Netanyahu: Moderate Arab governments do not see Israel as an enemy

After holding the Palestinians responsible for the failure of negotiations, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Arab countries no longer see Israel as an enemy.

Netanyahu told the annual Saban Forum in Washington: “The collapse of the old order has made clear to pragmatic Arab governments that Israel is not the enemy.”

He blamed the collapse of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations on the Palestinians. “The talks ended because the Palestinians wanted them to end. The talks ended because President Abbas unfortunately chose a pact with Hamas over peace with Israel,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the Palestinian leadership is simply not prepared, and I hope this changes, but it’s not yet prepared to truly confront violence and fanaticism within Palestinian society, within their own ranks,” he further added.

He also said that Israel played a key role in preventing a deal with Iran on curbing the activities of its nuclear programme last month.

The deal would have “effectively left Iran as a threshold nuclear power,” he said, adding that Israel’s voice and concerns “played a critical role in preventing a bad deal.”