According to a Jewish tradition, righteous people have their work done for them by others. Well, Benjamin Netanyahu is not a righteous person, as there are only 36 such tzadikim [righteous in Hebrews] on the list, but recent events surely seem to do him a great service.
Let's start with Nicolas Sarkozy, Barack Obama and the open microphones in Cannes. For many months there was a buzz in the press, that world leaders -- including some who are pro-Israel -- do not admire, to put it mildly, P.M. Netanyahu's performance, particularly his alleged lack of reliability. Now the genie is out of the bottle, and we know for sure what Sarkozy thinks of Netanyahu -- a liar he called him -- and the limits of President Obama readiness to defend the character of one of the US strongest allies.
Strange are the ways of politics, none more so Israeli and Jewish politics, as this Sarkozy comment -- rather than damaging Netanyahu -- is helping him a lot and galvanizing support for him. No need for too much creative imagination to visualize Netanyahu speaking to his closest circle, telling them "you see, I told you so", code words understood by many Israelis and Jews to indicate that opposition to Israel and its policies reflect a deep-seated bias, double standards and hypocrisy. Clearly, a sense strongly prevalent in Israel and among its supporters worldwide, as it pits "us" against "them", a sentiment well-known to Israel watchers, and one regularly used by right-wing nationalists, who are Netanyahu's political base.
Initial criticisms by American and French Jewish organizations do show that regardless of what some people may say about Netanyahu behind close doors, a public reference for him as "a liar", is offensive and instigates negative reactions. The same sentiment is much on display in Israel, and it comes in the aftermath of the Shalit deal that enhanced Netanyahu's position, judging by public opinion polls.
And then comes the recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which reads like a blank confirmation of the Israeli narrative about the Iranian nuclear program and its obvious military focus. For years, successive Israeli governments have done their best, sometimes clumsily, to convince world public opinion and leaders that the Iranian nuclear program is military in nature, regardless of all the denials by the Islamic Republic. This was and may still be a tough sale, as it was so easy to dismiss Israel's claims as being "hysterical" and "war-mongering". Even the Bush administration, definitely a pro-Israel one, issued a report some years ago, based on the US national intelligence assessment, which argued that the Iranian program was not for military purposes.
At the time many eyebrows were raised, and not only in Israel, regarding this report, but the damage was done, and the Israeli effort to convince the world suffered a major setback. Now there is a completely new ballgame. For years critics of Israel argued that so long as the IAEA reports do not substantiate Israel's charges, the campaign against Iran has no real merits; but now with this report the question of reliability is firmly placed in the doorstep of all these critics: Is the IAEA to be believed only when it refutes Israeli charges, or also when it seems to be in sync with them?
This is not a question for Netanyahu to answer. He made his position clear from day one of his tenure as P.M. and he proved right. Others have to answer this question, for example Nicolas Sarkozy. He owes Netanyahu an apology, which probably will not come, but he sure has to make a decision and quickly, what can France do more than what it did until now to terminate the dangerous Iranian program?
The same applies to the Obama administration which needs to make its own quick decisions with regards to Iran. All those who argue against the military option are the ones who have to come up now with a credible alternative to this option, one which has not been tried as yet, and it must come quickly and include an element of dealing with the Iranian energy industry.
Netanyahu, backed by growing public support in Israel, is waiting to see how Israel's allies will react. He is not lurking in the wings, he is pretty much in the forefront of the issue. This is so because the burden of the historic decision of what to do falls on him. Any action on his part will require a large measure of public support among his compatriots. He seems to have it now, and for the good of Israel he is expected to do his best not to lose it, as well as to win more international support. The clock is ticking.
MJ Rosenberg: The "Israel Firster" Brouhaha
Rabbi Alan Lurie: What Does It Mean That the Jews are God's Chosen People?
MJ Rosenberg: Obscene: Using the Holocaust to Justify War With Iran
http://www.moonofalabama.org/2011/11/on-nuclear-iran-allegations-the-scary-r265-generator-is-just-old-stuff.html
http://mondoweiss.net/2011/11/wexler-on-the-warpath.html#more-59457
I'm for the military option, but....
