Yachimovich blasts Mofaz for ‘reckless’ discussion on Iran

The public discussion on Iran has hurt Israel’s deterrent capability, and opposition leader Shaul Mofaz has been particularly irresponsible in the manner he has treated very sensitive issues, Labor party leader Shelly Yachimovich told Israel Radio on Sunday.

Yachimovich spoke after Kadima leader Mofaz wrote to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Sunday to demand a meeting to discuss the government’s reported plans for a possible strike on Iran, and denounced Netanyahu’s handling of the crisis.

“Finally… we had two days of quiet in which Netanyahu and [Defense Minister Ehud] Barak do us the favor of taking the subject out of the public eye, and here is somebody who is making every effort to inflame it,” she said of Mofaz.

Further criticizing Mofaz, Yachimovich said that the public deserves leaders who do not base their agenda on the political climate of any given day. She said that “one minute we heard that Mofaz was going to lead the summer social protest movement. Then we heard that the… most critical issue in Israeli society was the Tal Law [that mandated universal conscription], and now there is suddenly a renewed interest in Iran, after Mofaz himself has supported a strike in the past.”

Yachimovich said that even discussing Mofaz’s “zigzag” was embarrassing to her.

When the interviewer tried to draw a comparison between Mofaz’s criticisms of a possible Israeli strike and comments last Thursday by President Shimon Peres, who said Israel could not “go it alone” and should depend on the US when dealing with Iran, Yachimovich rejected any parallel. Peres did not make any controversial statements but, rather, he “said things regarding which there is no dispute,” she said.

Yachimovich said that Peres’s comments did not lapse into “issues of diplomacy or partisan politics,” and that he expressed “a concern that was very balanced, and very well thought out, that came after a lot of very irresponsible babbling [by others].”

She added that the role of the president of Israel is to represent the country’s point of view, and all Peres said was that “it is important for us to maintain our strategic alliance with America,” a statement which does in fact reflect the Israeli consensus.

When she was the sitting opposition head, Yachimovich had regular meetings with the prime minister, as required by law, to discuss topics critical to Israel’s defense, such as the Iranian nuclear threat. Yachimovich described this cooperation as necessary and “beyond politics.” Now that Mofaz had succeeded her as opposition leader, he would of course have such meetings. Her objection, she made clear, was to the public manner in which Mofaz demanded the consultation.

“The entire Iran debate is reckless, truly reckless,” she told Israel Radio. “So much so that the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. (Martin) Dempsey has harmed Israel’s deterrent capability.” Yachimovich was referring to Dempsey’s comments on Sunday in which he said Israel and the US do not agree on the Iranian timetable.