“Maariv”: Netanyahu Has Become the Master of Shame, Not Security

By Al-Ahed News

‘Israeli” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has come under heavy fire from columnist Efraim Ganor of the “Israeli” newspaper “Maariv”, who said that the man who once positioned himself as the only defense against the Iranian nuclear threat now appears to be a weakened and exposed version of himself.

According to Ganor, Netanyahu correctly ranked the Iranian nuclear program as “Israel’s” greatest existential threat for nearly 20 years. “He never missed a chance to use this delicate subject as political leverage, consistently presenting himself as the only leader capable of handling it.”

Ganor referenced Netanyahu’s well-known 2015 speech to the US Congress, in which he openly criticized then-President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. He wrote, “That speech became a historic moment of admonition against a sitting American president.” The agreement, despite facing heavy criticism, was eventually abandoned in 2017 after Donald Trump took office.

Ganor also noted that Netanyahu, who was in the opposition at the time, sharply criticized the Bennett-Lapid government in February 2022 for what he considered their soft approach to the Iranian issue. So, what is the supposed “Master of Security” doing about it now? “Silence,” Ganor wrote.

Netanyahu, who once mocked Bennett and Lapid for their perceived lack of resolve in dealing with the US administration, now appears to have dropped his defiant tone. This is the same Netanyahu who once claimed he didn’t care what Washington, London or Paris thought—asserting that "Israel’s" security against Iran’s nuclear ambitions would always come first. Now, that image has crumbled.

Ganor drew a striking comparison: when President Trump announced renewed US-Iran nuclear negotiations from the Oval Office, Netanyahu's response resembled that of a paralyzed leader. “Netanyahu’s fear continues to harm 'Israel', our captives, our security and our future—whether that fear is directed at Trump or, more recently, at Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich.”

“The ‘Master of Security’ now looks more like the Master of Shame,” Ganor concluded sharply. And if any further proof was needed that Netanyahu is at his political lowest and nearing the end of his career, it lies in this: the Trump administration now appears ready to sign a deal with Iran that may bring it within reach of a nuclear weapon.