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Former Deputy Defense Minister Says Israel May Be Compelled To Attack Iran's Nuclear Facilities By November

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Who would have thought that Obama's fate would be decided not by his
passage of the "historic" healthcare reform, or his pathological
inability to disengage from the kleptos on Wall Street, or even the
exponential growth in the US debt, but by what is shaping up to be a
November (potentially Nuclear) D-Day out in the middle east. Pakistani
newspaper The Nation, quotes former Israeli defense minister Ephraim Sneh, who in an Op-Ed in Haaretz, says that "Israel will be compelled to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities by this November unless
the US and its allies enact crippling sanctions that will undermine the
regime in Tehran." It appears that Israel is not taking the recent
deterioration in its relations with the US lightly. If China and the
whole botched CNY issue is any indication of just how incompetent and
impotent US foreign policy has become, Obama has about 6 months before
the defense/war complex sounds the victory horn (and the president gets
to experience first hand just how much better unemployment in this
country really is getting) in the shadow of the mushroom cloud.

More from the Nation:

In an Op-Ed in the Israeli left-wing daily, Haaretz, former deputy defence minister Brig-Gen Ephraim Sneh argues that Iran will probably have “a nuclear bomb or two” by 2011. “An Israeli military campaign against Iran’s nuclear installations is likely to cripple that country’s nuclear project for a number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but bearable,” he said. Sneh believes that the “acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama’s term would do him a great deal of political damage,” but that the damage to Obama resulting from an Israeli strike on Iran “would be devastating.” November is the time for elections in the United States.

Nevertheless, he writes, “for practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions, Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which means it would have to act around the congressional elections in November, thereby sealing Obama’s fate as president.” Sneh says he does not foresee any U.S. military strikes on Iran. In a recent report for the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), military analyst Anthony Cordesman concluded that Israel will have to use low-yield earth-penetrating nuclear weapons if it wants to take out deeply-buried nuclear sites in Iran.

“Israel is reported to possess a 200 kilogram nuclear warhead containing 6 kilograms of weapons-grade plutonium that could be mounted on the sea launched cruise missiles and producing a Yield of 20 kilo tons,” Cordesman writes in the CSIS study he co-authored by Abdullah Toukan.

As possible nuclear war is a somewhat sensitive issue, we decided to track down Sneh's original Op-Ed. We present it below.

The current crisis between Israel and the United
States is fundamental and serious. Even if a nominal solution is found,
it will be temporary, until the next one, which won't be far off. These
crises are harmful to our national interests, and a true, enduring
solution must be implemented. To achieve this, there are 10 assumptions
that must be taken into account:

1. Israel cannot keep up a confrontation with its friends for long
while its legitimacy is being eroded. This will soon begin to adversely
affect the economy, based as it is on exports.

2. Without a genuine pause in settlement expansion
and construction in East Jerusalem, Israel will continue to lose the
support of friends and international legitimacy.

3. Israel cannot live in the shadow of a nuclear
Iran. Immigration will cease, more young people will emigrate and
foreign investments will diminish. An Israel that is no longer a safe
home for Diaspora Jews and is not characterized by entrepreneurship and
excellence means an end to the Zionist dream.

A nuclear Iran will increase the audacity of the region's
extremists, threaten the moderates and lead within a few years to the
acquisition of nuclear weapons by Saudi Arabia and Egypt. The regional
balance of power will change to Israel's disadvantage.

4. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in accordance with his strong
beliefs on this matter, cannot allow himself to be the leader on whose
watch Iran acquires nuclear weapons.

5. In the absence of "crippling sanctions" that will undermine the
regime in Tehran, it is reasonable to assume that by 2011 Iran will
have a nuclear bomb or two.

6. An Israeli military campaign against Iran's nuclear
installations is likely to cripple that country's nuclear project for a
number of years. The retaliation against Israel would be painful, but
bearable
.

7. U.S. President Barack Obama would find it difficult, if only for
internal political reasons, to take military action against Iran and
thereby open a new theater for war, in addition to Iraq and
Afghanistan.

8. The acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran during Obama's term
would do him a great deal of political damage. The damage that the
resulting independent Israeli strike would cause Obama - soaring
gasoline prices and American casualties in retaliatory operations -
would be devastating.



9. For practical reasons, in the absence of genuine sanctions,
Israel will not be able to wait until the end of next winter, which
means it would have to act around the congressional elections in
November, thereby sealing Obama's fate as president
.

10. Without international legitimacy, and with its friends mad at it, Israel would find it very difficult to act on its own.

These 10 assumptions show how complicated the situation is.
Weighing them up with each other begs a single solution to the crisis
with the United States: quit building. Israel should enact an
open-ended freeze of settlement and outpost expansion, refrain from
building new neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and stop construction for
Jews in Arab neighborhoods.

