Obama unveils credible threat against Iran: Israel

From the Jerusalem Post:

By HERB KEINON

21/03/2013

The US president's visit is not meant to hold Israel back. On the surface, the words seem almost banal: Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself, against any threat. Upon first hearing, one could be excused for thinking this is merely stating the obvious, that all independent, sovereign states possess that inalienable right to self defense. Isn't that what sovereignty is all about. This was a line former prime minister Ariel Sharon made sure was included in the famous letter from then-president George W. Bush that preceded the disengagement from Gaza, and it is a line that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu repeated time and time again on Wednesday at the his public appearances with US President Barack Obama. "Thank you for unequivocally affirming Israel’s sovereign right to defend itself by itself against any threat," Netanyahu said at the airport following Obama's speech upon landing, where he said "today the sons of Abraham and the daughters of Sara are fulfilling the dream of the ages – to be masters of their own fate in their own sovereign state." He said it again at the start of his press conference with Obama following the first round of their meetings. In fact, Netanyahu mentioned Israel's right to independently defend itself during the press conference no less than three times, with the most significant reference at the beginning. "Notwithstanding our joint efforts and your great success in mobilizing the international community, diplomacy and sanctions so far have not stopped Iran's nuclear program," he said. "And as you know, my view is that in order to stop Iran's nuclear programs peacefully, diplomacy and sanctions must be augmented by a clear and credible threat of military action. In this regard, Mr. President, I want to thank you once again for always making clear that Israel must be able to defend itself by itself against any threat." For months, in fact even years going back to at least January 2011, Netanyahu has said that sanctions on Iran will only work if coupled with a "credible military option."  The reasoning was that only if Iran had a dagger over its head would it use the sanctions and political isolation to back down. In recent weeks he stepped up the drumbeat of that mantra, saying this line almost every time he made public comments on Iran, although never spelling out exactly what he considered to be that credible military threat. Over the first two days of Obama’s visit that threat emerged: it is Israel itself. Speculation has been rife for years that the US is holding Israel back when it comes to Iran. Indeed, prior to Obama's trip there was speculation that one of the main purposes of his journey was to hold a bright red stop light up to Netanyahu. No one -- including the Iranians -- knows what Obama and Netanyahu said to each other privately on Wednesday. Publicly, however, restraining Israel has not been Obama’s message. Indeed, the opposite is true -- and these are the words the Iranians are hearing as well. "I think that what Bibi alluded to, which is absolutely correct, is each country has to make its own decisions when it comes to the awesome decision to engage in any kind of military action, and Israel is differently situated than the United States," Obama said at Wednesday’s press conference. "And I would not expect that the prime minister would make a decision about his country's security and defer that to any other country, any more than the United States would defer our decisions about what was important for our national security." The most solemn responsibility of a leader, he said, is the security of his people."That’s job number one. My job as president of the United States, first and foremost, is to keep the American people safe. Bibi, as prime minister, your first task is to keep the people of Israel safe. And Israel’s security needs are truly unique, as I’ve seen myself.” During the last four years, Netanyahu's efforts regarding Iran were two fold: raising the issue to the top of the international agenda, and creating a credible Israeli military option. Actually, these two efforts were interconnected, because the world put the issue on the agenda, and significantly ratcheted up sanctions on Iran precisely because it felt that Israel posed a serious military threat. And now Obama comes to town and instead of sheathing that threat, instead of openly warning Israel not to take action, he makes it clear publicly that he recognizes Israel's right to defend itself by itself against all possible threats. Obama hopes it will not come to that on Iran, he hopes the Iranians will back down. But if they don’t, the credible military threat Netanyahu wants to see waved along with the economic, political and diplomatic pressure already being applied against Iran is no less than Israel itself. Iran, and the international community, have been warned. It is a bit strange that the most powerful nation on Earth with a population of 330 million is delegating the leadership of the free word to a country of 7.7 million. But this is definitely progress.  If the reports about the newly revealed Iranian site, 14 miles long and miles 7 .5 wide are true, events seems be coming to a head. The mutually assured destruction  doctrine (MAD)  does not work with Iran and  according to some apocalyptic hadiths  the Twelvers would start a nuclear war in order to kill 2/3 of humanity and trigger the return of the Mahdi who is in “occultation”. Iran is led by a group of irrational men who believe they can hurry the arrival of the Mahdi – the 12th Imam who, according to Shi’ite Islamic tradition, went missing in 874 CE and will return under conditions of global chaos. The Iranian leadership appears willing to sacrifice the population of its own country to achieve this goal. In his book The Rise of Nuclear Iran, former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold writes, “Mahdi Khaliji, an Iranian Shi’ite scholar... has noted that there are apocalyptic hadiths [received Shi’ite traditions] that the Mahdi will not return unless one-third of the world population is killed and another third die. But Ahmadinejad and his followers believe man can actively create the conditions for the Mahdi’s arrival in the here and now...” This means that the US and everyone else on this planet is in the same boat and if the US expects Israel to be the one to act first then it is delegating its defense to Israel.

