Israel Matzav

Mofaz: ElBaradei endangers world peace

Israel's Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz accused IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei of endangering world peace by burying his head in the sand regarding Iran's nuclear intentions and said that he should have been dismissed. For those of you who are not familiar with Mofaz, pay close attention to his background:

Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz, who previously served as IDF chief of staff and minister of defense and who is currently charged with leading strategic coordination efforts with the United States, said on Thursday morning that "ElBaradei's policy is one that endangers world peace."

Mofaz accused the IAEA chief of burying his head in the sand and ignoring sound intelligence information regarding Iran's advancing nuclear program. "His lethargic and irresponsible conduct should have, in my opinion, led to his dismissal," said Mofaz.

Obviously there's good reason for Mofaz - who will be in charge of getting American approval as to the specifics of any Israeli operation against Iran - to be disgusted with ElBaradei. But there's another concern. There's a report due out from ElBaradei in two weeks that may be used by China and Russia to resist tightening sanctions:

Meanwhile all eyes are looking towards the November 22nd deadline for ElBaradei's next progress report on Iran's nuclear program. Israeli officials are concerned that the report will be sugar-coated by ElBaradei despite hard evidence provided by IAEA monitors regarding Iran's efforts to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

State officials warned that another report presenting worrying findings in a positive light would only serve to strengthen Russia and China's opposition to tightening UN sanctions against Iran.

I'm beginning to wonder whether ElBaradei is burying his head in the sand or whether he's in cahoots with Ahmadinejad. JammieWearingFool points out that even the incompetent Hans "Ignorance is" Blix understands that Iran is trying to produce weapons:

FORMER United Nations chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has warned that Iran's nuclear ambition is more serious than was the case with Iraq in 2003.

Dr Blix delivered the Sydney Peace Prize Lecture last night, saying he was still optimistic the international community could escape the threat posed by nuclear weapons.

But he said that souring relations between the big world powers could raise long-term military tensions.

In the same YNet article that I linked above, Prime Minister Ehud K. Olmert describes ElBaradei as "no fan of Israel." I suspect that it's worse than that. He's out to destroy us.

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posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:42 PM