Israel Matzav

Obama told Iran they could keep enriching so long as they don't build a nuclear weapon?

There are two views of Barack Hussein Obama here in Israel. One says that he's simply naive. The other - to which I am becoming more and more inclined - is that he has a visceral hostility to the Jewish state and is trying to bring about its destruction without being seen as doing so. Assuming that it is true, the report below (and I have seen a substantially similar report here) cannot help but make you think that Obama really is trying to destroy Israel. At this late stage, after all the evidence of Iran's duplicity has been suggested, to even propose a deal that would allow the Mullahcracy to continue enriching uranium cannot be chalked up to naivete. It's got to be more than that.

According to sources in Israel, Netanyahu bitterly reproached the Obama administration for essentially assuring Iran that it could continue to enrich uranium, as long as it promised not to build a nuclear weapon. In Netanyahu’s view, this was a substantial deviation from the US administration’s previous assurances to Israel, as Tehran is now free to upgrade its uranium enrichment level to weapons grade. Israel will not tolerate this change, stated the enraged Netanyahu, suggesting he will seriously consider the military option.

Washington Post columnist David Ignatius wrote this month that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta “believes there is a strong likelihood that Israel will strike Iran in April, May or June before Iran enters what Israelis described as a ‘zone of immunity’ to commence building a nuclear bomb.”

But the US is apparently convinced that this option will simply not work. In his interview on CNN, Gen. Dempsey said Israel only has the capability to strike Iran and delay the Iranians “probably for a couple of years. But some of the targets are probably beyond their reach.”

...

According to Gideon Rachman at the Financial Times, Israel is not the only factor. Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States are also “obsessed with the need to prevent Iran getting nuclear weapons.” Also, Barack Obama may still be very keen to avoid conflict, but in a presidential election year, it is harder for him to rein in Israel. Rachman suggests Britain and France – the two most important European military powers – are also seriously contemplating the prospect of conflict with Iran. Indeed, in marked contrast to the run-up to the Iraq war, the British and the French seem to be more bellicose than the Americans.

Hmmm.

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Binyamin Netanyahu, Iranian nuclear threat

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:40 PM