Israel Matzav

Israel tells Obama 'no warnings'

A US intelligence official has told the Associated Press that Israeli officials have told the Obama administration that Israel will not give any advance warning to the United States in the event that Israel decides to attack Iran.

Israeli officials said that if they eventually decide a strike is necessary, they would keep the Americans in the dark to decrease the likelihood that the US would be held responsible for failing to stop Israel's potential attack. The US has been working with the Israelis for months to persuade them that an attack would be only a temporary setback to Iran's nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak delivered the message to a series of top-level US visitors to the country, including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the White House national security adviser and the director of national intelligence, and top US lawmakers, all trying to close the trust gap between Israel and the US over how to deal with Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Netanyahu delivered the same message to all the Americans who have traveled to Israel for talks, the US official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive strategic negotiations.

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, and the Pentagon and Office of Director of National Intelligence declined to comment, as did the Israeli Embassy.

To get an idea of how far apart the US and Israel are, watch this interview with Representative Mike Rogers (R-Mi), who is the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee. The first 2:45 deals with Iran, but there's another minute that deals with Syria, and while it doesn't directly involve Israel, it's also quite interesting.

Let's go to the videotape.



The bottom line is that Israel no longer trusts the United States, and will not trust the United States so long as Obama is in power. And with good reason.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran, Mike Rogers

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:55 AM