Friday, September 28, 2012

PM Netanyahu Clarifies Position

Interesting choice of words and the article also answers some of the questions that were discussed after his UN speech:


Iran’s nuclear weapons drive must be stopped before it has amassed enough 20%-enriched uranium for a single bomb, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated on Friday.
On Thursday, in a speech to the United Nations illustrated with a cartoon bomb, Netanyahu called for a red line to be set for Iran’s uranium enrichment process. Pressed specifically in an interview on Israel’s Channel 2, as to whether this meant an attack would have to come before Iran had enriched 240 kg (529 lb) of uranium to 20% purity — enough for one bomb — Netanyahu did not contest the figures.
He also said he did not discount the possibility of an Israeli or American attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities before Spring 2013, “if [Tehran] continues at the current rate” of enrichment.




Also see:





Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday reinforced his call to stop Iran’s race toward nuclear weapons, saying that the nearly universal consensus on the Iranian question needs to be put “into practice.”
It is important to “translate the agreement and principle of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons to practice,” Netanyahu said at a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
A spokesman for the prime minister told reporters: “The Iranian leadership needs to understand in clear and certain terms that there are actions by them that will cause a reaction by the international community that will not be in their interest.”
Netanyahu said his speech at the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday “reverberates now around the world” and is being widely discussed.
Earlier Friday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta reiterated the goal that “the US and Israel and the international community can work together” to prevent Iran attaining a nuclear weapon. “Hopefully we can resolve these issues peacefully as opposed to militarily,” Panetta said.





It seems hard to believe that PM Netanyahu could be convinced that further diplomacy will work; surely he knows what is in store (more 'negotiations', more sanctions etc., none of which will slow down Iran's nuclear development). It seems that Netanyahu is now presenting this to the world (again) so that when he does have to attack he can say that he waited till the last possible second, and tried to avoid war at all costs, but because Iran was so close to the red line, that he had no choice. 

There is also the possibility that he believes Romney will be elected and then, sometime after January, with U.S. assistance he can destroy the nuclear facilities in a far more efficient manner and longer lasting with U.S. Help.

At least we now have a "final" date - a point of no return, where Israel will have no choice but to act. 




2 comments:

ChristineInCleveland said...

It seems probable to me that Romney will NOT win the upcoming election, in view of prophesy that Israel will soon be surrounded by her enemies with no help from her allies.... But with Netanyahu seeing how close the race is getting, could understand his deciding to wait & see if Obama loses! Of course, Bibi WILL truly stand alone when Obama wins, whether he actually got the votes or not.... The only question is, will Israel be attacked by Iran or a proxy (say Syria launching a chemical weapon any day now?) ....which makes me wonder, will Obama be willing to defend Israel, in that event? So much yet to unfold....

Douglas said...

I find it difficult to believe Netanyahu would give up and fall in behind Obama like that. I wonder if more is going on than we see.