Israel, Obama may be parting ways on the Iranian question

There is chatter coming out of Israel that Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Obama Administration are locking horns on the Iranian question. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is reported to have put the brakes on the common practice of American military leaders from consulting one-on-one with their Israeli counterparts. It is believed that President Obama has used these opportunities to go around the Israeli ministers and convince Israeli military leaders that military action against Iran would be counterproductive. DEBKAFILE reported that Ehud Barak denied Obama's Special Adviser on the Middle East Dennis Ross from setting up separate interviews with the IDF's incoming and outgoing Chiefs-of-Staffs and head of intelligence. During 2009 and early 2010, hardly a week went by without high-ranking US bureaucrats and generals touching down in Israel and going straight into nonstop meetings with IDF officers according to DEBKAFILE.

In March 2010, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had promised President Barack Obama to withhold public statements on the Iranian nuclear threat for a year, during which he would give President Obama the chance to try his hand at halting Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon according to reports. It is apparent that the Iranians continue to play the West as fools, all the while the Iranians continue down the road to a nuclear bomb. The Israelis have apparently concluded that Obama's overtures to Iran to be ineffective and Israel may be gearing up for a preemptive strike.

While the Stuxnet worm may have set back the Iranian nuclear program by two years, the Israelis cannot sit idly by and allow Persia to continue in their quest to annihilate the Jewish state. Iran continues to arm Hezbollah and Hamas with more sophisticated weaponry to attack Israel, creating a three front war. It is reported that Obama has concluded that Israel has hardened its position on military action against Iran – deciding, in particular, that the accumulation of weapons from Iran and Syria to Hezbollah had gone beyond what Israel found supportable for its security. I would agree the scales are tipping in favor of the Muslim terrorists in the region and no amount of "negotiations" will stem the tide. 2011 should be the year when Neville Chamberlain-style weakness ends and Churchillian gallantry begins.

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