The United States, independently of the UN Security Council, where
sanctions would be shorn of any teeth, would implement its legislation
on sanctions against Iran (an embargo on the sale of fuel and on
investment in and upgrades for Iran's oil and gas industries, and a
total boycott of its banking system). In so doing, it would be joined
by its natural partners and important European states.

Only such an integrated solution would meet both America's and
Israel's security requirements. The prime minister would find a
majority in the Knesset that would rather have cooperation with the
United States on this matter of survival than please the extreme right
wing.

The writer is a former cabinet minister and chairman of the Center for Strategic Dialogue at Netanya Academic College.

 

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Tue, 04/06/2010 - 09:56 | 288412 anony
anony's picture

Israel's the one threatening the nuclear option.

Why isn't your ire directed at them?

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 08:54 | 288358 GoldmanBaggins
GoldmanBaggins's picture

Israel is a weak and cowardly aggressor. I am not defending the Arabs but Israel doesn't have the balls or ability to go it alone in Iran. They bleat and cry and make demands of the US. And we comply because we have been corrupted by their agents and brainwashed by their propaganda. Offering protection to Israel is one thing and I am all for it, but invading sovereign nations on their behalf has so damaged our republic that we may never recover.

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 09:38 | 288392 Dicite justitiam
Dicite justitiam's picture

And it turns out the greatest threat over a rogue Middle Eastern regime with nuclear weapons was the one we funded...how American of us.

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 10:36 | 288452 Tense INDIAN
Tense INDIAN's picture

WW3 is already 9 years OLD.....if u believe in this letter written in 1871 by Albert Pike...

 

http://www.disclose.tv/forum/albert-pike-s-ww1-ww2-ww3-prophecy-made-in-...

 

some other interesting facts ...

 

http://www.savethemales.ca/001399.html

 

i dont understand this ; if Hitler hated the jews so much , how come he was funded by them ...n why did he not do any harm to the Major banking houses (jewish) in germany like Rothschilds and Warburgs...I also read some where that Max warburg ( brother of Paul) funded Hitler...

 

http://www.savethemales.ca/002026.html

 

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 11:22 | 288519 scipio_africanus
scipio_africanus's picture

I can't believe all the folks on here that think that Israel is the bad guy. If some you really think the world would be a better place with a nuclear weaponized Iran, you people are crazy. They are one of the countries that will use them (for extortion or outright use). It is better that Iran be taken care of now. I for one think this should have happened a long time ago.

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 12:15 | 288595 loki
loki's picture

+100

 

Folks who have no respect for life (their own or other's lives are the true enemy.)

Have no fear though.  Once Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindi, Jains and all other religions are outnumbered, it won't matter anymore.   In another 100-200 years, your offspring can live under Shariah Laws, too.   This is the quiet war they are winning - -- Move in, Populate.   Rinse, repeat everywhere.

 

 

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 17:47 | 289107 Dicite justitiam
Dicite justitiam's picture

Move in, Populate.   Rinse, repeat everywhere.

This sounds similar to what Israel did a few decades ago in contravention of the government of the land, and what Israel continues to do.  But your point is taken, as a C-goyim Lebanon is being overcome by a quickly growing M-goyim Lebanon.

It's not crazy to question Israel.  I prefer when my country is deciding which wars we fight.  No one wants Iran to have nukes, and it's a bit facile to assume that is the argument that is made.  God forbid they join the ranks of China and Pakistan.  The argument is what's best for America, what's best for me and my family.  How Israel can commandeer the US military as its own foreign policy tool does not strike me as necessarily what is best for America.  The fact that it is not a serious discussion is also significant.  If someone can explain to me how getting pulled into a war with Iran on behalf of Israel is best for America, I'll listen.  Seriously.

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 12:43 | 288645 zeroman
zeroman's picture

PLEASE. THIS IS NOTHING MORE THAN PROPOGANDA BY ISRAEL. THEY WOULD NEVER TELL ANYONE WHEN THEY WERE GOING TO BOMB THEM. IN FACT, IT MAY WELL BE THEY BOMB THEM TOMMORROW BUT CERTAINLY NOT WHEN THEY ANNOUNC IT TO THE WORLD

Tue, 04/06/2010 - 12:44 | 288649 zeroman
zeroman's picture

THE ISRAELI'S WOULD NEVER TELEGRAPH WHEN THEY ARE GOING TO BOMB SOMEONE. IN FACT, THIS TELLS ME EITHER A; THEY WILL NOT BOMB THEM OR B;) THEY ARE GOING TO BOMB THEM VERY VERY VERY SOON.

Wed, 04/07/2010 - 08:27 | 289526 justbuygold
justbuygold's picture

November.  I'd bet its earlier than that !

Fri, 04/09/2010 - 04:05 | 292801 mark456
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