The most effective non-military option would be to vastly increase the pressure on Russia to take responsibility for its former and present client states. How about being caught on a live microphone saying "Russia sure is dropping the ball on Iran and Syria", "Yea they're all talk, they said something about Assad meeting a sad fate, what a joke that was", "They sure do suck, I mean punting the ball to us is one thing, punting on first down, and then loudly complaining every time someone in the West even implies we might pick the ball up".
Russia, and China too for that matter, have far mor effective levers to use than we do, unfortunately all that talk about partnership is just that, talk. Public shaming into action is clearly in order.
Foir example: The claim that about the Russian scientist who they supposedly caught helping Iran make explosives for detonators has been fully debubunked
http://original.antiwar.com/porter/2011/11/09/iaeas-soviet-nuclear-scientist-never-worked-on-weapons/
The actual report says that there has been no diversion of enriched uranium to any military application.
Previous reports by the Director General have identified outstanding issues related to possible military dimensions to Iran’s nuclear programme and actions required of Iran to resolve these.31 In particular, the Agency is increasingly concerned about the possible existence in Iran of past or current undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile, about which the Agency continues to receive new information. Examples of these activities were listed in the previous report. The information available to the Agency in connection with these outstanding issues is extensive and comprehensive and has been acquired both from many Member States and through its own efforts. It is also broadly consistent and credible in terms of technical detail, the time frame in which the activities were conducted and the people and organisations involved.
http://www.iaea.org/newscenter/focus/iaeairan/iaea_reports.shtml
Am I mistaken or is this sounding more and more like the Iraq scenario....???
IRANIAN NUCLEAR RESEARCH SITES
Arak - Heavy water plant
Bushehr - Nuclear power station
Gachin - Uranium mine
Isfahan - Uranium conversion plant
Natanz - Uranium enrichment plant
Parchin - Nuclear facility
Qom - Uranium enrichment plant
ISRAELI NUCLEAR WEAPON FACILITIES
Dimona - Nuclear research center & plutonium production
Kfar Zekharya - Nuclear missile base and bomb storage
Nahal Soreq - Nuclear weapons production
Yodefat - Nuclear weapons assembly
Eilabun - Tactical nuclear weapons storage
RESULT:
Escalating conflict in the Middle East resulting in possible
nuclear war which could well spill over into Europe
ACTION REQUIRED BY INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY:
The UN Security Council to pass an urgent resolution
designating the entire region to include Iran, Israel, Iraq, Egypt..
Syria and Saudi Arabia, a NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREE ZONE
You don't get it.
Iran already signed the NPT agreeing not to seek nuclear weapons, yet they are doing it anyway.
The UN can declare anything it wants---but Iran will simply ignore those declarations.
designating the entire region . . . a NUCLEAR WEAPONS FREE ZONE"
While they are at it, why don't the declare the region a violence free zone, or a poverty free zone, or a "any kind of bad thing" free zone. I mean, if we are just going to declare away reality, why stop at nukes?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/julian-borger-global-security-blog/2010/nov/30/iaea-wikileaks
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007272512
But don't let that dampen your propaganda effort.
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007272733
http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007272705
zzzzzzzzz zzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Since then, experts have estimated that Israel has upwards of 400 nuclear devices.
And how many of them are aimed at US major cities?
You mean this act of last-ditch effort to save itself and it's people.
Some people did not bother to check sources.
Here is the HOT scoop. Viachislav Danilenko, the so called nuclear expert supposed to have provided technology on nuclear detonators to Iran.is in reality a Ukranian scientist expert in manufacturing nano diamonds.
So much for reliable intelligence sources. applause, applause and sing the Curveball song.
Detailed info here: http://atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MK11Ak02.html
You have absolutely no idea on how to attain reliable nuclear sources. Dont pretend to.