From the site Enduring America, a piece by Scott Lucas and Joanna Paraszczuk on an important statement at the Herzliya conference in Israel that is getting ignored/spun in the mainstream press:
On Thursday, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, Major General Amir Kochavi, made an important announcement. He said that, while Iran is developing its nuclear programme in 2013, it “has not yet decided to build a bomb”.
Here’s the catch: those who rely on Western media are unlikely to learn of this.
Instead, they will be treated to this far scarier spin, also taken from Kochavi’s presentation: “Iran and Hezbollah Have Built 50,000-Strong Force to Help Syrian Regime”.
So why did one declaration of Kochavi — which is a misreading of a statement by an Iranian military commander last autumn — make the headlines? Why is another — which is far more significant and points to the debate within Israel over what to do about Tehran — ignored?…
Kochavi’s statement about Iran and the Bomb was not just a throw-away line. It was an important signal. The General was saying that, while the Iranian nuclear programme had to be watched carefully, it is not an imminent threat to Israel — one requiring a military strike on Tehran’s facilities in the near-future.
Kochavi is not the only high-level official putting out that message. On the eve of his trip to Israel, President Barack Obama told the country’s Channel 2 in an interview on Thursday that Iran was at least a year away from any weapon. Thus, while “all options were on the table” over the nuclear issue, Washington would continue to pursue diplomacy and tough sanctions — and would urge Israel to support that.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may not like that message, preferring to hold out the prospect of airstrikes in forthcoming months. It appears, however, that his military and intelligence services — who put out the message earlier this month that it might be 2015 or 2016 before Iran has a nuclear weapons — are on Obama’s side.
While others have been distracted, the Daily Star of Lebanon hears the message:
“Netanyahu has not publicly revised the spring-to-summer 2013 dating for his ‘red line’. But several Israeli officials privately acknowledged it had been deferred, maybe indefinitely.
“That was the Big Story in Major General Amir Kochavi’s statement on Thursday.”
It is not the one many people will get today.
“The red line was never a deadline,” one told Reuters.
just a god damn minute — what about that red-line drawn on the bomb that his-holiness Netanyahu showed the world at the UN? the world has been waiting for the US to do Israel’s defensive attack (and it would have happened if Obama hadn’t been such a foot-dragger).
But.. but.. but giladg and all his friends here say that Iran wants to wipe out the Jews! Whom should I believe?
In March 2013, “U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper confirmed [that] Iran has not decided to develop a nuclear weapon and that it would be unable to do so secretly. Testifying before the Senate, Clapper said Iran could not divert safeguarded material to produce weapons-grade uranium without it being discovered.” http://detailedpoliticalquizzes.wordpress.com/iran-quiz/
It can’t be stated enough that Iran is a signatory to the NPT while Israel, Pakistan, and India are not. However, the latter three are not sanctioned by the US.
According to David Crist, a historian for the UNITED STATES FEDERAL GOVERNMENT and an advisor on Middle East issues “Hard liners in Iran reject the status quo of American supremacy in the region….Both Bush administrations dismissed Iranian goodwill gestures and refused to accept any dialogue that addressed Iran’s legitimate security concerns. The United States supported Saddam Hussein and his Arab bankrollers in a bloody war against the Islamic Republic that killed several hundred thousand Iranian soldiers. The mantra of regime change remains a frequent slogan in many quarters in Washington. Unfortunately, Iran’s response to these trespasses has invariably been to use the tools of the terrorist: an exploding car bomb on a crowded street or a plot to kill a diplomat in a popular Washington restaurant….Iran’s quest for nuclear technology has heightened the stakes and the tension but it has not been a catalyst for the conflict.” http://detailedpoliticalquizzes.wordpress.com/iran-quiz/
We all know the reason why such important statements like the one made by Israel’s Major General Kochavi do not make it out into western mainstream media is because Netanyahu and the US I lobby controlled congress, NPR etc choose not to put the spotlight on such statements. Instead we have heard over the last 10 years “Iran wants to wipe Israel off the map” and strong inferences that Iran all ready has nuclear weapons. That is why 71% of Americans all ready think Iran has nuclear weapons.
His opinion does not matter to AIPAC’s man in the White House.
“Pres. Obama: Iran still a year or so away from obtaining nuclear weapon”
link to haaretz.com