There is more than a certain irony in the fact that the Israeli PM, who has for years been exaggerating this or that as a threat to Israel, has now been caught out lying by his own country's spy agency, Mossad. Who can forget Netanyahu's speech to the UN which was so derided at the time?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting to the United Nations in New York in September 2012. (Photo: Getty Images/AFP)
"Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's claim three years ago that Iran was within close reach of possessing a nuclear bomb was denied by his government's own spy agency, Mossad, a top secret document obtained by Al Jazeera and the Guardian reveals.
In a September 2012 address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu claimed that Iran was 90 down the road to developing an atomic weapon and would do so within the year. "By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage," he stated.
However, the leaked internal documents paint a much different picture.
On October 22, 2012—less than a month after Netanyahu's speech—Mossad sent a classified assessment to South Africa, stating that Iran was "not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons" and "doesn't appear to be ready to enrich uranium to the higher levels needed for a nuclear bomb."
"That view tracks with the 2012 U.S. National Intelligence estimate," Al Jazeera notes, "which found no evidence that Iran had thus far taken a decision to use its nuclear infrastructure to build a weapon, or that it had revived efforts to research warhead design that the US said had been shelved in 2003."
Israel, on the other hand, is the only nuclear weapon state in the Middle East, illegally in possession of at least 80 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The prime minister has used claims that Iran is close to producing a nuclear bomb to justify military escalation and argue against ongoing diplomatic talks between Iran and the p5+1 countries: the U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, Germany."
In a September 2012 address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Netanyahu claimed that Iran was 90 down the road to developing an atomic weapon and would do so within the year. "By next spring, at most by next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage," he stated.
However, the leaked internal documents paint a much different picture.
On October 22, 2012—less than a month after Netanyahu's speech—Mossad sent a classified assessment to South Africa, stating that Iran was "not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons" and "doesn't appear to be ready to enrich uranium to the higher levels needed for a nuclear bomb."
"That view tracks with the 2012 U.S. National Intelligence estimate," Al Jazeera notes, "which found no evidence that Iran had thus far taken a decision to use its nuclear infrastructure to build a weapon, or that it had revived efforts to research warhead design that the US said had been shelved in 2003."
Israel, on the other hand, is the only nuclear weapon state in the Middle East, illegally in possession of at least 80 warheads, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The prime minister has used claims that Iran is close to producing a nuclear bomb to justify military escalation and argue against ongoing diplomatic talks between Iran and the p5+1 countries: the U.S., Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, Germany."
Comments