By Larry Gordon

With autumn here and winter not too far away in these parts, it seems that everyone is concerned about being dressed fashionably and appropriately. And while he was not necessarily talking about anything sartorially good looking the other day, it seems that Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s mind at the UN this week was about who is wearing what.

To that end in lecturing the delegates about the nature of Iranian motives and leadership, Netanyahu went ahead and describe former Iran president Mohamad Ahmidinijad as a “wolf in wolf’s clothing.” That is a perfect description of the semi-retired and at least out of the limelight Persian tyrant. Ahmidinijad made no bones about it, he said what he wanted to say directly and unequivocally. He wanted Israel wiped off the map of the world and he said so. He cast doubts consistently about the reality of the Holocaust and he said so directly and succinctly.

But Bib had a different way in which to characterize the new Iranina President Hassan Rouhani. As far as he can see Rouhani is a substantially and markedly different than Ahmidinijad when it comes to Jew bashing and the anti-Israel rhetoric. So Bibi took pains to explain to world leaders gathered in New York last week to describe Rouhani as a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.” And that is obviously a result of the adaptation of a new Iranian approach in an effort to get crippling international sanctions against them as they approach building a nuclear weapon reduced as Rouhani anyway conducts his charm offensive to win over fickle western leaders like Barrack Obama and others.

Bibi says it is a mistake to be fooled by the new wolf in sheep’s clothing or to get to exercised or excited about the departure of the old wolf in wolf’s clothing.

Once he arrived home in Israel, however, Netanyahu had those apt description turned and directed toward him by his critics. Former MK Yakov Katz, said about Bibi today that he is a “sheep in wolf’s clothing.” He explains that Bibi is trying to come across tough but that internally and to himself he is really ready to make the kind of concessions that divide the land of Israel.

Anyway at least the wolf/sheep metaphors have been exhausted for now. With all these animal kingdom references it is difficult to picture all those international personalities traversing New York in perfectly tailored wool suits while dining on lamb chops in our finest restaurants.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here