Likud MK Ze’ev Elkin says, ‘not many world leaders receive same treatment from the U.S. Congress, as Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.’
By Attila Somfalvi
The official invitation extended to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to speak before the Congress is a testament to the fact the prime minister is a significant asset to the State of Israel, MK Ze’ev Elkin (Likud) said on Tuesday in an interview with Ynet.
Earlier Tuesday, White House Speaker John Boehner told CBS’s 60 Minutes: “There’s nobody in the world who can talk about the threat of radical terrorism, nobody can talk about the threat that the Iranians pose, not just to the Middle East and to Israel, our longest ally, but to the entire world, but Bibi Netanyahu.” Commenting on such statements, the Likud MK said “not many world leaders get the same treatment from the Congress; he’s an asset.”
Elkin explained that despite the disagreements and tensions between Israel and the United States over Netanyahu’s decision to accept the invitation to address the Congress, “the bottom line is that he is coming to the parliament of the world’s top superpower, an arena which, to a great extent, effects the president – it makes a difference, even when he’s in the midst of a dispute with the president. Obama has to take into account the parliament, the Congress. They understand that the fate of Israel is on their shoulders.”
According to Elkin, “the prime minister’s trip to Washington isn’t the problem; unfortunately, the problem is that the western world is heading towards what appears to be a bad agreement with Iran.”
Commenting on assessments by Israeli diplomatic sources, according to which an agreement is unlikely to be reached before March, Elkin said: “I don’t know when it will be signed, or if it gets signed. After all, they are talking about an interim agreement first, and a final agreement towards the summer. We are entering the ‘money time’ in any situation.”
Responding to questions concerning criticism from right-wing members about members of the Zionist Camp and accusations made that they are not true Zionists, Elkin said: “The Zionist camp is not a proper name for a party which includes quite a number of candidates who identify themselves as post- Zionists.
“They have to tell the public the truth – ‘we are the Labor, socialist party, we have Mapai Zionists and many post-Zionists,'” Elkin continued. “The public will decide whether it wants such a list in power.”
View original Ynet publication at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4619850,00.html