海角大神

A day after newly elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani聽gave a speech at the United Nations聽acknowledging the Holocaust and declaring Iran had no intention of building a nuclear bomb,聽听蹿别补迟耻谤别诲 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trudging to the United Nations asking himself, 鈥淲here is Mahmoud [Ahmadinejad] when I need him?鈥澛�

After all, it wasn鈥檛 too hard to convince other world powers 鈥撀爌articularly the US 鈥撀�that the guy who denied the Holocaust and talked about Israel being wiped off the map聽might not be someone whose finger you鈥檇 want on the trigger of a nuclear-armed country.

But Mr. Rouhani is much more measured and sophisticated,聽and his arrival on the world stage has been greeted with optimism, so聽Mr. Netanyahu鈥檚 usual rhetoric isn鈥檛 selling as well in the West this time.

But he has still resisted falling in line with world powers.聽

鈥淚ran thinks that soothing words and token actions will enable it to continue on its path to the bomb,鈥� Netanyahu said in a statement after Rouhani鈥檚 speech聽Tuesday, declaring that Israel would welcome a 鈥済enuine鈥� diplomatic solution. 鈥淏ut we will not be fooled by half-measures that merely provide a smokescreen for Iran's continual pursuit of nuclear weapons. And the world should not be fooled either."

The history of the Holocaust 鈥� including the appeasement of Britain and France at the 1938 Munich conference 鈥� is seared into the mind of Israelis, many of whom have parents or grandparents who suffered the disastrous consequences of Europe鈥檚 failure to stop Hitler early on until Winston Churchill took charge in Britain. A strong majority of Israelis share Netanyahu鈥檚 concern over a nuclear Iran.

鈥淚t鈥檚 quite clear that Iran is under some economic pressure and they want to relieve pressure, so they say things which the gullible West is happy to listen to,鈥� says Efraim Inbar, director of the聽Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies聽at Bar Ilan University. 鈥淚 think [Netanyahu] is trying to be the Churchill of the day.鈥澛�

But聽some are frustrated聽with his hard-line response to Rouhani鈥檚 speech last night, in which the Iranian president made a clear departure from the rhetoric of Mr. Ahmadinejad and acknowledged the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust.聽They worry Israel will become the country painted as obstructionist as US Secretary of State John Kerry works on resuming negotiations with Tehran, per President Barack Obama's request.

鈥淣etanyahu responded unwisely,鈥� says Meir Litvak, director of the Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University and an expert on Muslim anti-Semitism, explaining that he should have encouraged the change in rhetoric.

鈥淚 think he has no trust whatsoever about whatever they say. I think he is haunted by the fear that we are going to face another Munich.鈥�

Netanyahu ordered the entire Israeli delegation at the UN to boycott the speech by not attending, as was standard practice during Ahmadinejad's two terms. But given other countries' high expectations that Rouhani would turn a new page, some saw Netanyahu's decision as an overly drastic move that paints Israel as obstructionist.聽

鈥淚n diplomacy, you don鈥檛 have to play all or nothing. You don鈥檛 have to have all the delegation [boycott the speech]. You can leave one diplomat,鈥� says veteran Israeli diplomat Alon Liel, now retired. 鈥淚n a matter of months, we are the Iranians and they are the Israelis suddenly. I think it was a mistake.鈥�

Even a key minister in Netanyahu鈥檚 cabinet, Yair Lapid, criticized the move.

"聽shouldn't be portrayed as a serial objector to negotiations, uninterested in peaceful solutions. We must make the Iranians be peace objectors,鈥� said Mr. Lapid, the surprise star of Israeli elections earlier this year. 鈥淟eaving the UN Assembly is reminiscent of the ways Arab states behaved towards Israel."

It may well have been easier for Netanyahu if Ahmadinejad was back at the podium in New York, throwing a few juicy comments that were always disparaged by Western media.

鈥淚 think many Israelis including Netanyahu regard Rouhani as a more dangerous leader than Ahmadinejad because the world understood what was going on with Ahmadinejad,鈥� says political scientist Abraham Diskin,聽professor emeritus at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.聽鈥淲ith Rouhani 鈥� the world might be fooled.鈥