The main headline of today’s Haaretz practically screams out (translation of Hebrew edition):
Netanyahu Seeks Cabinet Majority for Military Action Against Iran’s Nuclear Plants
The article continues (from the English edition):
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak are trying to muster a majority in the cabinet in favor of military action against Iran, a senior Israeli official has said. According to the official, there is a “small advantage” in the cabinet for the opponents of such an attack.
Netanyahu and Barak recently persuaded Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who previously objected to attacking Iran, to support such a move.
The article suggests that this month’s IAEA report will be “decisive” in determining Israel’s decision. Since Israeli media have already blared what the supposed substance of the report will be (i.e. that Iran is moving ever closer to processes necessary to create a nuclear weapon), this seems a dubious proposition. What this means is that Bibi wants to bomb Iran and if there is any material in the report that justifies his pre-ordained outcome, then he will seize upon it.
Much more decisive in the determination will be whether there is a cabinet majority, as the headline notes. Once Bibi has the votes it will hardly matter what the IAEA says.
The report says that Bibi and Barak currently have a “slight majority.” Opposing are Yuval Steinitz, Dan Meridor, Bogie Yaalon (this is a shocker to me), Benny Begin and Eli Yishai. Maariv too has a screaming headline (Hebrew only):
Meridor: Iran Deliberations Graver than Anat Kamm Leaks
I take this to mean that the contents of the materials leaked by Anat Kamm, which revealed that IDF general had approved Palestinian assassinations in violation of Supreme Court rulings, will pale in comparison to the damage that an Iran attack could do to the IDF and Israel.
This is the first Israeli media confirmation that not only have Bibi and Barak have determined to attack Iran, but that they have attempted to dragoon the cabinet into supporting it as well. This takes the plan one step closer to realization. As soon as there is a cabinet majority, the attack could happen at any moment. Don’t be terribly surprised if you wake up one morning and find pictures of Israeli missiles falling on Iran on CNN and the front page of your local paper. It no longer seems much of a question of “if,” but rather “when.”
It’s very important that bloggers, journalists and others prepare for such an eventuality. We should try to create open channels of communication among us and Israeli and Iranian bloggers who can tell us in real time what is happening, who’s saying what, and where the bombs are falling. This will be a chilling, savage attack which I imagine will impact not just Iran, but Israel as well.
In this column, Haaretz columnist Reuven Pedatzur, a former IAF fighter pilot and one of Israel’s premier military analysts, practically begs the current IAF commander to stand lay his body on the railroad tracks to halt the runaway train that is the project for an Iran attack:
If anyone can save Israel from catastrophe it is the Israel Air Force commander. All Maj. Gen. Ido Nechushtan has to do is whisper to the prime minister and defense minister that an Air Force attack on Iran cannot achieve its goals.
The force’s airplanes can reach Iran and even drop bombs, he must tell them, but ultimately the operation will not destroy the Iranian nuclear program. At best it will be delay the program by a few months.
…Such an approach to the policy makers may be opposed to the “Air Force spirit,” but Nechushtan must act with national responsibility. It would not be a display of defeatism, but rather one of supreme responsibility in an era when the decision-making process has gone dangerously haywire. Only he can stop the train speeding to a collision in Iran’s skies.
…Never, it seems, has an IDF officer been in a position in which his professional recommendation could bring on Israel a disaster of such proportions. We may only hope Nechushtan will rise to the occasion.
Yet a third Haaretz article portrays (Hebrew) a Knesset speech by Ehud Barak in which he says regarding a possible Israeli strike against Iran:
Events of the past year in the Middle East lead to the conclusion that there may be situations in which Israel will have to defend its own interests or stand up for things which are vital to it by itself, without being able to depend on regional powers or expecting the help of others.
This was a clear reference to the fact that Israel, if it attacks Iran will not receive the backing of the U.S. (though whether it receives tacit backing is another question).
In related developments, Shelly Yachimovitz, the leader of the much depleted Labor Party, actually took a reasonable position warning Bibi and Barak against a “reckless, megalomaniacal Iranian adventure.” Of course, the moment the F-16s take off, Labor will dutifully fall in line and we won’t hear another peep out of them until at least a hundred Israelis are dead. Then we’ll begin to see some finger-pointing and even a charge that Bibi didn’t let the IDF hit hard enough. So goes Israeli politics.
Dear Richard,
Obama needs $$$ for his 2012 re-election:
The fact is that 40% of the billionaires in the United States are Jewish or come from interfaith backgrounds where one side of the family is Jewish. This in a nation that represents 25% of the global economy.
