Netanyahu: The Real Story

Washington was the centre of the world’s focus this week as Prime Minister Netanyahu played a high brinksmanship game with the American government.

His trip was centred on an effort to persuade the Americans to reject any bad deal with the Iranians over their nuclear capability. But in the days before the Israeli Prime Minister’s speech the pressure seemed all to be on him rather than on the Mullahs. Journalists and politicians alike seemed intent on making this a potential breaking point between the allies rather than a point of potential unity between friends.

At the heart of this is a matter we have written on here before. The day to day dramas of political rivalries are the stuff that the media is made of. It feeds the media’s need for novelty and drama. But it is not – and should not be mistaken for – the story itself. The story of our time is not the rivalries or possible animosities of Speaker Boehner or President Obama. It is – among other things – the story of whether Iran becomes a nuclear power and causes a nuclear arms race and eventual nuclear cascade across the Middle East.

This is what Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech attempted to address. Amid the intricacies and banalities of negotiation much gets lost to the public and politicians alike. The negotiating room can be a difficult place to sustain principles. Particularly when facing masterful and long-game negotiators. But the aim of the democracies to prevent the Iranians from getting nuclear capability must be kept in sight.

This is what Netanyahu attempted to do this week. To reorient and appropriately focus Western attention. Whether he succeeded or not only time will tell. But he was right to try.