Haaretz reports:
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior military leaders on Monday that Iran's development of nuclear weapons was likely to "threaten the existence of the State of Israel."
Barak told the top Israel Defense Forces commanders that should Iran achieve nuclear capability, it would enormously strengthen the immunity of groups aided by Tehran and dramatically boost the efforts of enemy regional elements to develop the same capabilities.
"It will be very difficult to stop the trickling if nuclear capabilities, even if primitive, to terrorist organizations," he said. "We have already received our first sign of such from Pakistan.
Barak added that once the Obama administration began to negotiate with Iran, any efforts to use military offense against the nuclear program would become more difficult.
"We'll see Iranian gestures and steps aimed at pushing off the issue," he said. The defense minister said it was of utmost importance that U.S.-Iran dialogue be relatively short, and followed by deep sanctions.
The Iranians of course aren't doing anything to provoke all this sudden furor in Israel. These words are designed to bully a new, inexperienced president into sacrificing U.S. national security on behalf of Israeli decision-makers who refuse even to consider alternative possibilities to directly challenging Iran with public threats of nuclear aggression. Will the Israeli effort to manage U.S. foreign policy work? The widespread Western disgust at Israeli barbarism in Gaza has weakened Israel's position, but that may not matter to Washington, where force is much respected. And force Israel demonstrated in spades last month for Obama's benefit.
Washington, you are permitted to talk to the Iranians if that will make you happy - but only briefly, to be followed by further pressures. Talk if you must, but insincerely, as a gimmick. Meanwhile, let's get on with the war.
Ah, excuse me, not to be so rude as to disagree, but...could we please have permission to slow down just a bit, please, sir? We understand that you have your timetable, but, well, it's just that we are...uh...engaged, you see, in this little pacification effort in Iraq. Of course, we won, and all that, but there are a few details, you see. I mean, you know, our boys are still there. Sure, Obama promised to pull them out immediately. But...well, it slipped his mind, and...again, not to be rude, sir, but...well, you are distracting him. Every time you scream "existential Iranian threat!" he grabs that yarmulke, you know, the one he actually wore when visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem (just to show his bias - imagine him wearing a keffiyeh to show his concern for all the recent collateral damage in Gaza!). I mean, not to criticize, surely, but, you know, he's not used to the yarmulke, and...well, to be frank, when he puts it on, it slips down over his eyes and he kinda loses sight of the ball, you know?
So maybe you could just ease off a bit, let him get his feet on the ground and make good on his promise to get our boys out of Iraq. I mean, they'd be kinda exposed, you know, in a...huh...war or something with Iran.
And then there's the recession; yeah, I know you aren't having one, that's because we are paying your bills. But we are having one, which goes back to Iraq again, but let's not go there. Point is, you know, wars are expensive when you do multiple wars simultaneously.
Oh yeah, there's that little incident, well, series of incidents, adventure?...ah, anyway, you know what I mean...in Afghanistan...and Pakistan. Yeah, there too now. Gotta fix that up, too...you know, get our ducks in a row, so to speak. Then, of course, we'll take your Iran thing under advisement. OK?
Defense Minister Ehud Barak told senior military leaders on Monday that Iran's development of nuclear weapons was likely to "threaten the existence of the State of Israel."
Barak told the top Israel Defense Forces commanders that should Iran achieve nuclear capability, it would enormously strengthen the immunity of groups aided by Tehran and dramatically boost the efforts of enemy regional elements to develop the same capabilities.
"It will be very difficult to stop the trickling if nuclear capabilities, even if primitive, to terrorist organizations," he said. "We have already received our first sign of such from Pakistan.
Barak added that once the Obama administration began to negotiate with Iran, any efforts to use military offense against the nuclear program would become more difficult.
"We'll see Iranian gestures and steps aimed at pushing off the issue," he said. The defense minister said it was of utmost importance that U.S.-Iran dialogue be relatively short, and followed by deep sanctions.
The Iranians of course aren't doing anything to provoke all this sudden furor in Israel. These words are designed to bully a new, inexperienced president into sacrificing U.S. national security on behalf of Israeli decision-makers who refuse even to consider alternative possibilities to directly challenging Iran with public threats of nuclear aggression. Will the Israeli effort to manage U.S. foreign policy work? The widespread Western disgust at Israeli barbarism in Gaza has weakened Israel's position, but that may not matter to Washington, where force is much respected. And force Israel demonstrated in spades last month for Obama's benefit.
Washington, you are permitted to talk to the Iranians if that will make you happy - but only briefly, to be followed by further pressures. Talk if you must, but insincerely, as a gimmick. Meanwhile, let's get on with the war.
Ah, excuse me, not to be so rude as to disagree, but...could we please have permission to slow down just a bit, please, sir? We understand that you have your timetable, but, well, it's just that we are...uh...engaged, you see, in this little pacification effort in Iraq. Of course, we won, and all that, but there are a few details, you see. I mean, you know, our boys are still there. Sure, Obama promised to pull them out immediately. But...well, it slipped his mind, and...again, not to be rude, sir, but...well, you are distracting him. Every time you scream "existential Iranian threat!" he grabs that yarmulke, you know, the one he actually wore when visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem (just to show his bias - imagine him wearing a keffiyeh to show his concern for all the recent collateral damage in Gaza!). I mean, not to criticize, surely, but, you know, he's not used to the yarmulke, and...well, to be frank, when he puts it on, it slips down over his eyes and he kinda loses sight of the ball, you know?
So maybe you could just ease off a bit, let him get his feet on the ground and make good on his promise to get our boys out of Iraq. I mean, they'd be kinda exposed, you know, in a...huh...war or something with Iran.
And then there's the recession; yeah, I know you aren't having one, that's because we are paying your bills. But we are having one, which goes back to Iraq again, but let's not go there. Point is, you know, wars are expensive when you do multiple wars simultaneously.
Oh yeah, there's that little incident, well, series of incidents, adventure?...ah, anyway, you know what I mean...in Afghanistan...and Pakistan. Yeah, there too now. Gotta fix that up, too...you know, get our ducks in a row, so to speak. Then, of course, we'll take your Iran thing under advisement. OK?
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