Benjamin Weinthal

Benjamin Weinthal is a Berlin-based journalist and fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies's "Iran Energy Project." He writes for mostly right-wing publications including the Jerusalem Post, New Republic, Weekly Standard, and National Review Online.

Views on Iran

In November 2010 Weinthal was identified by investigative journalists Jim Lobe and Ali Gharib as part of the group of "Neo-conservatives and other war hawks" who responded to the anti-Iran tilt of the first round of "Cablegate" (a collection of classified diplomatic cables leaked by WikiLeaks) "with barely concealed glee." In an article titled "According to WikiLeaks, Israel Was Right" published by the National Review Weinthal writes:

...the most interesting thing to come from the latest WikiLeaks round is Arab world leaders’ being forced to come out of the diplomatic closet and declare Iran’s regime the number one enemy in the Middle East...In the Israeli media, defense analysts are concluding that the leaked comments vindicate Israel’s longstanding position on the need for swift and powerful action against Iran’s out-of-control regime.

Gharib and Lobe also noted American diplomat and author Chas Freeman's response to the Israel lobby's favorable response to cablegate: "The corollary to this is that Arab leaders very generally will not speak to Americans – though they will speak to others – about their fear of Israel. So the fact that Israel doesn't feature in these conversations says nothing other than the Arabs are tactfully obsequious."

Affiliations

• Foundation for Defense of Democracies
• Iran Energy Project - Weinthal is listed under the project's "Staff" as a "Fellow"