Former Mossad chief Meir Dagan has criticized Israel Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, and his plan to address the US Congress, which he says will seriously harm Israel’s relations with the U.S. He also said that the policies of the Likud Party leader as well as those of the “Jewish Home” party leader Naftali Bennet will lead to Israel becoming a binational state.
Dagan, who spoke with journalist Ilana Dayan at a seminar organized by the Ariel Sharon Leadership Forum at the Tel Aviv Museum, said that there is no benefit to Netanyahu’s trip to the United States. His criticism came after the backlash of the US government over Netanyahu’s decision to speak at the invitation of Speaker of the House Boehner without first consulting with the White House.
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President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry decided not to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu during his visit. The Obama Administration has stated that it would be inappropriate for the President to meet with a world leader when that leader’s country is so close to new elections as Israel is now.
“The prime minister’s position is known to the Americans, ” Dagan said in the video which was published on Ynet. “I do not think if he would come and give a speech at the Congress that it will change the mind of the American president.”
When Dayan asked Dagan why Netanyahu is making the trip he said, “This is not the only question which I would ask the Prime Minister. “Netanyahu’s position will not change the West’s position on the Iranian issue, but his actions bring our relationship with the Americans to an extreme point and this might extract an unbearable price from us in the future.”
Dayan asked if he thinks that the actions of the Prime Minister harmful and he replied, “I think it brings it to the situation to an extreme and to a situation in which we might have to pay a high to the U.S. in the future and it may be unbearable to the state of Israel.”
When asked if he trusts the current leadership of Israel Dagan replied: “No. I do not trust. I think the prime minister and Bennett are leading the State of Israel into becoming a binational state – which seems to me to be a disaster.”
“One day, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked me ‘Why don’t you represent me’, I said my job is not to please you. My job is to tell you the things that I think the prime minister should know. At the end he asks me ‘but you work under me.’ I said yes, but while I am under your authority my loyalty is to the State of Israel.”
