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Danon: Bibi's speech to Congress sent the right message

In an interview with Al-Monitor, former Deputy Defense Minister Danny Danon argues that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech succeeded in shifting the international community's focus back to the essential debate on the imminent agreement with Iran.
Israeli lawmaker Danny Danon (C), a deputy parliament speaker, is surrounded by police officers as he walks on the compound known to Muslims as al-Haram al-Sharif and to Jews as Temple Mount, in Jerusalem's Old City July 20, 2010. Danon, a lawmaker of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's right-wing party, on Tuesday visited the flashpoint religious site in Jerusalem revered by Jews and Muslims, a move that has sparked violence in the past. REUTERS/Ammar Awad (JERUSALEM - Tags: POLITICS RELIGION) - RTR2GKI0
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“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to Congress succeeded in directing the argument about the nuclear deal [with Iran] to the one important question: Is it good or bad? And therein lies its great importance.” This statement was uttered by Danny Danon, Knesset member and chair of the Likud Central Committee. In this way, the former deputy defense minister expressed his view of the crisis in Israel-US relations, following Netanyahu’s visit to Washington on March 3.

Danon is not one of Netanyahu’s close associates in the Likud, to put it mildly. The prime minister discharged him from his position as deputy defense minister at the beginning of the Protective Edge campaign in July 2014, after Danon hurled harsh criticisms against the government’s policy vis-a-vis Hamas. He also opposed Netanyahu several times in the Likud Central Committee on inner political issues of the party.

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