiting a few years, Israel's Netanyahu finally took action against Iran
By Crispian Balmer
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Iran once laughed at Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the boy who cried over the constant public warnings of Tehran's nuclear program, and he repeatedly threatened to shut it down in a way.
“You can only deceive some people,” said then Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in 2018 after Netanyahu reprimanded Iran of planning to build nuclear weapons in 2018.
Israel said that after two decades of raising alerts on Friday and urging other world leaders to take action, Netanyahu finally decided to act alone, with Israel authorizing Israel to attack targets in the air to prevent Iran from obtaining weapons of mass destruction.
In his speech to the country, Netanyahu evoked the horrors of the Nazi massacre in World War II to explain his decision.
“About a century ago, a generation of leaders failed to act in time in the face of the Nazis,” Netanyahu said. He added that policies to comfort Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler resulted in the deaths of 6 million Jews, “a third of mine.”
“After that war, the Jews and the Jewish states would never vow again. Well, it would never be today. The Israel list shows that we have learned the lessons of history.”
Iran said its nuclear energy plan was for peaceful purposes only, even though the International Atomic Energy Agency announced on Thursday that the country had violated its non-proliferation obligations for the first time in nearly 20 years.
Netanyahu, a former member of the elite special forces department responsible for some of Israel’s most daring hostage rescues, has occupied his politics for decades and became the longest-serving prime minister when he won an unprecedented sixth term in 2022.
During his tenure, he rarely missed the opportunity to tell foreign leaders about the dangers posed by Iran, showing comics of the atomic bomb at the United Nations, while always suggesting that he was ready to strike.
Military analysts said in past Premier League games that his mobile office with Iran was subject to concerns, which would trigger immediate revenge from Tehran regional agents, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, which would be difficult to contain.
But the Middle East has risen over the past two years, with Israeli Hamas launching a massive surprise attack on Israel in October 2023, and then dismantling most of Hezbollah in just a few days in 2024.
Trump cannot see
Israel has also sent publicly with Tehran since 2024, bringing Rocket Salvos deep into Iran last year, giving Netanyahu confidence in the power of his military scope.
Israeli military sources said the strikes allowed four of the Iranian-made air defense system to be around four near Natanz, the main Iranian nuclear site of Iran.
“Iran is easier than ever to strike its nuclear facilities. We have the opportunity to achieve our most important goal – to frustrate and eliminate existential threats,” Defense Minister Katz said in November.
But the newly installed U.S. President Donald Trump blinded him during his visit to the White House in April due to Netanyahu's shock, when he announced that the United States and Iran were expected to begin direct nuclear negotiations.
Netanyahu has locked Horns with the U.S. president on Iran (most obvious Barack Obama), who approved a deal with Tehran in 2015, imposing significant restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Trump withdrew from the deal in 2018, and Netanyahu hopes he will continue to take an uncompromising stance against Iran when he returns to office this year.
When announcing the talks, the White House set a two-month deadline for Iran to sign the deal. Even if a new meeting is scheduled for this weekend, the informal deadline expires on Thursday, Netanyahu pounces on it.
An Israeli official told state broadcaster Kann that Israel coordinated with Washington before the attack and presented recent newspaper reports that reports of a rift between Trump and Netanyahu in Iran were a trick to put Tehranian leaders in a false sense of security.
Image damage
Trump – after the strike began, said Iran could not have a nuclear bomb, but he wanted to negotiate – previously called the right-wing Netanyahu as a good friend. Other leaders fought against him.
In 2015, then-Bank France's President Nicolas Sarkozy talked to Obama about Netanyahu. He said, “I can't stand him anymore, he's a liar.”
The man once called “King Bibi” had a tough few years with his supporters, and at the age of 75, his legacy was exhausted.
The 2023 Hamas Ittact caused serious damage to his hawkish image, and polls showed that most Israelis blamed his security failure, making his deadliest attack since its founding 75 years ago.
He was subsequently prosecuted by the International Criminal Court for a possible war crime related to Israel's 20-month Gaza invasion that reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble. He refused to charge him.
Polls show that most Israelis believe the war in Gaza lasted too long, Netanyahu delayed the conflict to remain in power and avoided elections where pollsters say he would lose.
Even in the progress of multiple pre-wars, he had to take his own long-term corruption trial, where he denies any misconduct, which further obscures his reputation at home.
However, he hopes that the successful military campaign against Israel’s enemies will ensure his position in the history books he likes to read.
“From now on, history will record the position of our generation, act in time and ensure our common future. May God bless Israel. May God bless the power of civilization everywhere, everywhere.”
(Other reports by Alexander Cornwell and James Mackenzie; Written by Crispian Balmer; Edited by Clarence Fernandez)
