Last year, right about this time, I saw Benjamin Netanyahu on US television, speaking to a US audience, saying that the US should just go in and remove Saddam from power. Someone objected, saying we can't just start a war with another country like that. He said, " Yes you can. You just do it. You don't need anyone's permission, you just go in and do it."

CarolC,

Last year, right about this time, Benjamin Netanyahu, held no public office in Israel. Later, he had a very brief tenure in the Israeli cabinent. A post to which he was not reappointed following the latest elections.

Suggesting that an out-of-office Benjamin Netanyahu, on some American TV show, speaks for Israel, is like suggesting that an is like suggesting that an out-of-office Margaret Thatcher speaks for Great Britain or that an out-of-office Bill Clinton speaks for America. Clearly that is not the case.

Then you bring up a paper written by an Israeli think tank back when Benjamin Netanyahu was Prime Minister and try to paint that as Israeli public policy. First of all, just as in the United States, or any other western democracy, there are Israeli think tanks of all political persuasion representing all manner of political opinion. That doesn't mean that any of them speak for the government, the country or the people. There have been three Israeli elections and governments since Netanyahu was prime minister.

By your logic, a paper prepared by an American think tank, back when Ronald Reagan was president, speaks for the American government. That is nonsense.