Ex-Minister Ramoon: Iran Deal Hurts Israel and Netanyahu Politically

Former minister Haim Ramon issued a sharp attack on the government’s security policy and on the agreement signed with Iran in an interview with Eli Tzipori on Galey Israel radio. He said, "This is a bad deal for Israel, and it also has implications for Netanyahu's political fate," adding that "the worst part is that it harms the State of Israel, and that is the real problem."

Ramon argued that Iran’s regime is not about to collapse, challenging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s strategy. In his view, Netanyahu is trying to buy time on the assumption that the regime in Tehran will fall before Israel’s next election, but that assumption is wrong. "Netanyahu is fighting to keep the elections far away, hoping that by then the regime in Iran will collapse or there will be significant developments, but the regime there is definitely not going to collapse," Ramon said.

He said the timing matters because the country will be very close to elections by then, which he described as highly significant. Ramon ended with a bleak assessment of Israel’s broader strategic picture, saying that despite major military achievements, the bottom line is failure. "We did not win. We did not win in Lebanon, we did not win in Iran, and we did not even win against Hamas," he said.