After failing to form a coalition government after two consecutive elections in a year, Benjamin Netanyahu has intensified his pernicious propaganda campaign against Iran and more annexation of the remaining Palestinian lands.

Netanyahu, a person who is also famous as a liar among Israelis, has been working relentlessly to demonize Iran’s nuclear program which is subject to the most intensive inspections in the history of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  

He sees persons like Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo, who back every evil act that he commits and endorse every lie that he tells, as a unique opportunity to advance his evil goals.

So far Netanyahu has been successful in pushing forward his evil plans. For example, he along with the despots in Riyadh and hardliners in the U.S. succeeded to push Trump toward ditching the hard-won international agreement on Iran’s nuclear program on May 8, 2018. 

The main motivation behind killing the nuclear deal was to encourage Trump to start a war against Iran. However, so far Trump has resisted pressure by Netanyahu and others to take such an extremely dangerous adventure.

With the hope of keeping the power in the third election set for March 2, Netanyahu is bent on more propaganda against Iran and further annexation of Palestinian lands, including his plan to annex the Jordan Valley, about a quarter of the West Bank territory. 

He is not even shy to insult European countries, who want to keep the nuclear deal alive. On December 1, Netanyahu scolded six new European members who have decided to join INSTEX to circumvent U.S. sanctions on Iran, saying they “should be ashamed of themselves.”

The Trump administration’s illegal support for Netanyahu and a failure by the international community to punish Israel for its illegal acts have made Netanyahu more arrogant.

On December 6, 2017, Trump gave Netanyahu a gift by recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Again, on March 25, 2019, Trump recognized the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as part of Israel. This happened ahead of the April election. 

The Golan move was even censured by Netanyahu’s political competitors. They said it was an interference by Trump in the Israeli elections.

He sees the condition quite ripe to steal the remaining Palestinians lands, especially as Pompeo has given him the green light by announcing that the U.S. would no longer recognize a 1978 legal opinion in which the State Department concluded that Israeli settlements in the West Bank violated international law.

In his demonization of Iran, Netanyahu also sees no limit. Before meeting Pompeo in Lisbon on December 4, Netanyahu said, “The first subject that I will raise is Iran, the second subject is Iran, and so is the third, and many more,” the New York Times reported.

For him creating a monstrous view of Iran’s nuclear program and undermining the international deal on it, and more grabbing of the Palestinian lands are synonymous with more votes.

PA/PA