Netanyahu Finds Opposing Iran Charm Hard in Distracted U.S.

Benjamin Netanyahu came to the U.S. to challenge what he called a “charm offensive” by Iran. The Israeli prime minister hasn’t found it easy getting his counterattack to resonate in a country preoccupied by domestic concerns and wary of foreign involvement.

Netanyahu used his speech at the United Nations on Oct. 1 to urge the world not to take Iran’s new President Hassan Rouhani at face value. He didn’t capture the media attention Rouhani enjoyed for promising swift progress on nuclear talks from the same platform a week earlier. Nor did Netanyahu match the impact of his own UN address last year, when he brandished a drawing of a burning fuse to illustrate what he said was Iran’s progress toward nuclear weapons.