Olmert Makes it Clear Strike on Iran 'Remains on Table'
Oppose Neo-Fascism | 10.06.2008 00:53 | Anti-militarism | World
Sounds as if the Israeli Government is worried about Regev acknowledging so publicly Israel's desire for this war.
Olmert makes it clear strike on Iran 'remains on table'
Jason Koutsoukis Jerusalem
June 9, 2008
PRIME Minister Ehud Olmert last night refused to discount the possibility of a military strike against Iran.
(Well, yeah. If nobody stops them, the 'Neo-Cons' are going to attack Iran.)
Comments on Friday by his Transport Minister, Shaul Mofaz, that Israel would attack Iran if it continued its nuclear program sparked international uproar at the weekend, pushing oil prices to a record $US140 ($A146) a barrel for fear of interruption to the supply of 4 million barrels a day to world markets from Iran.
(The market is saturated with oil, reserves are high, and the price has nothing to do with supply. Iran's program of nuclear power production has nothing to do with the plot against the country. It's the excuse, not the reason, for a war that was planned before the program even got off the ground.)
Just back from talks in Washington with President George Bush, Mr Olmert said a strike against Iran remained an option. His spokesman, Mark Regev, told The Age that Israel believed the world had to take tangible steps to halt the Iranian nuclear program.
(So Israel demands that 'the world', whose inaction and silence is the only reason Israel is able to perpetuate its war to eliminate and annex Palestine, creates a war for no viable reason - since all relative bodies confirm that Iran has done nothing wrong.)
"The sanctions decided upon now are important, but they are not nearly sufficient," he said. "It remains very important for other nations to increase the pressure on the regime in Tehran, and we've been talking about a number of ideas with the international players."
(But the illusion of this crisis has only been created in order to feign a justification for another long-planned, illegal war.)
Mr Regev said these included an embargo on Iran's refined petroleum exports, sanctions on Iranian businessmen travelling abroad, and beefing up financial sanctions against Iranian banks.
"All options, including the military option, must remain on the table," he said. "We are among all those who want to see a peaceful solution to the Iranian problem. But we should be serious about diplomacy only if serious diplomacy will itself have a chance to succeed."
(And it is designed to fail, so this is a sort of double-edged statement.)
Earlier, other Israeli officials had added to the international criticism of Mr Mofaz, condemning his remarks as being more about getting voters' attention before early elections expected within months. Mr Mofaz is one of handful of politicians jockeying for the leadership if a corruption scandal forces Mr Olmert to resign. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai accused Mr Mofaz of "cynically exploiting" Israel's strategic interests, and turning them into a political tool to improve his standing in the ruling Kadima party.
"This is an inadmissible and very harmful statement," he said. "Mofaz should stay silent and leave those responsible for defence to deal with it."
Israeli media yesterday reported one high-ranking security official as saying Mr Mofaz was only "speaking for himself".
A deputy leader of Kadima, Mr Mofaz is responsible for the dialogue between Israel and the US. His comments were seen as a hint that a plan to attack Iran had been agreed between the Israel and the US.
"If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it," Mr Mofaz told Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
(There is no such program. This should be enough to end the discussion in its tracks, but we live in an age of Madness.)
http://www.theage.com.au/world/olmert-makes-it-clear-strike-on-iran-remains-on-table-20080608-2nk3.html
One way to avoid it would be to arrest these War Criminals before they have a chance to start another illegal war.
Israel attack on Iran 'unavoidable'-Olmert deputy
Fri Jun 6, 2008
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM, June 6 (Reuters) - An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said on Friday.
(Meaning that, even though there is no legal justification for this Act of Aggression, these Extremists will pursue war anyway, just as their opposition has maintained all along. This war, which is about Regime Change and resource theft, was planned along with the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, and has nothing to do with this program or the current president.)
"If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
(There is no such program.)
"Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable," said the former army chief who has also been defence minister.
(This is not what the war is about. It was the excuse, not the reason, only that the LIES disseminated by these Extremists fell apart, since the evidence refutes them, and they've lost all credibility.)
It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end.
(Iran, using the 'logic' of 'pre-emptive war', Iran would be well within its rights in attacking the US or Israel. Only that Iran doesn't want war, Israel does, and they expect Americans to die fighting it for them.)
Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects.
(Because the NNPT gives them the right to use this technology to generate electricity.)
The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iranian turf.
Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, "would disappear before Israel does."
