Bill Clinton on Middle East crisis: Netanyahu wants to stay in office forever, US should stop Iran but...
Bill Clinton says Trump should diffuse the Israel-Iran tension.
Former president Bill Clinton said Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been wanting to fight Iran for a long time because that way he can stay in the office forever. But Clinton said he does not think that either Netanyahu or Trump wants to trigger a full-scale regional disaster.
Urging Trump to calm the situation and end the "outright constant killing of civilians", Bill Clinton said Trump and Netanyahu agree on one point: they believe that Palestinians should not have a state.
'First of all — they're not talking about negotiating peace in the Middle East because the Israelis have no intention of… under Prime Minister Netanyahu, of giving the Palestinians a state. And now, they're too divided and crushed to organize themselves to achieve it,' Clinton said.
"Netanyahu has long wanted to fight Iran because that way he can stay in office forever and ever. I mean, he's been there most of the last 20 years," the former president said.
"But I think we should be trying to defuse it, and I hope President Trump will do that.'
'We have to convince our friends in the Middle East that we'll stand with them and try to protect them,' he stated.
'But choosing undeclared wars in which the primary victims are civilians, who are not politically involved, one way or the other, who just want to live decent lives, is not a very good solution.'
'Do I think we have to try to stop Iran?'
Donald Trump has kept it ambiguous what the US is going to do as Israel and Iran continue trading attacks. Reports claimed that Trump had approved plans to attack Iran but has not made a final decision on whether to do it or not. "I may do it, I may not do it," Trump said Wednesday on being asked about US involvement in Iran.
Clinton said he absolutely thinks US needs to try and stop Iran for obtaining a nuclear weapon. 'Do I think that we have to try to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon? I do,' Clinton said. 'But we don't have to have all this outright constant killing of civilians who can't defend themselves, and they just want a chance to live.'
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