Steinitz: Netanyahu UN speech ‘masterful’

Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz praised Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s UN speech last Thursday calling for international “red lines” regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and estimated that the US could adopt the prime minister’s recommendations in the near future.

Steinitz said Netanyahu had done “a masterful job” in his speech before the UN General Assembly, where the prime minister brandished a cartoon diagram of a bomb showing Iran’s development towards nuclear weapons capability and a suggested “red line” for that development, after which military action would be necessary.

Speaking to Israeli Radio on Sunday, the finance minister said the speech caused the world to wake up from its “dogmatic slumber” and see the Iranian bomb “staring them in the face.”

Steinitz added that even if the US did not immediately adopt the “red line” policy, it could do so within the next few months.

Also speaking to Israel Radio on Sunday, US Ambassador Michael Oren said that Netanyahu’s speech led to increased cooperation between the US and Israel on the issue.

“There is no difference between us and the Americans on the question of the goal: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. But, now there is a dialogue between us on how to get there,” the ambassador said.