(Only that he never actually said this. The media which was complicit in LYING the public into an illegal war in Iraq is still at it ...)
Mofaz's remarks came as he and several other senior members of Olmert's Kadima Party prepare for a possible run for top office should a corruption scandal force the Israeli prime minister to step down.
Iranian-born Mofaz has been a main party rival of the Israeli prime minister, particularly following the 2006 elections when Olmert was forced to hand the defence portfolio to Labour, his main coalition partner, at Mofaz's expense.
Mofaz, who is also designated as a deputy prime minister, has remained privy to Israel's defence planning. He is a member of Olmert's security cabinet and leads regular strategic coordination talks with the U.S. State Department.
Israel sent warplanes to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.
A similar Israeli sortie over Syria last September razed what the U.S. administration said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.
(And the evidence supports this.)
Independent analysts have questioned, however, whether Israel's armed forces can take on Iran alone, as its nuclear sites are numerous, distant and well-fortified. (Editing by Ori Lewis and Charles Dick)
(That's alright, since the US has already agreed to fight this war for Israel, even if Israel starts the war.)
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06251958
Iran Will Cooperate with UN Probe into US/Israeli Allegations
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13896S
Israel's Syrian Air Strike Was Aimed at Iran
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8196S
The ME has had a Secretive Nuclear Power in its Midst for Years
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8195S
Spooks Refuse to Toe Cheney's Line on Iran
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8173S
IAEA Again Verifies Iranian Compliance
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8130S
Israel Considering Strike on Iran Despite US Intelligence Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html
US intelligence report heightens danger of Israeli strike on Iran
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/isra-d06.shtml
'Laptop of Death': Revising the NIE on Iran
The entire claim that Iran was building nuclear weapons rests on a laptop provided by a single, dubious source.
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/akhavi.php?articleid=12028 www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=12025
Israeli Extremists Prep for Nuclear Strike on Iran http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7903/index.php
Hersh: Israel Pressed me to Write Syrian Site was Nuclear http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sy_Hersh_Israeli_raid_on_Syria_0208.html
Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed by Israel Not Nuclear
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10935S
A Strike in the Dark - What did Israel bomb in Syria?
by Seymour M. Hersh http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_hersh/?printable=tr
War Clouds Over Mideast
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=108719&d=8&m=4&y=2008
Israel & The 'Clash of Civilizations'
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?11022S
The largest threat to the region doesn't come from Iran: it comes from Israel's success in having had the US "neutralize" countries which it believes to be an existential threat to it's existence. However, there's just one little problem with this approach concerning Iran. Russia's diplomats have stated unequivocally that any attack against Iran will be perceived as an attack on Russia.
UN Nuclear Watchdog in Milestone Iran Deal
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14262S
Iran Dumps US Dollar in Oil Trading, US Preps War
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14276S
Israel's Extremists STILL Beating Iran War Drums
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14360S
Iran Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14997S
Israel, US Joint Plotting Against Iran, Attack ElBaredei http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7888/index.php llll
ElBaradei: Iran Not After Bomb
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399278.html
Israel Calls for US Blockade of Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399342.html
US Report on 'Iranian Weapons' Postponed Due to Lack of Evidence
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?17560C
Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. Terrorists To Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399471.html
Iranian Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399467.html
Bombing Iran: Extremists' Mad Clamor Persists
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399468.html
Carter: Israel Has At Least 150 Nukes
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399591.html
IAEA Again Confirms: No Weaponization in Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399625.html
McLellan's Warning on Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15853S
'Hate Iran Week' at AIPAC
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15852S
Jason Koutsoukis Jerusalem
June 9, 2008
PRIME Minister Ehud Olmert last night refused to discount the possibility of a military strike against Iran.
(Well, yeah. If nobody stops them, the 'Neo-Cons' are going to attack Iran.)
Comments on Friday by his Transport Minister, Shaul Mofaz, that Israel would attack Iran if it continued its nuclear program sparked international uproar at the weekend, pushing oil prices to a record $US140 ($A146) a barrel for fear of interruption to the supply of 4 million barrels a day to world markets from Iran.
(The market is saturated with oil, reserves are high, and the price has nothing to do with supply. Iran's program of nuclear power production has nothing to do with the plot against the country. It's the excuse, not the reason, for a war that was planned before the program even got off the ground.)
Just back from talks in Washington with President George Bush, Mr Olmert said a strike against Iran remained an option. His spokesman, Mark Regev, told The Age that Israel believed the world had to take tangible steps to halt the Iranian nuclear program.