Obama and Netanyahu: A bit of truth among all the hypocrisy

Israelis are quite aware that President Obama supports the most virulently anti-Semitic and anti-American Muslim Brotherhood. As Barry Rubin put it in his article Note to Obama:

“ The problem Israel has with the Obama administration  is mainly about a US policy of helping radical Islamists who are anti-Semites and openly call for wiping Israel off the map to get into power."

But even more puzzling is how is it possible that Americans are indifferent to their President supporting these ugly movements whose values are diametrically opposed to American values? Is it just ignorance, or has America changed so drastically?

Video: Chavez urged Shiites' 12th Imam to 'come sooner'

And the world’s reaction to Iran, apart from Chavez?    Here is an appropriate quote:

The Government simply cannot make up their minds, or they cannot get the Prime Minister to make up his mind. So they go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent.

Sir Winston Churchill, Hansard, November 12, 1936

Fortunately, in contrast to Iran, MAD still works with North Korea

The transcript of the North Korean TV comment:

"Since the United States is about to ignite a nuclear war we will be exercising our right to a preemptive nuclear attack against the headquarters  of the aggressor in order to protect our supreme interest" 

The North Korean Inner Party communists still do not want to die and they want to preserve their privileges, so it is not very likely that they would attack the US. They know that they would not survive a retaliatory strike. Not so the Iranian Twelvers who are looking forward to a conflagration .

PM Netanyahu addresses AIPAC 2013

Transcript

Thank you, thank you very much.

Thank you, Rosie. And thank you Howard, Michael, Robert and all the leadership of AIPAC. Thank you for everything you do to strengthen the great alliance between Israel and The United States of America.

Let me say a special hello to my friend, Vice President Biden. He just spoke there. I have to say that I’ve learned over the years so much from Joe. I want to thank him for his steadfast support for Israel over so many decades. I’ve learned what Irish families are about from Joe Biden. I learned about his father. I learned that his background and ours is so similar, deeply grounded in values, and I just heard those values expressed.

I want to also recognize, and I’m sure you’ll all join me in recognizing, Defense Minister Barak, who I’ve sent to represent Israel in the AIPAC conference. Ehud, I want to thank you for the years of service for Israel’s security. Thank you, Ehud.

And I want to recognize Ambassadors Oren and Prossor. Michael and Ron, thank you both for your terrific service you’re doing for Israel every day.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who have come from far and wide to be here today to express your support for Israel.

As you know I was hoping to speak to you in person, but unfortunately, I had to stay in Israel to do something a lot more enjoyable - putting together a coalition government... Despite the difficulties, I intend to form a strong and stable government in the days ahead.

The first thing that my new government will have the privilege of doing is to warmly welcome President Obama to Israel. I look forward to the President’s visit. It will give me an opportunity, along with the people of Israel, to express our appreciation for what he has done for Israel.

The President and I agreed to focus our discussions on three main issues:

First, Iran’s pursuit of nuclear weapons; 

Second, the deteriorating situation in Syria; 

And third, the need to find a responsible way to advance the peace with the Palestinians.

Now, on the first point: Iran has made it clear that it will continue to defy the will of the international community. Time after time, the world’s leading powers have tabled diplomatic proposals to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue peacefully. But I have to tell you the truth. Diplomacy has not worked.

Iran ignores all these offers. It is running out the clock. It has used negotiations, including the most recent ones, to buy time to press ahead with its nuclear program.

Thus far, the sanctions have not stopped the nuclear program either. The sanctions have hit the Iranian economy hard. That is true. But Iran's leaders just grit their teeth and move forward. Iran enriches more and more uranium; It installs faster and faster centrifuges; It’s still not crossed the red line I drew at the United Nations last September. But Iran is getting closer to that line, and it’s putting itself in a position to cross that line very quickly once it decides to do so.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

To prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, we cannot allow Iran to cross that red line. We have to stop its nuclear enrichment program before it’s too late. And I have to tell you, and with the clarity of my brain: words alone will not stop Iran; Sanctions alone will not stop Iran. Sanctions must be coupled with a clear and credible military threat if diplomacy and sanctions fail.

I deeply appreciate something that President Obama has said repeatedly. You've just heard Vice President Biden say it again: Israel must always be able to defend itself by itself against any threat to its existence. The Jewish people know the cost of being defenseless against those who would exterminate us. We will never let that happen again.

Joe Biden described his meeting with Golda Meir. She said to him: our secret weapon is we have no other place to go. Well, we have our place under the sun. And ladies and gentlemen, we shall defend it.

The rebirth of Israel is one of the greatest events in history. I think Churchill said it transcends generations, it transcends centuries. He said it is significant in the perspective of thousands of years. We never lose sight of that perspective. We shall always defend the one and only Jewish state.

