Ya'alon says Iran is gaining the upper hand in U.S. talks, warns of settler violence in the West Bank

Former IDF chief of staff and defense minister Moshe “Bogie” Ya'alon said in an interview with ynet’s studio that the current U.S.-Iran deal is tilting toward Tehran. “Right now, Iran has the upper hand,” he said. “Unfortunately, they did not only emerge strengthened, they survived against enormous armies. They will get money, and this more extreme regime can also say, ‘I will go for a nuclear bomb,’ like North Korea.”

Ya'alon added that President Donald Trump is eager to reach an agreement and mainly wants to present it as better than the deal under Barack Obama. “I do not see that,” he said.

He also spoke about extremist settler violence in the West Bank, using the Hebrew acronym for Judea and Samaria. Ya'alon said he returned from a tour of the area with “very difficult insights.”

“I know Judea and Samaria like the back of my hand,” he said. “What is happening there will be remembered with everlasting disgrace. There is abuse, shooting, cases of Palestinians who were murdered and nobody was arrested. There is no police. There are pogroms there.”