From the Strange But True department:
When it comes to lashing out at Israel, Arab leaders are well-practiced.
Yet this custom was broken when Iraq’s new president, Ghazi al-Yawer, admitted that Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu inspired him to pursue a career in politics, in an exclusive interview with the Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat published on Wednesday.
Yawer told the London-based publication that he had no intention of becoming a politician until he watched a television program documenting the life and political career of former Israeli prime minister Netanyahu.
He said he was particularly impressed when he learned that Netanyahu twice disrupted his academic studies in the US, where he moved with his family at the age of 14, to fight with the IDF in 1967 and 1973 when Israel was at war with its Arab neighbors.
“Netanyahu’s decision affected me and I asked myself ‘what makes a university student sacrifice his future for his country?'” the new Iraqi president said. “Ever since, I pledged to work towards establishing a regime in an Iraq where the people of Iraq can love their country and sacrifice for it, as did Netanyahu.”
I always knew that Bibi was an effective spokesperson but I didn’t realize he was this effective.
