Israel Matzav

Barak fooling himself?

Ehud Barak hinted on Thursday that he believes that the United States would join in an Israeli strike on Iran.

Speaking at a pre-Rosh Hashana toast for activists of his Independence Party at the Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, Barak noted the meeting that he had earlier in the day with Adm. James Winnefeld, vice chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and said they dealt with all the developments in the region, but especially Iran.

“The State of Israel will make its decision about its future and its security alone, but the United States is our most important partner,” Barak said at the toast.

“[America’s] cooperation, intelligence-sharing and military support for Israel is extraordinary in its depth and its comprehensiveness, and I’m convinced that it will continue to be that way in every future test,” he said.

Barak, who received an update from Winnefeld on America’s preparedness for dealing with the issues in the region, praised the steps that America had taken to deal with a possible confrontation with Iran.

“We share the challenge, though our timetables are not the same and we have our differences,” the defense minister said.

“Israel maintains for itself the right to make decisions about its sovereignty and the United States respects that, but we cannot mistake the impressive depth of American preparedness to handle the threat [of Iran] from every standpoint,” he said.

Well, maybe. But only if that strike takes place before November 6.

But what I'm finding disturbing is the apparent use of Israel by the Obama administration as part of its election campaign.

Since Dempsey’s comments, Israeli officials have been careful to be complimentary of the United States and its support for Israel. Before Barak’s comments on Thursday, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman praised US President Barack Obama’s foreign policies, saying that “to the credit of the United States, it is the only country that stood by our side in our struggles at the United Nations, the Security Council and UNESCO.”

“The US increased funding for the Iron Dome. Even if we disagree sometimes and even if there is commentary that suggests otherwise, we must say that we have no better friend than the US,” the foreign minister continued.

Liberman hinted at support for a possible Israeli strike on Iran when he said that Yisrael Beytenu’s presence in the coalition made the government “more serious and determined to defend the interests of Israel.”

Could there actually be a deal in the works for Israel to attack before November 6 in order to give maximum advantage to Obama's campaign? Or are Barak, Lieberman and others who have joined Obama's cheering section just fooling themselves?

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Hussein Obama, Campaign 2012, Ehud Barak, Iranian nuclear threat, Israeli attack on Iran

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:40 AM