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Israeli leader says Iran won't bomb Israel but will disrupt Middle East
By Senior Producer Charley Keyes
WASHINGTON (CNN) - Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Friday that Iran's nuclear program is not just a danger not just for Israel.
"Iran is not just a challenge for Israel. I believe it is a challenge for the whole world," Barak said in a Washington speech. "I can hardly think of a stable world order with a nuclear Iran."
Barak said he doubted whether Iran was crazy enough – he used the Yiddish word "meshugah" which means crazy – to launch a nuclear attack against Israel but warned the impact of a nuclear-armed Iran could endanger the region, disrupt oil supplies and empower Iran's terrorist allies.
"I don't think the Iranians, even if they got the bomb are going to drop it in the neighborhood," Barak said. "They fully understand what might follow - they are radical but not total 'meshugah'. They have a quite sophisticated decision making process and they understand realities."
Iran maintains it is interested in nuclear development only for power-generation and other civilian uses. But Barak said all countries must reject what he called "the verbal gymnastics" Iran uses to justify its nuclear research.
"It means they are not just trying to create a Manhattan-project-like crude nuclear device. They are trying to jump directly into the second or second-and-a-half generation of nuclear warheads that could be installed on top of ground-to-ground missiles with ranges that will cover not just Israel but Moscow or Paris," Barak said.
He said Israel supports diplomatic efforts to pressure Iran to change course. And after his speech to the Washington Institute for Naer East Policy, Barak met with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department as the U.S. works to rally international support for more stringent economic sanctions against Iran.
"Iran is not living up to its responsibilities and we are working with our partners in the international community to increase pressure on Iran to change course," Clinton said in a photo-taking session with Barak.
On efforts to revive stalled peace talks between Isreal and the Palestinians, Barak said a majority of Israelis are ready.
"There is a a strong silent majority in Israel which is ready to make tough, painful decisions to reach peace once they feel there is readiness on the other side and we are not having this tango alone," Barak said in his speech.
He insisted that Israel will seek peace and protect its security.
"We have to stand firm on our two feet, open-eyed, without a drop of self-delusion about the realities of our neighborhood, but having one hand, preferably the left hand, looking for any window, turning every stone in order to find opportunities for peace, while the other hand, the right one, will be pointing finger, very close to the trigger ready to pull it when it is ultimately a necessity," Barak said.
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If Israel doesn't want to be attack maybe they should start building schools and hospitals for the Palestinians. Nobody can just take all the resources from an area, don't share them and not expect to be attack. Just the water issue seems reason enough for the Palestinians to be angry all the time. Now if you add the wall separating the farming land from their owners, the constant abuse, etc, etc,... well, people might get mad with Israel
It is indeed unlikely that Iran will strike Israel with nuclear weapons as Israel has its own robust Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) defences in form of Arrow II and Patriot PAC-3 ATBM additionally supported by United States Navy AEGIS platforms. Moreover the Israeli retaliation will be overwhelming.
The more disturbing aspect will be the transfer of nuclear weapons technology between rouge and failed States (nations) destabilising the global strategic balances to an unacceptable level.
Sayan.
If the statements that have been directed against Iran had been directed against the US or Israel, it would have been considered an act of war. The response would be a pre-emptive strike argued as a justifiable response.
Fernando F. Every single university in the Palestian-controlled land was created by Israel. A good amount of Palestinians actually travel into Israel for hospital treatments. Israel has water problems, not just the Palestinians. The wall only seperates a small amount of Palestinian farmers from their farmlands, and not the majority. In addition, since the wall has been created Israel has seen a serious reduction of attacks. Abuse is both ways.
I LISTENED TO YOUR INTERVIEW WITH EDHUD BARAK THIS AFTERNOON.I AND MY WIFE HAD THE CLEAR IMPRESSION THAT THE TONE AND BODY LANGUAGE WAS ANGRY AND HOSTILE. WE ALSO SAW THE PREVIOUS INTERVIEW WITHE THE PRESIDENT OF IRAN .WE HAD THE DISTINCT IMPRESSION THAT THIS INTERVIEW WAS MUCH LESS CONFRONTATIONAL AND LESS ANGRY. I AM CERTAIN THAT YOU WILL DENY THIS. MY WIFE SAW YOUR SERIES ON THE 3 RELIGIONS.I SAW ONLY THE ONE ON THE JEWS AND ISRAEL. I ALSO HAD THE SAME IMPRESSION THAT YOU WERE SOMEWHAT NEGATIVE ABOUT MY HERITAGE IN THIS SEGMENT. I KNOW IT IS DIFFICULT TO RECOGNIZE OUR PREJUDICES BUT I WOULD APPRECIATE YOUR RESPONSE.THANK YOU.
America overthrew Iran's leader, Mossadeq and replaced him with the Shah in 1953. America also shot down Iranian air flight 655, killing 290 passengers plus the crew. America helped Saddam kill 700,000 Iranians during the Iraq/Iran war and now the insidious neocons and many Jews are urging America to again attack Iran, a country that is not a threat to America. In the past (?) hundreds of years, Iran has never attacked another country, unlike Israel
The similarities of the situation in Israel in the early 60s and the present situation in Iran are stunning! The concern that Iran’s civilian nuclear power program would be converted to a weapons program is identical to the situation in Israel in the early 60s which I have recounted as follows:
In the early 60s, before President Kennedy was tragically assassinated, he was attempting to influence Israeli behavior regarding two principal issues. President Kennedy wanted to prevent Israel from converting its civilian nuclear power program into a weapons program and he wanted Israel to permit the repatriation of Palestinian refugees, something Israel had refused to do since 1948, on the grounds that this would threaten the Jewish character of Israel. Not only had the Arab states called for Israel’s repatriation of Palestinians, but in late 1948, the UN General Assembly had passed Resolution 194 calling on Israel to repatriate all Palestinian refugees who wished to return to their homes in present-day Israel.
To induce the Israelis to make concessions in these areas, Kennedy agreed to sell them advanced antiaircraft guns, Hawk missiles. Kennedy did not establish a formal quid-pro-quo between the arms sale on the one hand and the refugee and nuclear issues on the other. Unfortunately for Kennedy, this lack of formal linkage permitted Israel to pocket the inducement without making significant concessions on the refugee and nuclear issues.
On the nuclear question, Israel appeared to be cooperating with Kennedy, assuring him that the Dimona nuclear reactor was purely for civilian purposes. By evading and thwarting U.S. attempts to conduct meaningful inspections, Israel continued to develop a nuclear weapons capability.
The similarity between America’s attempt to inspect Dimona in the early 60s and the current attempt to inspect Iran’s civilian nuclear power is overwhelming. Both Israel and Iran used religious holidays as excuses to thwart inspection. Both set very rigid ground rules for inspection. Both used numerous ways to delay, etc.
Kennedy was assassinated in 1963 during which time he was growing very frustrated with Israel. President Johnson was no more successful than Kennedy had been at keeping Israel from developing the bomb. Although the Israeli government insisted that it had no intention of acquiring a nuclear weapons capability, the U.S. intelligence community learned otherwise. Israel’s standard statement on the question, “Israel will not be the first to introduce nuclear weapons to the Middle East”! It is believed that Israel acquired its first usable nuclear bomb sometime in early 1968.
Jack Ruby, (Jacob Rubenstein) murdered Lee Harvey Oswald who was charged with the murder of President Kennedy.
albert j. finestone md
FOR YOUR INFORMATION MS AMANPOUR CONDUCTED HERSELF IN A VERY PROFESSIONAL MANNER. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG IN TELLING THE TRUTH AND IDENTIFYING CRIMINAL ACTIVITIES. I WATCHED THE PROGRAM ON ISLAM AND IT WAS NOT TREATED WITH KID GLOVES. YOU TWO APPARENTLY HAVE A CHIP ON YOUR SHOULDERS AND ARE OBVIOUSLY NOT OBJECTIVE!
I am not Christian, Jewish nor a Muslim!
By attaching "MD" to your name is a reference, I assume to your intelligence and righteousness?
Chagrined
The Palestinian people chose there own destiny in 1948, in which they refused to repatriate themselves alongside Israel when given the opportunity; did they not?
I do accept as true with all of the concepts you have presented in your post. They're really convincing and will definitely work. Nonetheless, the posts are very short for starters. May just you please extend them a bit from subsequent time? Thank you for the post.
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