I have a firm opinion on the Iranian issue, I am well versed in the subject matter, and I also want to hear your opinion, especially if it differs from mine. That is what Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has been telling his interlocutors in recent weeks. Bennett emphasized he would like to hear everything, from the beginning, asking his interlocutors not to hold back. The new prime minister insisted he wants to dismantle and put together this Iran policy landmine — to conduct an in-depth seminar on the issue in order to think outside the box and formulate a coherent policy vis-à-vis the US administration.

This is the thrust of what Bennett has been telling the heads of Israel’s security agencies, government officials, and serving and former diplomats. He has been repeating his message in private meetings and in larger forums. This seminar, as he calls it, is designed to put together a coherent Israeli policy ahead of his critical Washington meetings with President Joe Biden and his team. The meetings, according to Bennett’s people, will likely take place only in August because Bennett wants to wait until Iran’s newly elected President Ebrahim Raisi assumes office. Bennett believes it will be easier to convey Israel’s agonizing concerns over the nuclear deal with Iran once Raisi, whom Bennett dubs the “hangman from Tehran,” is installed in the presidential palace.

Bennett’s policy marathon is fascinating. He meets with all the heads of all the agencies, with all forums possible, as well as with a large number of former office holders. He is willing to hear every opinion as he conducts this policy review without prejudice. He prides himself on being a clean slate as he faces a complex dilemma. As reported here previously, Bennett holds particularly hawkish and aggressive views on the Iran issue. He has previously said Israel should openly attack Iranian targets in retaliation for every blow directed at Israel by Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah. Judging by past statements, had Bennett been a member of the “group of seven” — the unofficial ministerial forum on national security advising his predecessor, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — he would most probably have supported a military strike on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure.

However, as the Israeli cliche aptly describes it, the view from the prime minister’s office is different than the view from outside. Almost all of Israel’s prime ministers changed their positions once they moved into the hot seat where decisions are made on running of one of the world’s most complex and dangerous countries. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, a former general, forged the historic 1993 Oslo Accord with Israel’s bitterest enemy — the PLO. In 1979, Prime Minister Menachem Begin, an ideological hard-liner, signed Israel’s first treaty with an Arab nation — Egypt — and handed back all of the Sinai Peninsula that Israel had captured in 1967. Defense hawk and pro-settlement Premier Ariel Sharon dismantled the Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip and handed the territory — also captured in 1967 — to the Palestinians in 2005. And Netanyahu delivered his landmark Bar-Ilan speech the year he took office, in 2009, expressing support for the two-state solution, and signed an agreement handing the West Bank town of Hebron back to the Palestinians. Even Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, a die-hard right-wing ideologue, agreed to have his arm twisted and attended the 1991 Madrid peace summit.