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Analysis: Netanyahu risks overplaying hand in Iran dispute

12 September 2012 21:45 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The public row between Israel and the United States this week will make it hard for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to launch a unilateral strike against Iran and risks undermining his domestic standing, APA reports quoting Reuters.

Despite years of warning about the dangers of Iran gaining nuclear weapons, the Israeli leader has failed to convince any major world power of the need for military action and has yet to persuade his domestic audience that Israel should go it alone.

By raising the stakes with Barack Obama in the middle of the president’s re-election campaign, Netanyahu has drawn criticism from his own defense minister, Ehud Barak, and given Tehran the pleasure of watching its enemies argue over the case for war.

"Netanyahu is overplaying his hand and creating problems for himself with Obama. This could make life very hard for him should the president win re-election," said Alon Liel, a former director-general of the Israeli foreign ministry.

Infuriated by Washington’s reluctance to lay down clear limits to Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu fired a broadside at Obama on Tuesday, saying those who failed to set red lines did not have the "moral right" to prevent Israel from striking.

Further stirring the troubled waters, senior Israeli officials briefed journalists twice in two days to denounce U.S. policymaking, before announcing that the president had refused to see Netanyahu when both will be in New York later this month.

The White House denied ever receiving a request for a meeting and Obama swiftly got on the phone for a long chat with Netanyahu, with whom he has notoriously testy relations.

In the hours that followed, Israel sought to play down the differences between the two, but the damage was done, with the Israeli press bemoaning a new low in bilateral ties.

"The reality might be less serious than all the headlines are saying," said Oded Eran, a senior research associate and former head of the Institute for National Security Studies.

"However, perceptions are just as important, and in that regard, serious damage has been done to the idea of Israeli deterrence, which may be very hard to rectify," he added.