Israel's prime minister sets off this week on a U.S. visit clouded by a deepening rift with Washington, which is pressing Israel to hold off on any attack against Iran's suspect nuclear program.
Although Israel says it hasn't decided whether to strike, it has signaled readiness to do so -- a move that would have deep worldwide implications.
Senior Israeli officials say Israel would have to act by summer in order to be effective. U.S. officials, wary that an Israeli strike could drive up oil prices and entangle the U.S. in a new Mideast military confrontation during the presidential election season, want to give diplomacy and sanctions more time to work.
These differences have created tension ahead of Benjamin Netanyahu's arrival at the White House next Monday. Aides to the Israeli leader would not say what he plans to tell President Obama.
"The meeting will be a good opportunity to clarify both sides' stands on ... how to act against the Iranian nuclear threat, which both sides agree is grave," Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon told Israel Radio.
Israel's Haaretz and Israel Hayom newspapers reported Wednesday that Netanyahu wants Obama to deliver an explicit military threat to Iran in a joint statement to be issued after the meeting.
Differing assessments of urgency underlie the disagreements on Iran.
Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be a threat to the existence of the Jewish state. It cites Iranian leaders' repeated calls for Israel's destruction, support for anti-Israel militant groups and its arsenal of ballistic missiles that are already capable of striking Israel. It also fears a nuclear Iran would touch off an atomic weapons race in a region hostile to Israel's existence.
Israel takes little comfort in the U.S. assessment, reiterated Tuesday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, that Tehran has not decided whether to build a nuclear bomb. Iran denies it is making nuclear weapons.
Israeli officials note that the U.N. nuclear agency said recently that Tehran is rapidly moving ahead with a key elements associated with bomb making, and Iran is moving its nuclear operations deeper underground. They believe these developments are strong signs of Iranian intentions.
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3 comments:
Obama needs to tell Netanyahoo to stick it where the sun don't shine. The days of the Isreali lobby guiding our foreign policy needs to come to an end. It's one thing to be an ally. It's a whole nother thing to have a foreign entity looking to shape the political landscape of our country. If they want to attack Iran so be it. Maybe it means will sell more weapons. But we should also hit the off switch on missle defense and pull our guys our of Isreal if they decide to say to hell with the US.
Let Israel do what they want, but keep our noses out of it. And, while they are doing that, it would make a good excuse to bring all our other troops home as well. Keep enough there to protect our "Diplomacy Bases" protected, but everybody else needs to be stateside to protect our borders.
And these Israelis where just saying they got this.nuke them all! I'm sure I speak for all Americans when I say we are tired if fighting wars for other countries.
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