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| PM Benjamin Netanyahu (L) & Defense Min Ehud Barak (R) (Ha'aretz) |
Despite opposition from the Obama administration and from many Israeli security chiefs, Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud
Barak have “almost finally” decided on an Israeli strike at Iran’s nuclear
facilities this fall. A final decision will be taken soon.
Netanyahu believes
Iran’s regime is aiming to ‘destroy the Jewish people,’ but he does not think
Obama will resort to force even though Iran’s nuclear drive is ‘further ahead’
than previously thought.
President Obama does not want to intervene militarily before the
presidential elections in November, and it is doubtful that he would act
afterwards. Conditions cited by Defense Secretary Leon Panetta for an American
attack do not calm Israeli concerns. And Obama has a record of seeking UN and
Arab League approval before action. All these factors underline for Israel the
growing conviction that Israel will have to tackle Iran alone.
As for presidential
challenger Mitt Romney, he takes a more forceful position, but would probably
not have the domestic support necessary to act in the first year of his
presidency, if elected, and after that it would be too late. The US can live
with Iran as a “breakout state” — on the edge of attaining a bomb, But “for
Israel, a breakout state is a nuclear state.” (It is generally understood but left unsaid that if it appears Barack Obama will win the US Presidential election, then Israel will make its move before November.)
Netanyahu is convinced that thwarting Iran amounts to thwarting a plan to
destroy the Jewish people and that “we may have reached the moment of truth”
after which it would be too late to stop Iran. It will be “a matter of a few
months” before it is too late, before Iran would be immune from damage by an
Israeli strike. Four years ago an Israeli strike could have set back the
Iranian program by two to four years. A year from now, an Israeli strike would
have a negligible impact.
There are costs to an attack, but Netanyahu believes the price of an attack
is far lower than the price of inaction. An Israeli strike could bring missile
attacks, terrorism on the northern and southern borders, and Arab upheaval.
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad would not get involved, since this would finish
him off. Israel expects a confrontation with the US, global protests, and
further international isolation.
However, if Iran got the bomb, the missile threat
would be escalated, Hamas and Hezbollah further empowered, and there would be a
danger of any crisis escalating into a nuclear crisis. Also, an Iranian bomb
would end foreign investment in Israel and prompt an exodus of Israel’s best
brains.
Netanyahu said Israel “must and can” only rely on itself to safeguard
its security. “It becomes clear time after time that when it comes to the
safety of Israeli citizens, Israel must and can rely only on itself, and we
will continue to conduct ourselves in this way,” Netanyahu said.
Pray for
Israel and its leaders to make the right decisions and to protect His people.
Source: Times of Israel 8/11/2012
From an email from Jerry Golden sent Wednesday, 15 August 2012 08:09 (http://www.thegoldenreport.com/reports/404-not-a-nice-picture)
ReplyDeleteBy all indications war is on our doorstep - and the knocking is becoming very loud. Iran cannot be stopped or even slowed down by sanctions, and everyone knows it. The threat of imminent attacks and counter-attacks are now front page on every Israeli newspaper. Every Israeli politician and IDF general are presenting doomsday scenarios and none of them are pretty. Iran's main target areas will be Israel's Mediterranean coastline inhabited by two thirds of our population.
Lines are forming in cities for the new Israeli gas masks and many are finding that there are not enough of them to go around. We are being told that there is now not enough time to make the number needed for everyone in Israel.
Makeshift bomb shelters are being erected and in many of the Moshavs and Kibbutz's across Israel the bomb shelters are inadequate for the population and poorly supplied - if at all.
Connie and I have been dehydrating food and preparing in many other ways but by far the majority of the population are still not ready for what is coming at us. We are told that our anti-missile systems are very good and can intercept MOST of the incoming missiles from Iran. But MOST is not enough when some may be tipped with nuclear or chemical warheads.
Yesterday's Jerusalem Post writes that much of Lebanon and Gaza will have to be destroyed in short order if we wish to stop the tens of thousands of rockets and missiles that can now reach all parts of Israel. It is also horribly mind boggling to imagine the number of Arab deaths that will involve.
This past week's attack in the Egyptian Sinai could have been a false flag operation in order to allow more Egyptian troops into the Sinai and up close to the Israeli border for what I see as obvious reasons for an Israeli attack. Keep in mind that the Muslim Brotherhood is now in total control of the Egyptian military and they don't hesitate in saying that Israel must be destroyed.
Russia has built up an impressive naval presence on the Syrian coast including missile equipped battleships, one aircraft carrier and who knows how many of their troops are now stationed in Syria?
The Saudis are buying nuclear capable missiles from China - making us wonder if they have also acquired the same from the former USSR or maybe even North Korea? It seems most Americans have forgotten that 15 of the 19 Terrorists of 9/11 were Saudis.