Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at his best speaking with CBS News’ Charlie Rose.
There are plenty of good sound bytes here, but some things that stood out for me include:
- Charlie Rose’s seeming cynicism of Netanyahu and tone that borders on disrespectful
- Netanyahu implying he and John Kerry disagree on the approach to Iran
- Netanyahu quoting Rouhani regarding the ability to enrich uranium to weapons’ grade once you can do it for “civilian purposes”
- Netanyahu being cagey about Israel’s ability to stop Iran
- “When people say they are out to kill you, take them seriously,” followed by a very Martin Niemöller-eque statement
- Netanyahu being coy about resolving the situation in Syria
- Netanyahu talking about the need for palestinian concessions and the palestinian’s history of opposing a Jewish state, as well as palestinian incitement
- Netanyahu speaking of our unilateral withdrawal from Gaza and its results
- Netanyahu speaking of how difficult it was to release terrorist prisoners
- Netanyahu clearly explaining how the “settlements” neither cause the conflict nor stand in the way of a solution
- Netanyahu stating the conflict is about a “Jewish state”
- Netanyahu speaking of our deep history and historical attachment to the land of Israel
- Netanyahu’s priceless reaction to the suggestion of having an international force
- “I’d rather have bad press than good eulogies”
Netanyahu hits a home run here. The problem is, much of the rest of the world seems to prefer playing cricket.
