Benjamin Netanyahu on His Moments of Decision

The Tikvah Podcast

Tikvah

Judaism, Politics, Religion & Spirituality, News

4.6 • 620 Ratings

🗓️ 27 December 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel’s prime minister from 1996 to 1999, and then again from 2009 to 2021. Already Israel’s longest-tenured leader, he just won another electoral victory and is expected to take office again later this week.

Netanyahu has recently recounted his life in his new memoir Bibi: My Story. He was born not long after modern Israel was founded. In describing his military service, his diplomatic role at the United Nations, and his various ministerial posts through the years, the book shows much about the nation to which Netanyahu has dedicated himself. It also shows a political mind at work, one settling scores, investing in strategic relationships, and making arguments in the public arena to influence the direction of modern Israel.

Last week, Mosaic’s editor Jonathan Silver sat down with Netanyahu for an interview. Rather than focus on his early life as depicted in the memoir, or on the current international and domestic challenges and controversies that face him as he returns to office, this interview focuses on the process of political decision-making and how Netanyahu sees it. The discussion zeroes in on three consequential choices Netanyahu made during his career: his decision to liberalize the Israeli economy as finance minister in the early 2000s; his decision to speak in front of the U.S. Congress in opposition to the Iran deal in 2015; and his decision to undertake, and then to publicize, a massive 2018 Mossad operation that resulted in the seizure of a half-ton of records, notes, and plans documenting Iran’s nuclear-weapons program.

Musical selections in this podcast are drawn from the Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31a, composed by Paul Ben-Haim and performed by the ARC Ensemble.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Benjamin Netanyahu was Israel's prime minister from 1996 to 1999, and then again from 2009 to 2021.
0:16.6	Already, Israel's longest-tenured premier, The voting public has just elected him once again,
0:22.6	and he is expected to take office later this week. Netanyahu is a man of consequence in the
0:28.6	history of the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Welcome to the Tikva podcast. I'm your host,
0:34.0	Jonathan Silver. This week, our guest is the author of a new memoir, Bebe My Story,
0:39.4	and the once-in-future Prime Minister of the State of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu.
0:44.4	Now, several friends of the Tikva podcast, Dan Cynor, Barry Weiss, Peter Robinson,
0:49.8	Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro, Seth Mandel,
0:52.6	they've hosted the Prime Minister over the past
0:55.1	weeks and months to discuss his book and also to talk about Israeli politics.
1:00.8	There's good reason for that, since, well, to start with a memoir, Netanyahu's life
1:05.3	began not long after modern Israel was founded, and so as he grew, we see modern Israeli history grow along with him.
1:13.1	In reliving his military service, his public service at the United Nations, his various
1:18.3	ministerial posts over the years, we learn much about the country to which he's dedicated himself.
1:24.0	And we also see a political mind at work, settling scores, investing in strategic relationships,
1:30.5	and making arguments in the public arena to persuade the policy direction of modern Israel.
1:35.8	There's also good reason for journalists to ask Netanyahu about Israeli politics,
1:40.8	which are always turbulent and fascinating, and which, at this moment, are irresistible.
1:47.2	Supporters of his are excited by the prospects of a right of center government with ambitions
1:52.6	to make democratic reforms of the judiciary, enlarge the circle of peace that Israel enjoys
1:58.3	with Arab states, and to protect Israel from Iran. And Israeli politics
2:03.2	are also at the center of discussion and commentary at the moment because there's a great
	...

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