Amos Yadlin
Amos YadlinFlash 90

Former Military Intelligence chief Amos Yadlin, who is the Labor-Hatnua list’s candidate for Defense Minister if that list heads the next government, on Sunday accused Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu of causing a serious deterioration in Israel’s relationship with the United States.

Speaking at campaign rally of “the Zionist Camp”, as the Labor-Hatnua list calls itself, Yadlin said that in order to defeat Iran’s nuclear program, Israel must work together with the United States.

"The Netanyahu-Bennett government caused the relationship with the United States to deteriorate to an all-time low,” he charged.

“Netanyahu will not defeat Iran with speeches full of pathos and photo opportunities in Congress, but by creating an intimate relationship of trust with the President of the United States," continued Yadlin.

“The bottom line is that Iran is today closer to the bomb than ever before. The Iranian nuclear program will be stopped by using wisdom, along with operational and political measures. The cooperation with the United States is critical for this,” he said.

The left has been extremely critical of Netanyahu over his upcoming speech before the American Congress, which they view as an insult to President Barack Obama, who gave an icy response to the speech and said that he will not meet Netanyahu while he is in Washington.

Petitions have been filed to demand that Israeli media outlets not broadcast Netanyahu's speech live, with leftists claiming it will violate Israel’s election laws.

The left’s criticism comes despite the fact that 19 years ago, then-Prime Minister Shimon Peres visited the U.S. to meet then-President Bill Clinton - a mere month before elections.

Netanyahu made clear last week that he intends to go through with his Congress speech despite the objections of the left, accusing the “Zionist Camp” of being “the anti-Zionist camp”.