According to J. J. Goldberg (the former editor of the Forward) in his book Jewish Power he boasts that 45% of the fundraising for the Democratic party and 25% of the funding for the Republican party come from Jewish funded Political Action Committees. Richard Cohen of the Washington Post has recently updated this data to read 60% for democrats and 35% for republicans fundraising come from Jewish funded Political Action Committees.
Since the 1930s according to Forbes business magazine, 25%-30% of the wealthiest families in America have been Jewish.
Canada is one of the world’s wealthiest nations, where, Jewish-Canadian billionaires represent 49% of the Canadian stock market. And Jewish-Canadains of wealth are notorious heavyweights for political donations in U.S. politics, in effect helping the cause for the Zionist entity, through the military might of the U.S.
Israel will attack Iran before Nov. 2012 or sooner. I write this on Nov. 2, 2011.
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
New York City
What is the source for your claim that 40% of the billionaires in the United States are Jewish ?
Also, why do you call Israel “the Zionist entity”?
Dear Bob,
How many of the Forbes 400 are Jewish?
LINK:
http://isteve.blogspot.com/2009/10/how-many-of-forbes-400-are-jewish.html
You say:
“Also, why do you call Israel “the Zionist entity”?”
I say:
Are you joking?
Peace.
Michael Santomauro
New York City
This is a violation of my comment rules & WAY OFF TOPIC. Future comments will be moderated.
Haaretz says: “According to the official, there is a “small advantage” in the cabinet for the opponents of such an attack.” So if Haaretz is correct, Netanyahu and Barak do not have a “slight majority”, it is the opposite, they are (still) the minority.
Your translation of the hebrew isn’t good. The Maariv headline is “Conversing on iran is worse than the Anat Kam leaks”. In the article it’s clear than Dan Meridor is angry about the level of public discussion. Nothing to do with the damage of an Iran attack.
Agreed.
You are wrong.
Here is the headline in Hebrew:
נתניהו מגייס רוב בקבינט לפעולה צבאית נגד מתקני הגרעין באיראן
Here’s how Google Translate translates it:
Netanyahu enlists most of the cabinet for military action against Iran’s nuclear facilities
Nothing about Anat Kam leaks in there at all.
No, Bob, here is Ma’ariv’s headline:
מרידור: דיון בנושא איראן חמור מההדלפות של ענת קם
“Rain” is 100% right with her translation and comment:
“”Conversing on iran is worse than the Anat Kam leaks”. In the article it’s clear than Dan Meridor is angry about the level of public discussion. Nothing to do with the damage of an Iran attack.”
Sorry, I guess I was mixing up the Ha’aretz headline with the Ma’ariv headline.
I’m referring to the article referenced in Maariv:
מרידור: דיון בנושא איראן חמור מההדלפות של ענת קם
See my apology above – I mixed up the two headlines.
An Israeli offered me the headline. I didn’t have access the actual article and based my reading only on the headline. Based on what you write, Meridor is being typically stupid & obtuse about the clear importance for the Israeli public to debate the fateful decision to attack Iran.
Now let’s move on.
I think what is eating Meridor is that when Israel attacked the Iraqi reactor or (allegedly) the Syrian one, or did any of its “daring” international operations, there was never any public debate beforehand and secrecy was the order of the day, and essential to preserve the element of surprise.
Meridor doesn’t seem to grasp that bombing Iran is a completely different kettle of fish and is not an operation that is done, talked about for a few weeks, condemned by those who disagree, and then forgotten, but rather the beginning of a major international conflict.
There is no way Iran won’t know about the attack in real time, and may or may not counter in real time. Somehow many Israeli (and US and UK) politicians don’t grasp this either, in spite of the intelligence and military warnings to this effect.
And see Meir Dagan’s reply today as to the criticism of his public voicing of opinion “indict me if you think I broke the law..I’ll have what to say about …others who disregarded security regulations..”
(Hebrew) http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-4143185,00.html
Couldn’t agree with you more. And you formulated the issue precisely right.
If there is combat and innocent human beings die for Israeli politics, expect these individuals to be the first to be buried, cold and limp, in dirt.
The is beyond foolish. If there is anything that would place Iran firmly on the road to nuclear weapons it would be an Israeli attack. Can no one see the simple rule of human behavior – that attacks bring consequences? Surely Israel, one of the most militarized states on the planet, knows the socially cohesive effect of portraying itself as continually under attack. Attacking Iran would give it a gift of cohesion that would more than offset any temporary gains of physical destruction of nuclear facilities.
Richard, you might be right but you should consider that you are being manipulated. That would be my bet.
1. Decision like that are not brought to the large and usually bickering cabinet until they are done. The real process takes place between the PM, on or two ministers, the army top + 2, 3 other officials. The cabinet will never go against the army recommendation on this matter. Not to mention that Bibi is a particular non entity when it comes to military decisions.
