No gains for Netanyahu from Iran war – former Israeli interim president

Washington and West Jerusalem had vastly opposed timelines and motivations for the conflict, Professor Avraham Burg said in an interview with Going Underground

The US‑Israeli war on Iran and the recently announced ceasefire have exposed a fundamental clash of political interests between US President Donald Netanyahu and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to former acting Israeli president Avraham Burg.

In an exclusive interview with Afshin Rattansi’s show ‘Going Underground’ on RT, Burg explained that Trump had an interest in ending the conflict before it had an impact on the midterm elections in the US. “It should have been a very short exercise,” Burg said. 

Netanyahu, on the other hand, “has to extend it as long as possible because he wants to go into elections in a state of war” according to Burg, who noted that “Israelis, when there is a state of war, usually rally around the flag of the government.” The next legislative election in Israel is set for late October.

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The former speaker of the Knesset argued, however, that Netanyahu’s gamble backfired. “As for now, Netanyahu did not profit a thing politically from this campaign – he may have lost a lot,” Burg said, predicting that “the next elections will show that Israelis are fed up with his manipulation, his tricks, his shticks, and his endurance. These are the very last couple of months of his government.”

Burg also dismissed the idea that the war was an existential necessity for Israel. “Iran was not an existential threat to Israel. It was a real problem that could have been dealt with by diplomacy, by agreements, by different equilibrium and balances.” He also rejected speculation that Netanyahu would use nuclear weapons to stay in power, calling it unthinkable.

On the ceasefire, Burg described Trump’s unilateral move as a “divorce” from Israel, concluding that the only clear winner from the conflict was Iran, which “got hit very strong but survived, and therefore it won.”

Check out the full episode of Going Underground, which airs exclusively on RT.