(So Israel demands that 'the world', whose inaction and silence is the only reason Israel is able to perpetuate its war to eliminate and annex Palestine, creates a war for no viable reason - since all relative bodies confirm that Iran has done nothing wrong.)
"The sanctions decided upon now are important, but they are not nearly sufficient," he said. "It remains very important for other nations to increase the pressure on the regime in Tehran, and we've been talking about a number of ideas with the international players."
(But the illusion of this crisis has only been created in order to feign a justification for another long-planned, illegal war.)
Mr Regev said these included an embargo on Iran's refined petroleum exports, sanctions on Iranian businessmen travelling abroad, and beefing up financial sanctions against Iranian banks.
"All options, including the military option, must remain on the table," he said. "We are among all those who want to see a peaceful solution to the Iranian problem. But we should be serious about diplomacy only if serious diplomacy will itself have a chance to succeed."
(And it is designed to fail, so this is a sort of double-edged statement.)
Earlier, other Israeli officials had added to the international criticism of Mr Mofaz, condemning his remarks as being more about getting voters' attention before early elections expected within months. Mr Mofaz is one of handful of politicians jockeying for the leadership if a corruption scandal forces Mr Olmert to resign. Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai accused Mr Mofaz of "cynically exploiting" Israel's strategic interests, and turning them into a political tool to improve his standing in the ruling Kadima party.
"This is an inadmissible and very harmful statement," he said. "Mofaz should stay silent and leave those responsible for defence to deal with it."
Israeli media yesterday reported one high-ranking security official as saying Mr Mofaz was only "speaking for himself".
A deputy leader of Kadima, Mr Mofaz is responsible for the dialogue between Israel and the US. His comments were seen as a hint that a plan to attack Iran had been agreed between the Israel and the US.
"If Iran continues with its program for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it," Mr Mofaz told Israel's Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
(There is no such program. This should be enough to end the discussion in its tracks, but we live in an age of Madness.)
http://www.theage.com.au/world/olmert-makes-it-clear-strike-on-iran-remains-on-table-20080608-2nk3.html One way to avoid it would be to arrest these War Criminals before they have a chance to start another illegal war.
Israel attack on Iran 'unavoidable'-Olmert deputy
Fri Jun 6, 2008
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM, June 6 (Reuters) - An Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks "unavoidable" given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's deputies said on Friday.
(Meaning that, even though there is no legal justification for this Act of Aggression, these Extremists will pursue war anyway, just as their opposition has maintained all along. This war, which is about Regime Change and resource theft, was planned along with the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq, and has nothing to do with this program or the current president.)
"If Iran continues with its programme for developing nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The sanctions are ineffective," Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz told the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper.
(There is no such program.)
"Attacking Iran, in order to stop its nuclear plans, will be unavoidable," said the former army chief who has also been defence minister.
(This is not what the war is about. It was the excuse, not the reason, only that the LIES disseminated by these Extremists fell apart, since the evidence refutes them, and they've lost all credibility.)
It was the most explicit threat yet against Iran from a member of Olmert's government, which, like the Bush administration, has preferred to hint at force as a last resort should U.N. Security Council sanctions be deemed a dead end.
(Iran, using the 'logic' of 'pre-emptive war', Iran would be well within its rights in attacking the US or Israel. Only that Iran doesn't want war, Israel does, and they expect Americans to die fighting it for them.)
Iran, which denies seeking nuclear weapons, has defied Western pressure to abandon its uranium enrichment projects.
(Because the NNPT gives them the right to use this technology to generate electricity.)
The leadership in Tehran has also threatened to retaliate against Israel -- believed to have the Middle East's only atomic arsenal -- and U.S. targets in the Gulf for any attack on Iranian turf.
Mofaz also said in the interview that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has called for Israel to be wiped off the map, "would disappear before Israel does."
(Only that he never actually said this. The media which was complicit in LYING the public into an illegal war in Iraq is still at it ...)
Mofaz's remarks came as he and several other senior members of Olmert's Kadima Party prepare for a possible run for top office should a corruption scandal force the Israeli prime minister to step down.
Iranian-born Mofaz has been a main party rival of the Israeli prime minister, particularly following the 2006 elections when Olmert was forced to hand the defence portfolio to Labour, his main coalition partner, at Mofaz's expense.
