During a lengthy interview that aired on CNBC on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu downplayed the perception that the strikes on Iran were unpopular.
Netanyahu tied the unpopularity to the media, adding that it would not deter his efforts.
“[T]he war is so unpopular in the U.S.,” CNBC’s Sara Eisen said. “Why do you think that is?”
Netanyahu replied, “I think people don’t see the direct connection between the dangers they would face tomorrow with the actions that we’re doing today to remove those dangers. And democracies always have that problem. They always look at the moment. What’s the next election cycle? What’s the next headline? And so on. Dictatorships are usually immune to this because they don’t really have public opinion to answer to. And the question is for leaders, it’s a big — it’s a big challenge. How do you face, you know, attacks on you, political attacks, vilifications and so on?”
“You sort of cower under it, you say, there’s nothing I can do, I have to stop protecting my people because I’m going to get a bad editorial in the Western press,” he continued. “And the answer is no. No. I’d rather get a bad editorial than a positive obituary. You know, our people have died long enough. And what has changed for us is that the kind of recriminations and the kind of lies that are leveled at the Jewish people over the centuries are now being leveled at the Jewish state. There’s no difference. No difference. We deliberately kill children. We perform genocide. We’re poisoning the wells.”
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