(April 16, 2008)
„We are benefiting from one thing, and that is the attack on the Twin Towers and Pentagon, and the American struggle in Iraq,“ Ma‘ariv quoted the former prime minister as saying. He reportedly added that these events „swung American public opinion in our favor.“
Netanyahu reportedly made the comments during a conference at Bar-Ilan University on the division of Jerusalem as part of a peace deal with the Palestinians.
(12. September 2001)
Asked tonight what the attack meant for relations between the United States and Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister, replied, “It‘s very good.“ Then he edited himself: “Well, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.“ He predicted that the attack would “strengthen the bond between our two peoples, because we‘ve experienced terror over so many decades, but the United States has now experienced a massive hemorrhaging of terror.“
Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, when asked what the 9/11 attacks means for relations between the US and Israel, replies, âItâs very good.â Then he edits himself: âWell, not very good, but it will generate immediate sympathy.â [New York Times, 9/12/2001]
A week later, the Village Voice states, âFrom national networks to small-town newspapers, the view that Americaâs terrible taste of terrorism will finally do away with even modest calls for the restraint of Israelâs military attacks on Palestinian towns has become an instant, unshakable axiom.⊠Now, support for Israel in America is officially absolute, and Palestinians are cast once again as players in a global terrorist conspiracy.â
(June 30, 2026)
The fear that Israel is actually quite close to such a postponement cuts across much of Israeli society. Iâve heard it expressed by secular liberals, military veterans, former intelligence officials, legal scholars, journalists, centrist politicians, and even some conservatives who once supported Netanyahu enthusiastically. What unites them is the growing belief that Netanyahu now considers remaining in power to be an existential necessity â and that his radical base will back him no matter what outrage he attempts.
You are an idiot. And youâre not alone with that. Even a small group of people out of the eight billion people on Earth could have stopped the West Asia War; the onslaught in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Iran and even in Israel. But not a single parliament, lawmaker, NGO, journalist, or whatever-movement on Earth, not even the Good Guys, have been digging into the core of the issue; of what really happened.
And I can prove it.
An Israeli victory in the war against Iran would likely give Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a bump in the polls but may not guarantee him a win in the upcoming national elections, in the assessment of several veteran political analysts. But were the regime to fall, it would significantly boost his prospects.
Since the outbreak of the war over the weekend, the opposition has set aside its criticisms and rallied behind the government, which a majority of Israeli Jews have told pollsters they believe can handle the conflict effectively.
(November 22, 2024)
Hamas political bureau member Mousa Abu Marzouk knows a thing or two about Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahuâs decades-long support for the group.
In fact, Mr. Abu Marzouk is Exhibit A.
Thanks to Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Abu Marzouk operates from the luxury of Doha instead of rotting in an Israeli jail since 1996 when Mr. Netanyahu first became prime minister.
In a move never adequately justified, Mr. Netanyahu, in his first year in office, dropped a request by his predecessor, Shimon Peres, for Mr. Abu Marzoukâs extradition from the United States, where he was a resident.
(September 28, 2016)
After Rabin‘s assassination by a Jewish ultranationalist opposed to Israel‘s peace moves in 1995, Peres became acting prime minister. But he failed to capitalize on the widespread sympathy for the fallen leader and lost a razor-thin election the following year to Netanyahu.
In one famous incident, an angry Peres rhetorically asked a gathering of his Labor Party whether he was a „loser.“ Resounding calls of „yes“ rained down on him.
Peres would later blame a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings for his defeat. He described his visit to the scene of a deadly bus explosion in Jerusalem, where people started screaming „killer“ and „murderer“ at him. „I knew that I lost the election,“ he said.
(June 19, 1996)
Arafat, speaking in China, said the peace accords were an international agreement rather than a bilateral one between the Palestinians and Israel.
„Now it is the turn of the international community. I am not alone now,“ Arafat said. „We hope everyone will be committed to what has been agreed upon.“
Khalil Shakaki, head of a West Bank think tank, predicted Netanyahu will eventually support a Palestinian state confined only to the Gaza Strip – where almost half the Palestinians now under autonomy live. He predicted a complex „arrangement“ in the larger West Bank, possibly including a role for neighboring Jordan.
Netanyahu‘s first test of intentions will come soon: He must decide whether to honor the outgoing government‘s commitment to withdraw troops from Hebron, the last West Bank city under Israeli occupation.
(March 4, 1996(
In a leaflet distributed in Jerusalem today, „The Cells of the Martyr the Engineer Yahya Ayyash — the New Pupils“ said the bombing was „the end of our violent revenge“ for the death of Mr. Ayyash, a Hamas bomb maker killed on Jan. 5 in the Gaza Strip by an exploding cellular phone widely believed to have been planted by Israeli agents.
The Cells of the Martyr group had taken responsibility for the suicide bombings last Sunday in Jerusalem and in the coastal Israeli town of Ashkelon, and appears to be a renegade offshoot of the armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades.
A leaflet issued last Thursday by the Qassam Brigades offered an eight-day respite from attacks while Israel considered the Brigades‘ conditions for a cease-fire: an end to Israeli violence against Hamas members and other Palestinians and the release of all Hamas prisoners in Israel jails.
Ignoring that offer, The Cells of the Martyr blew up a bus today and set its own terms for a cease-fire, declaring that it would halt attacks for three months to enable Hamas and Israel to reach a truce mediated by the Palestinian Authority, the governing body led by Yasir Arafat.
The Cells criticized the Qassam Brigades for its truce offer, and warned that attacks would resume if Israel pursued Hamas militants. Addressing Israelis ahead of the May 29 national election, the group said, „Neither the Labor party nor the Likud party will give you security as long as your Government practices terrorism against us and continues to arrest members of our people.“
(February 26, 1996)
Although Government and opposition leaders joined in condemning the attacks and both sides refrained from recriminations, there was no question that the revival of terror attacks, with the worst carnage to date in suicide bombings, would have a profound impact on the campaign for national elections on May 29.
While Prime Minister Shimon Peres and his Labor Party have held a sizable lead in public-opinion polls over the conservative Likud opposition since the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November, all political pundits have said that could change sharply and rapidly if Palestinian terrorists struck again.