Benjamin Netanyahu: U.S. Official’s Comments Are ’Attack Simply For Defending Israel’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday that he was “under attack simply for defending Israel” following comments from an unnamed United States official.

The offending words came in an interview with The Atlantic ’s Jeffrey Goldberg. The anonymous senior Obama administration official is quoted by Goldberg as saying, “The thing about Bibi [Netanyahu’s nickname] is, he’s a chickens**t.”

Goldberg said the comment “is representative of the gloves-off manner in which American and Israeli officials now talk about each other behind closed doors” and indicates that the two governments “have moved toward a full-blown crisis.”

According to The Guardian , Netanyahu addressed the Israeli Knesset shortly after the publication of the interview.

“When there are pressures on Israel to concede its security, the easiest thing to do is to concede,” he said. “You get a round of applause, ceremonies on grassy knolls, and then come the missiles and the tunnels.”

Goldberg has a unique vantage point, having also interviewed both Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu. He says that Obama, “in interviews with me, has alluded to Netanyahu’s lack of political courage.”

According to Goldberg, the unnamed official added:

“The bad thing about him is that he won’t do anything to reach an accommodation with the Palestinians or with the Sunni Arab states. The only thing he’s interested in is protecting himself from political defeat. He’s not [Yitzhak] Rabin, he’s not [Ariel] Sharon, he’s certainly no [Menachem] Begin. He’s got no guts.”

Goldberg spoke to another official, who confirmed the widespread behind-the-scenes opinion of the Israeli prime minister.

“It’s too late for him to do anything” about Iran’s desire to obtain a nuclear weapon, the second official told Goldberg. “Two, three years ago, this was a possibility. But ultimately he couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger.”

But on Wednesday, Netanyahu stressed to the Knesset that he is “not prepared to make concessions that will endanger our state.”

Understand, our national interests, topped by security and the unity of Jerusalem, are not what top the interests of those anonymous forces attacking us, and me personally. I am under attack simply because I am defending the State of Israel. If I didn’t stand firm on our national interests, I would not be under attack.

I respect and cherish the deep connection with the United States. Since the establishment of the state, we’ve had our arguments and then some. We have seen time after time, year and year, support rising among the American public. The strategic alliance between the stances is continuing and will continue.

Benjamin Netanyahu’s second tenure as prime minister, beginning in 2009, has been marked by persistent tensions with the Obama administration over the handling of Iran’s nuclear program as well as Israel’s relations with the Palestinians.

[photo credit: U.S. State Department]

Benjamin Netanyahu: U.S. Official’s Comments Are ’Attack Simply For Defending Israel’