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Netanyahu Takes Over

Issues Warning – Threatens War

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Above: Israel's New Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu-

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Israel’s Likud Party chairman, Benjamin Netanyahu assumed the office of Prime Minister of Israel last week. As he did so, he issued a veiled warning to President Obama that if Obama’s diplomatic efforts towards Iran do not halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program, then Israel would have to solve the problem with military action.

The Prime Minister returns to power a decade after he was booted out of office as Prime Minister. Netanyahu returns to power amidst two major crisis in Israel. One crisis is a faltering economy in recession. The other crisis is Israel’s national security, threatened not only by its Palestinian neighbors but also by the rising specter of a nuclear-armed Iran.

As the new Prime Minister took office, a magazine interview given the day before he took over was published online as he assumed the premiership. The interview was with The Atlantic Monthly. In the interview he warned that if President Obama’s diplomatic efforts to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program failed, then Israel would be forced to take military action against Iran.

The magazine article is titled, "Netanyahu to Obama: Stop Iran—Or I Will".

"You don't want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran," Netanyahu told The Atlantic's Jeffrey Goldberg.

"The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons," the hardline Israeli leader said, just hours before taking the reigns of the government for a second time on Tuesday.

Tempering the “you-do-it-or-we-will” tone of the article, Goldberg adds that Netanyahu did voice support for President Obama's effort to end Tehran's quest for a nuclear weapon (a quest the Islamic Republic's leaders have vehemently denied – in spite of Western intelligence agencies) through dialogue.

"How you achieve this goal is less important than achieving it," the Israeli leader said. While expressing very little optimism, Netanyahu acknowledged that negotiations with the regime could still work.

"I think the Iranian economy is very weak, which makes Iran susceptible to sanctions that can be ratcheted up by a variety of means," Goldberg quoted him as saying.

There are unconfirmed reports that the Israeli Prime Minister has scheduled a visit to Washington in May to meet with President Obama, while other reports indicate an April visit.

To read the full interview – LINK HERE.  To read more on Netanyahu’s taking office, LINK HERE.

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