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“Obviously I have my views and am not exactly shy about expressing them when I think that Israel’s vital security concerns are involved,” Benjamin Netanyahu said. “This is my responsibility as the Prime Minister of the Jewish state. We are facing the greatest security challenge of any country on the face of the earth, and when I feel I need to speak out, I do.”
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JERUSALEM (EJP)---Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said his call for the United States and the international community to set "red lines" for Iran was not at all connected with the US November 6 presidential election.
In an interview with The Jerusalem Post on the occasion of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, he refuted as "completely groundless” allegations he is manufacturing a crisis with US President Barack Obama to influence the outcome in favor of his Republican rival Mitt Romney.
“It has nothing to do with the American elections, because the Iranian nuclear program doesn’t care about the American political calendar,” Netanyahu said.
“If the centrifuges stop miraculously, if they stop preparing enriched uranium to make atomic bombs, then I suppose I wouldn’t have to speak out.
“But the Iranian nuclear program proceeds unabated and they don’t care about the internal American political calendar. For me this is a policy issue, a security issue, and not a political issue,” he said.
The US President phoned Netanyahu earlier this week after the Israeli Prime Minister declared dthat "those in the international community who refuse to put red lines before Iran don't have a moral right to place a red light before Israel,” adding that peaceful methods against Iran “are not working.”
Netanyahu characterized the phone call with Obama as a “good conversation.”
“We spoke about our common goal of stopping Iran from developing its nuclear weapons program, and our desire to closely coordinate our efforts,” he said.
“Obviously I have my views and am not exactly shy about expressing them when I think that Israel’s vital security concerns are involved,” Netanyahu said. “This is my responsibility as the prime minister of the Jewish state. We are facing the greatest security challenge of any country on the face of the earth, and when I feel I need to speak out, I do.”
Israeli officials have confirmed that Obama and Netanyahu would not be meeting during the Israeli Prime Minister’s visit to the US later this month.