Benjamin Netanyahu said he has matured since his first term as Israeli prime minister.
Netanyahu, now Israeli opposition leader, said in an interview published Monday that he has matured as a politician since he was voted out of top office some eight years ago.
“There were lessons to learn from the previous term, not necessarily in policy and statesmanship but in the realm of conductand I have learned them,” Netanyahu told Maariv.
“That is maturity: A sense of readiness and broad understanding of systems, age and life experience that affect us all. I am not different from anyone else on this score. There is a basic core that you take with you, but layers are added to it over time and a stronger and more stable foundation is created.”
Opinion polls show that Netanyahu, who leads the right-wing Likud Party, would easily topple Prime Minister Ehud Olmert if elections were held today. Netanyahu has accused the incumbent of endangering Israel’s national security with his support for territorial concessions to the Palestinians.
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