The main message in the speech delivered by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN General Assembly on Oct. 1 was that there is one difference between the new president of Iran and his predecessor — Hassan Rouhani is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was a wolf in wolf’s clothing. The only change in Iranian policy — according to Netanyahu — is, therefore, the exchange of inflammatory discourse for sweet talk. If we extend the metaphor a bit, we can now say that Netanyahu is a sheep in wolf’s clothing. The “wolf” part of the speech, in which Netanyahu threatened that if worst comes to worst, Israel will operate alone, sounded nothing more than the roar of a mouse.
Behind Netanyahu’s fiery tone we observe clear signs that he is adapting his positions to the new dialogue atmosphere between Washington and Tehran. The most blatant testimony of this is the way Netanyahu has realigned himself with US President Barack Obama on the US and universal fundamental distinction between the issue of Iran striving to equip itself with the nuclear bomb and Iran’s right to establish nuclear facilities for civilian needs.