Also, if the army top brass had made up its mind to launch an attack, all the serious journalists would be silent or silenced by their editors.
An attack on Iran is also not the kind of action that any group of generals will try to pull off without consensus. You don’t want anyone important to be in the position to say “I told you so.” So either there is consensus at the top of the army, in which case these debate would not have happened. Or there isn’t, in which case there won’t be an attack.
I think this is a disinformation campaign intended to achieve diplomatic goals.
Actually all of the senior military & intelligence commanders of the IDF & Mossad & Shabak are against. It is Bibi & Barak who are for. That makes for a diff. configuration than usual in such Israeli warmaking decisions. But I believe that Bibi & Barak could still impose their will on the rest & go forward. That’s why I’m treating this like the real deal rather than diplomatic extortion. Frankly, I don’t think this will budge Iran. Not one bit. And I think Bibi & Barak either have to know this or else they’re more fools than I thought.
I think the Iranians are better at the game of chicken than Israel. And they’re willing to absorb more losses if necessary in such a game if that’s the right word.
I think there is no chance in hell that Bibi and Barak will go against the army recommendations. They are politicians. They don’t exist in a vaccuum. If this happens it will be the end of their career. But it just can’t happen because the brass is the center of power.
The target of the disinformation is probably not directly Iran. The goal is to push Europeans and US diplomats to agree for ever more punitive measure “or else”. The increased isolation of Iran is also the integration of Israel in the Western geopolitical strategy.
I too believe this is disinformation, the nice term for extortion. Israel just wants tougher sanctions and this is seen as a way to get them. And it works.
As for “rich” Zionists: It takes a lot of money to subdue and herd nearly 4 million people into reservations (or vast ghettos), take and settle their land with a handful of people and, at the same time, be heedless of world opinion and immune to any reckoning. That is an expensive undertaking, so draw your own conclusions on the wealth of Zionists.
Israel had the opportunity to be recognized as a legitimate state but elected war and expansion instead. To some it will always be the “Zionist entity” and anybody who does not understand this is suspect.
Your style of writing, David, is vulgar and offensive. You should be able to make a point without the need to resort to such terms such as “herded” “reservations” “zionist entity” etc.
For the record, no one was herded anywhere, the Palestinians are not cattle and the Israelis not cowboys. There are no ghettos.
The “zionist entity” is, as I’m sure you are aware, the term coined by those who stick their head in the sand and refuse to recognise the Jewish right of self determination and the right of Israel to exist, and is the term used invariably by Iran to refer to Israel. By adopting this term you are on par with those (few) in Israel that still shout that there is no Palestinian people, and never was. They also call them “Pals” derogeratively or “ragheads”. That’s where you are, David.
Yes and we rule the world with our money – we know where you found that one. But maybe you remember 1973 and OPEC and who rules with money?
“zionist entity” is what Israel is. I am not a great admirer of empty rhetoric, which has often been the currency behind the use of that term. However, I am Jewish and I refuse to recognize the Jewish right to self-determination through plunder, murder and apartheid. And I don’t recognize the right of any political regime to exist, including the apartheid regime in Israel.
There is absolutely no comparison between denying the existence of the Palestinian people and refusing to recognize an apartheid regime.
I use the term “Israel” freely, and you should not think that I despise the regime the name stands for any less than the people who call it “the zionist entity”.
I know that my language is offensive perhaps too much so. I do apologize. Really. I was angry about the UNESCO fiasco and some other reports and I got carried away.
Suffice it to say, that it is self-evident that the Zionist project was not cheap and could not be paid for from domestic product in Israel. Absolutely no way. So, realistically, the money came from world Jewry and the extraordinary US aid. No doubt some Jewish billionaires are forthcoming and this view is reinforced by the failure of AIPAC and its offspring to publish its donees and donations. The thought is that the list is too narrow and concentrated for the edification of the public.
I remain committed to dialogue with you.
Away from Zionists and billionaires — I truly believe that what is happening is just extortion and not the real thing. Israel must know that an attack on Iran will utterly polarize and concentrate nations and peoples opposed to its agenda, period. The blowback would be terrific and could have far-reaching impact on Zionist plans in the West Bank. The US public opinion is already set up to oppose Israel, taking into account the anti-miliatry, anti-capitalist feeling in the streets and this attack would become a seed for organizing and radicalizing in the US. In short, Israel would be truly alone for once. Nobody would swallow the sanctimonius drivel to follow from Bibi and Ehud.
Protestant End-Times nuts in the US outnumber US Jews 10 or 20 times. They have tons of clout on Capitol Hill and are probably more eager than ever for the Rapture, etc., because of their economic problems. Probably many also look on Middle East people as Indians to be eliminated by US/Israeli cowboys.