The second issue I intend to discuss with President Obama is the situation in Syria. Over the last two years, over 70,000 Syrians have been killed. Hundreds of thousands have been wounded and maimed. Millions have been forced to flee their homes.

Besides this humanitarian crisis of great tragedy, Syria could soon become a strategic crisis. One of monumental proportions. Syria is a very poor country, but it has chemical weapons, anti-aircraft weapons, and many other of the world’s most deadly and sophisticated arms. As the Syrian regime collapses, the danger of these weapons falling into the hands of terrorist groups is very real. Terror groups such as Hezbollah and Al Qaeda are trying to seize these weapons as we speak. They are like hyenas feeding off a carcass - and the carcass is not even dead yet.

These terror groups are committed to Israel’s destruction. They have repeatedly attacked the United States. They are global terrorist organizations that can perpetrate terror attacks anywhere in the world. We’ve just seen that, in Cyprus, in Bulgaria, everywhere. This is why we have a common interest in preventing them from obtaining these deadly weapons.

I know that here too President Obama fully appreciates Israel’s need to defend itself. And I look forward to discussing with him ways to address this challenge to our common security.

The third issue I intend to discuss with President Obama is our common quest for peace.

Israel seeks a peace with our Palestinian neighbors - a peace that will end our conflict once and for all. That peace must be grounded in reality; and it must be grounded in security. Israel withdrew from Lebanon; we withdrew from Gaza; we gave up territory. We got terror. We cannot allow that to happen a third time.

Israel is prepared for a meaningful compromise. But as Israel’s Prime Minister, I will never compromise on our security.

We must work together to find a realistic path forward - And I think that path has to be a measured step-by-step process in which we work to advance to a verifiable, durable and defensible peace.

It has to be defensible, because in the Middle East, especially in this Middle East, a peace you cannot defend will not hold for five minutes. It has to be verifiable, because as we move from one step to another, we have to make sure that we can not only defend ourselves but also that our neighbors are actually telling their people, educating their children to live in peace. 

This is something we desperately want. We yearn for peace, we pray for peace, and with President Obama, we shall work for peace.

I look forward to discussing with President Obama when he comes here later this month all these issues. But in addition, I'll have a chance to show President Obama a different side of Israel, Israel that has become a technological marvel. It’s teeming with innovation. Israel, that each day pushes the boundaries of medicine and science to the ends of human imagination. Israel that has one of the world’s most vibrant cultures and one of the world’s most dynamic peoples. 

Israel, the modern Jewish state living in the ancient Jewish homeland - an oasis of liberty and progress in the heart of the Middle East where these ideas have yet to take root.

That is the Israel that all of you know. That is the Israel that all of you love. That is the Israel that so many Americans love. And that is the Israel that will never stop standing shoulder to shoulder with the country that has been the greatest force for good that the world has ever known - the United States of America.

God bless America,

God bless Israel,

And God bless the American-Israeli alliance.

God bless you all. Thank you.

Philosophical Questions

One of the best cartoons I've ever seen. Directly applicable to the Death of MAD. 

Whom do you trust more to handle Iran – Netanyahu or Lapid?

Poll: Yesh Atid would crush Likud in new election

Is this for real? A possibility that Yair Lapid will be in charge of the country facing the undeterred nuclear armed Twelvers looking to bring the Mahdi out of “occultation”? Perhaps people who voted on “other issues”, including my wife and daughter, assuming that Netanyahu would take care of security, should wake up and realize Iran is our priority #1?

Let’s face it.  Most Israelis would pick Netanyahu over Lapid to handle Iran. This is not to say that Yair Lapid is an airhead, as many think. Yair Lapid wrote a book  titled  Memories After My Death  written as if he were his father.  Although the excerpt below may have been his father's opinion alone, on page 353, he wrote:

Political correctness prevents us from discussing that our biggest problem is Islam. Were we simply talking about the national aspirations of the Palestinian people we would have long ago reached a peace accord. God and Allah know that we offered the more than they once even dared to dream could be theirs. But for every secular Palestinian interested in finding a solution, two zealots who want us dead are born. Radical Islam has waged a war of destruction against everything that  the Western word represents: freedom, democracy , equality, science, technology, feminism, progress.

Of the fifty-seven Islamic nations in the world today, not one is a democracy. They are all mired in dictatorships - some more enlightened, some less - rife with corruption and poverty and hatred, and, primarily envy. Twice before, Islam has tried to conquer Europe, once when it conquered Spain and once when it reached the gates of Vienna, and each time it failed.

The excerpt above shows that Yair Lapid understands what is happening in the world. But when it comes to Iran Netanyahu is the man. He has been briefed by Bernard Lewis , he quoted Bernard Lewis in his speech to the UN General Assembly  and he can stand up to Obama.

Does Yair Lapid take seriously  Bernard Lewis's warning that "for people with this mindset, M.A.D. is not a constraint; it is an inducement..." ?

Israelis, wake up and get your priorities straight!

Update, March 3.
It seems Netanyahu got the message: