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| President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu |
With the impending visit of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the AIPC conference and a joint session of Congress — there is a doozy of a breaking story.
As reported by Arutz Sheva, “The Bethlehem-based news agency Ma’an has cited a Kuwaiti newspaper report Saturday, that US President Barack Obama thwarted an Israeli military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities in 2014 by threatening to shoot down Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran.”
“Following Obama’s threat, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was reportedly forced to abort the planned Iran attack. According to Al-Jarida, the Netanyahu government took the decision to strike Iran some time in 2014 soon after Israel had discovered the United States and Iran had been involved in secret talks over Iran’s nuclear program and were about to sign an agreement in that regard behind Israel’s back.”
“The report claimed that an unnamed Israeli minister who has good ties with the US administration revealed the attack plan to Secretary of State John Kerry, and that Obama then threatened to shoot down the Israeli jets before they could reach their targets in Iran. Al-Jarida quoted “well-placed” sources as saying that Netanyahu, along with Minister of Defense Moshe Yaalon, and then-Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman, had decided to carry out airstrikes against Iran’s nuclear program after consultations with top security commanders.”
Now, there are two reasons why this story has surfaced at this moment.
First, it could be to evidence the true schism between America and Israel and call into question President Obama’s support of Prime Minister Netanyahu. Now, we all know that Israel in the past has carried out airstrikes on known nuclear facilities against Islamic nations before, such as Iraq and Syria. And in both occasions — there was not a peep of a response or negative press from the countries receiving the assault.
So could Israel actually have the intelligence and resolve to take down the Iranian nuclear threat? Do they know more than we do as to the level of success and advancement towards a nuclear weapon capacity for the Islamic Republic terrorist regime?
One would tend to believe U.S presidents were informed of previous actions in Iraq and Syria by Israel and got the green light — as well as backing. But it’s not just about the singular strike; it’s about the ability to thwart the response.
Israel is a sovereign state with the right to exist and protect itself from declared existential threats such as Iran and its Islamic terrorist proxies — Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Quds, and Al Aqsa Martyrs.
So this purpose of the story would certainly be to benefit Netanyahu, completely embarrass the Obama administration and put President Obama on defense — and especially so, since he will be departing Washington D.C., along with the vice president, as Netanyahu visits our nation’s capital.
Secondly, this could have been leaked in an attempt to discredit Netanyahu. The end state objective would be to make him appear as a crazed war monger who would drag America and others into World War IV ( the Cold War was WW III). Now this may seem a stretch to some, but the hypothesis would be based on a “war weary” atmosphere — as evidenced by the Code Pink crew, whose leader was recently over in Iran — that is against any military activity towards Iran.
This version could attempt to make President Obama appear as the senior statesman attempting to “give peace a chance” by way of negotiations — even though Obama and Kerry are actually negotiating with themselves.
Regardless, if this story is true, it is a bombshell for this week. And I can just hear the spin doctors prescribing their remedies. Based on previous actions and the stated vehemence of any sanctions being levied against Iran, the story certainly seems plausible.
According to the report, “Netanyahu and his commanders agreed after four nights of deliberations to task the Israeli army’s chief of staff, Benny Gantz, to prepare a qualitative operation against Iran’s nuclear program. In addition, Netanyahu and his ministers decided to do whatever they could do to thwart a possible agreement between Iran and the White House because such an agreement is, allegedly, a threat to Israel’s security.”
I think it is just a tad bit easier for the Obama administration to not take Iran seriously — after all, America is not in the immediate neighborhood. But if anyone thinks all this stops with the decimation of Israel, well, you do not understand this enemy.
“Former US diplomat Zbigniew Brzezinski, who enthusiastically campaigned for Obama in 2008, called on him to shoot down Israeli planes if they attack Iran. “They have to fly over our airspace in Iraq. Are we just going to sit there and watch?” said the former national security advisor to former President Jimmy Carter in an interview with the Daily Beast. “We have to be serious about denying them that right,” he said. “If they fly over, you go up and confront them. They have the choice of turning back or not. No one wishes for this but it could be a ‘Liberty’ in reverse.’” Israel mistakenly attacked the American Liberty ship during the Six-Day War in 1967.”
So there you have it, the ol’ moral equivalency trick — heck it worked in comparing the medieval Crusades with burning alive and beheading by ISIS.
What actually happened here ends up being lost in the conversation. What has happened is that at a time when President Obama’s attitude towards Israel is clearly negative, this story just adds several more nails to the coffin that holds the relationship between America and Israel.
Me?
I truly am praying this isn’t a true story. Because, if it is, the ramifications are horribly damning — and emboldening to our enemies, of which one of the greatest is Iran.
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