One of Bibi Netanyahu’s erstwhile buddies, U.S. businessman and World Jewish Congress leader Ron Lauder, called a unilateral attack on Iran without U.S. support a “catastrophe” during an interview with Der Spiegel. Here’s the translation of his comments as offered by Kol Yisrael:
Lauder warned of a unilateral Israeli attack on Iran….He judged that if Israel acted without American support such an attack would be a catastrophe. Such a military operation would isolate Israel from its allies. He reminded that before the Gulf War that everyone was certain that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. In hindsight, it turns out he didn’t. If they erred then it’s possible that everyone [who claims Iran has or wants nukes] now is wrong as well.
An interesting sideline to these comments is that Lauder and Netanyahu, who share especially right-wing political views are quite prickly with each other. Lauder owns a controlling interest in Israel’s Channel 10. This is the TV station whose news reporters constantly air highly critical exposes about Bibi’s misdeeds. It is also the station whose license Netanyahu has threatened to revoke because it is behind on paying the government what it owes in licensing fees. Though other stations are similarly in arrears, it seems that only Channel 10 is being called to account.
Lauder has proposed a compromise by which he would invest further funding in the station if the outstanding debt would be wiped out. No word on the government’s response.
I could easily paint a portrait of these comments being political payback from Lauder, who has to be angry that his investment in Channel 10 could be wiped out due to Netanyahu’s petty vindictiveness. Haaretz (Hebrew) offers background to their feud.
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