Netanyahu Will Not Take Orders from Obama

WedNEWSday - April 8th, 2009

Israeli citizens have made it clear, by voting for a second go-round for Benjamin Netanyahu as Prime Minister, that they do not view themselves as the 51st state of the U.S.  An insider from Netanyahu’s Likud Pary put it more bluntly, “Israel does not take orders from Obama.”  They know that the attitude of appeasement and subsequent weakness Obama displays, adopted by Israel, would indeed lead them to being, as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fancies, “wiped off the map.”

In an article by Jeffrey Goldberg that appeared in The Atlantic last week, Netanyahu was very clear as well, saying to Obama, stop Iran or I will.  Netanyahu challenged Obama with the following words:

“The Obama presidency has two great missions: fixing the economy, and preventing Iran from gaining nuclear weapons,” Netanyahu told me. He said the Iranian nuclear challenge represents a “hinge of history” and added that “Western civilization” will have failed if Iran is allowed to develop nuclear weapons.

Netanyahu expouses in more detail to Goldberg the specific threats a nuclear Iran would pose:

“You don’t want a messianic apocalyptic cult controlling atomic bombs. When the wide-eyed believer gets hold of the reins of power and the weapons of mass death, then the entire world should start worrying, and that is what is happening in Iran.”…

“…Several bad results would emanate from this single development. First, Iran’s militant proxies would be able to fire rockets and engage in other terror activities while enjoying a nuclear umbrella. This raises the stakes of any confrontation that they’d force on Israel. Instead of being a local event, however painful, it becomes a global one. Second, this development would embolden Islamic militants far and wide, on many continents, who would believe that this is a providential sign, that this fanaticism is on the ultimate road to triumph.

“Third, they would be able to pose a real and credible threat to the supply of oil, to the overwhelming part of the world’s oil supply. Fourth, they may threaten to use these weapons or to give them to terrorist proxies of their own, or fabricate terror proxies. Finally, you’d create a great sea change in the balance of power in our area—nearly all the Arab regimes are dead-set opposed to Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons. They fervently hope, even if they don’t say it, that the U.S. will act to prevent this, that it will use its political, economic, and, if necessary, military power to prevent this from happening.”

After some criticism surfaced of Golberg’s piece, suggesting that perhaps he may have been overstating Netanyahu’s hard-line approach Goldberg offered this addendum:

I’ll give you two quotes that I neglected to include in the first piece. The first one is from one of Netanyahu’s defense advisers, speaking on background: “We have to make sure our friends in Washington know that we can’t wait forever. There will come a point soon when it will be too late to do anything about this program. We’re going carefully, but if we have to act, we will act, even if America won’t.”

The second is from Netanyahu: “Iran has threatened to annihilate a state or to have a state wiped off the map of the world. In historical terms, this is an astounding thing. It’s a monumental outrage that goes effectively unchallenged in the court of public opinion. Sure, there are perfunctory condemnations, but there’s no j’accuse - there’s no shock and there’s a resigned acceptance that this is acceptable practice. Bad things tend to get worse if they’re not challenged early. Iranian leaders talk about Israel’s destruction or disappearance while simultaneously creating weapons to ensure its disappearance.”

I followed this statement with a question: Is there any chance that Iran could be stopped through non-military means? Netanyahu responded: “Yes I do, but only if the military option is left on the table.”

Netanyahu will be meeting with Obama next month and will make sure his concerns are heard.  I agree with the Prime Minister, as he calls the world’s response to the threat on Israel not only weak but a disgrace to humanity.

“It is a mark of disgrace for humanity that several decades after the Holocaust the world’s response to the calls by Iran’s leader to destroy the state of Israel is weak, there is no condemnation and decisive measures — almost as if dismissed as routine.” He added, “We cannot afford to take lightly megalomaniac tyrants who threaten to annihilate us.”

Now those are the words of a leader, someone speaking from a position of strength.  If only the U.S. had such leadership.

This from the Wall Street Journal - April 6th, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123897499619091093.html

This from JTA - April 7th, 2009

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123897499619091093.html

This from the Atlantic - April 2nd, 2009

http://jeffreygoldberg.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/04/netanyahu_and_obama_a_controve.php

This from the Atlantic - March 31st, 2009

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200903u/netanyahu

This from The Weekly Standard - March 31st, 2009

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/03/netanyahu_lays_down_a_marker_1.asp

This from Newsmax - April 8th, 2009

http://www.newsmax.com/timmerman/iran_netanyahu/2009/04/08/201002.html

This from FOXNews.com - April 7th, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,512989,00.html

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