Itongadol.- After making a strong case against Iran last week at the UN, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is scheduled to meet Tuesday with Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, whose country would like to give Iranian President Hassan Rouhani a chance.
The meeting will take place a day after Netanyahu met Czech President Milos Zeman.
Before that meeting, Zeman met President Shimon Peres, who said “Iran will not be judged by words, but only by deeds. For us, what will count is the real position of Iran in coming days.”
Zeman responded, “You know Hamlet – words, words, words… But facts are more important.”
Samaras is heading a delegation of some eight Greek ministers, who will hold discussions with their Israeli counterparts in the first Israeli-Greece government-to-government meeting.
Such meetings are ways for countries to fundamentally strengthen bilateral relations, and Israel has them annually with a number of countries, including the Czech Republic, Germany, Poland and Bulgaria.
Although there will surely be much agreement on key bilateral issues, Netanyahu and Samaras are unlikely to see eye-to-eye on Iran.
According to diplomatic officials, Greece is not convinced by Netanyahu’s argument that Rouhani is essentially no different than his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, just with a more pleasant façade. The Greeks believe Rouhani should be given some time, and that perhaps the pressure already placed on Iran has changed its leadership’s positions.
According to these officials, the Greeks believe there is a “glimpse of hope with the new leadership,” and that it should be given some time.
While some European countries, such as France and Britain, continue to press for a tough line on Iran, Greece is among some of the smaller European countries that would like to see sanctions eased – partly because the sanctions are hurting their own economies. According to diplomatic officials, it is not easy for a country in Greece’s difficult economic straits to explain to its own people that sanctions which hurt them are needed against a faraway state that is not directly threatening them.
The Greeks, according to the officials, maintain the Iranians will likely recognize the gestures from the West, and see there are benefits to going forward in the direction the world wants to see them go.