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Israel in search of 'heroes' to bomb Iran
Press
TV
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
As Israel and the US continue on a collision course over Iran,
Tel Aviv says it hopes to put an end to Iran's nuclear activities
with a "heroic operation".
In an interview with Haaretz, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud
Barak drew a parallel between Iran's nuclear program and that
of Iraq in the Saddam Hussein era and hoped for a similar end
to the Iranian program.
In 1981, Israel bombed a French-built nuclear plant near Iraq's
capital, Baghdad, in an operation that became the world's first
air strike against a nuclear plant.
The Israelis said they believed the 70-megawatt uranium-powered
Osirak reactor was designed to make nuclear weapons to destroy
Israel -- a charge similar to the one it levels against Iran.
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"We say we are not removing any option from the table.
We have a tendency to hope for a heroic operation that will
end everything, as with the bombing of the Iraqi reactor in
1981," Barak explained about the Israeli stance on Iran's
long-running nuclear dispute.
However, the Israeli official drew a line between the "Iraqi
threat" and the "Iranian threat" by portraying
the Iranian one as much graver.
"In the Iraqi case there was one target that existed and
was working, and a surgical strike eliminated it... Here we
are up against something far more complex, sophisticated and
extensive," he said.
Ever since President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and President Barack
Obama signaled willingness for direct talks between the United
States and Iran in an effort to end thirty years of diplomatic
hostility, Tel Aviv and Washington have edged toward having
a falling-out.
Despite the Israeli disgruntlement at Washington's fresh diplomatic
approach toward Iran and its nuclear activities, Barak acknowledged
that Israel is "not in a position of being able to tell
the Americans whether to talk to the Iranians."
However, the Israeli minister went on to draw up guidelines
for the Obama White House on how to approach the Iranian side.
"I told them negotiations should be short and have a deadline,
accompanied by 'soft' sanctions such as limitations on money
transfers, while preparing the ground for harsh sanctions that
involve authorizing action afterward. This has to be done in
deep cooperation with the Russians and the Chinese," Barak
said.
Barak's stance toward the US administration's Iran policy came
in line with that of Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe
Ya'alon made public earlier on Monday.
Ya'alon said the allegedly new US policy toward Tehran would
be a "waste of time" without a threat of military
action and warned that if talks fail to put an end to Iranian
enrichment activities, a unilateral strike against the country's
nuclear infrastructure would be looming on the horizon.
"We need to hope that the job will be done by someone
else and at the same time, as the Talmudic sage Hillel said,
'If I am not for myself who will be?'" he said, signaling
Israeli willingness to go to war with or without White House
support.
While the incessant Israeli calls for war on Iran have so far
run into stiff opposition in the US, a report by RIA Novosti
exposed a new under-consideration contingency plan by the Obama
administration on the issue.
According to the report, the Obama White House is mulling over
whether to impose sanctions on Tel Aviv should Israel go ahead
with a unilateral attack on Iran.
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INFOWARS:
BECAUSE THERE'S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND
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