Thursday, April 21, 2011

Haaretz WikiLeaks exclusive / Netanyahu agreed to join Olmert’s government if Israel attacked Iran

In 2007, Netanyahu said he would agree to join Ehud Olmert’s government if Israel attacked Iran, a WikiLeaks document shows.
 
By Ofer Aderet and Yossi Melman, Haaretz, April 21, 2011

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed willingness to join Ehud Olmert’s government in 2007 if Israel initiated an attack on Iran, a document from the Israeli WikiLeaks collection has revealed.

On July 20, 2007, Marc J. Sievers, the political counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, sent a telegram to the State Department in Washington on the matter. The telegram was classified “Confidential,” the level between “Unclassified” and “Secret.”

Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu AP 31.3.2009 Ehud Olmert and Benjamin Netanyahu, March 31, 2009.
Photo by: AP

Sievers’ message dealt with the formation of a new Israeli government and was written on the eve of the release of the state comptroller’s report on the Second Lebanon War, a year after it started. Ehud Olmert was still prime minister and headed the Kadima party. The Labor Party was his senior partner in the ruling coalition. Two days before Sievers sent his message, Defense Minister Amir Peretz, the head of Labor, resigned as defense minister and deputy prime minister.

Part of the telegram was devoted to the possibility of the establishment of a national unity government, in which the Likud Party would join Kadima, with Olmert as prime minister.

Continues >>

No comments: