We (Israelis) have to look out for ourselves” Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon was quoted as saying at an event at Tel Aviv University. According to Haaretz, Ya’alon is not convinced that the Obama administration will stop Iran’s nuclear program. Israel would have to take military action against Iran in the future according to Ya’alon. He said that the Iranians were dominating the negotiations, getting what they want as a result. “The one who should lead the campaign against Iran is the US,” but instead, “the US at a certain stage began negotiating with them, and unfortunately in the Persian bazaar the Iranians were better.” The Times of Israel said Haaretz confirmed what Ya’alon said at the event:
Therefore, Ya’alon’s office confirmed his remarks about Iran, but refused to comment as to whether the defense minister was advocating an Israeli strike on Iran. Ya’alon was widely reported to have opposed an Israeli resort to force against Iran in the past, but the Haaretz report said his comments Sunday indicated that he had changed his stance, and was now inclined to support Israeli military intervention in Iran.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would welcome Ya’alon’s support for a military strike that would target Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Israel is at a crossroads, since their main ally, the United States is entangled in the Ukrainian crisis and an ongoing conflict in Afghanistan. The Obama administration is in preparation to restart a new effort to topple Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and at the same time attempting a coup d’état with its support of the opposition forces in Venezuela against President Nicolas Maduro. Ya’alon is now suggesting that a confrontation with Iran militarily is an option Israel needs to take although he was once reportedly opposed to it. He said that “Iran is fooling the world” about its nuclear program,” but said the West preferred to put off any confrontation — “to next year, or the next term; but it will blow up in the end.”
He originally supported the sanctions imposed on Iran by the West but the new deal at least according to Ya’alon was an opportunity for Iran to advance their nuclear weapons capability. The new deal “is very comfortable for the Iranians,” he said, enabling them to establish themselves as a threshold state “and break out to the bomb when they choose to do so.” New talks have resumed in Vienna. Iran has limited its uranium enrichment after the six-month interim deal negotiated back on November when the West agreed to ease sanctions. The US mainstream media is on board with Ya’lon’s assessment as neoconservative and columnist Jennifer Rubin who writes for the Right Turn, a blog for the Washington Post seems to be on the same page as Ya’alon as she agrees that Washington’s negotiation strategy is not sufficient in dealing with Iranian nuclear program:
In addition, there is the problem of Iran’s ongoing behavior outside the conference room in Geneva. As is always the problem with such talks, the United States becomes so invested in the talks that it refrains from challenging the rogue state’s behavior in other venues. The administration remains essentially mute about Iran’s domestic executions and other human rights abuses. It refuses to enact additional sanctions based purely on Iran’s ongoing support for Hamas terrorists, which the Israelis recently helped illustrate by displaying intercepted Iranian weaponry. And when Iran even goes so far as to try to rustle nuclear weapons contraband, the administration marches forward. Nothing to see here, continue the talks. Only by pretending that the world outside the conference room is nonexistent could the administration believe that a meaningful deal is possible
Ya’alon did stress that the US was projecting “weakness” in every region worldwide. He said that “The moderate Sunni camp in the area expected the United States to support it, and to be firm, like Russia’s support for the Shi’ite axis,” Ya’alon said. “I heard voices of disappointment in the region. I was in Singapore and heard disappointment about China getting stronger and the U.S. getting weaker. Look what’s happening in Ukraine, where the United States is demonstrating weakness, unfortunately” according to the Haaretz report. I suppose Ya’alon supports the Fascists powers who violently overthrew the democratically elected government of Viktor Yanukovych which now has reportedly targeted the Jewish population in the Ukraine. Ya’alon was quoted as saying “If your image is feebleness, it doesn’t pay in the world. Nobody will replace the United States as global policeman”, he said, “I hope the United States comes to its senses. If it doesn’t, it will challenge the world order, and the United States is the one that will suffer.”
The US and its allies are challenged worldwide. Iran is their target, so is Russia and China among several others nations who are resisting the ‘World Order.’ Israel is capable of taking military action against Iran if the US does not. Then again, once Israel does strike Iran, the US would be dragged into another conflict in the Middle East. So who is Ya’alon fooling? The world knows that the US and its Western partners would back Israel no matter what happens. The Israeli government would “look out for themselves” if they decide to attack Iran, but the question is who would look out for Israel once the war begins?