Mofaz, who is also designated as a deputy prime minister, has remained privy to Israel's defence planning. He is a member of Olmert's security cabinet and leads regular strategic coordination talks with the U.S. State Department.
Israel sent warplanes to destroy Iraq's nuclear reactor in 1981.
A similar Israeli sortie over Syria last September razed what the U.S. administration said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help. Syria denied having any such facility.
(And the evidence supports this.)
Independent analysts have questioned, however, whether Israel's armed forces can take on Iran alone, as its nuclear sites are numerous, distant and well-fortified. (Editing by Ori Lewis and Charles Dick)
(That's alright, since the US has already agreed to fight this war for Israel, even if Israel starts the war.)
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL06251958 Iran Will Cooperate with UN Probe into US/Israeli Allegations
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?13896S Israel's Syrian Air Strike Was Aimed at Iran
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8196S The ME has had a Secretive Nuclear Power in its Midst for Years
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8195S Spooks Refuse to Toe Cheney's Line on Iran
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8173S IAEA Again Verifies Iranian Compliance
http://www.winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?8130S Israel Considering Strike on Iran Despite US Intelligence Report
http://www.guardian.co.uk/iran/story/0,,2224052,00.html US intelligence report heightens danger of Israeli strike on Iran
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2007/dec2007/isra-d06.shtml 'Laptop of Death': Revising the NIE on Iran
The entire claim that Iran was building nuclear weapons rests on a laptop provided by a single, dubious source.
http://www.antiwar.com/ips/akhavi.php?articleid=12028 www.antiwar.com/prather/?articleid=12025 Israeli Extremists Prep for Nuclear Strike on Iran
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7903/index.php Hersh: Israel Pressed me to Write Syrian Site was Nuclear
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2008/Sy_Hersh_Israeli_raid_on_Syria_0208.html Sy Hersh confirms: Syrian Facility Bombed by Israel Not Nuclear
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?10935S A Strike in the Dark - What did Israel bomb in Syria?
by Seymour M. Hersh
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/02/11/080211fa_fact_hersh/?printable=tr War Clouds Over Mideast
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=108719&d=8&m=4&y=2008 Israel & The 'Clash of Civilizations'
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?11022S The largest threat to the region doesn't come from Iran: it comes from Israel's success in having had the US "neutralize" countries which it believes to be an existential threat to it's existence. However, there's just one little problem with this approach concerning Iran. Russia's diplomats have stated unequivocally that any attack against Iran will be perceived as an attack on Russia.
UN Nuclear Watchdog in Milestone Iran Deal
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14262S Iran Dumps US Dollar in Oil Trading, US Preps War
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14276S Israel's Extremists STILL Beating Iran War Drums
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14360S Iran Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?14997S Israel, US Joint Plotting Against Iran, Attack ElBaredei
http://www.israel.indymedia.org/newswire/display/7888/index.php llll ElBaradei: Iran Not After Bomb
www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399278.html
Israel Calls for US Blockade of Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399342.html US Report on 'Iranian Weapons' Postponed Due to Lack of Evidence
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?17560C Pakistan May Turn Over U.S. Terrorists To Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399471.html Iranian Mosque Blast Plotters Admit Israeli, US Links
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399467.html Bombing Iran: Extremists' Mad Clamor Persists
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399468.html Carter: Israel Has At Least 150 Nukes
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399591.html IAEA Again Confirms: No Weaponization in Iran
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/05/399625.html McLellan's Warning on Iran
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15853S 'Hate Iran Week' at AIPAC
http://winnipeg.indymedia.org/item.php?15852S
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Israel backs away from minister's Iran statement
10.06.2008 04:52
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer
Sun Jun 8, 4:54 PM ET
JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert distanced himself on Sunday from a Cabinet minister's suggestion that Israel will be forced to attack Iran.
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A spokeswoman for Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said he had not been expressing government policy.
Mofaz set off an international uproar over the weekend by saying in a published interview that Israel will have "no choice" but to attack Iran if it doesn't halt its nuclear program. Mofaz is a former military chief and defense minister, and has been Israel's representative in a strategic dialogue on Iran with U.S. officials.
Olmert's spokesman, Mark Regev, did not explicitly reject Mofaz's comments. But he said Olmert clearly stated Israel's policy last week during a trip to Washington.
Speaking to reporters after a White House meeting, Olmert called for tighter international sanctions, including boycotting Iranian businessmen and financial transactions and blocking the country's imports of refined petroleum. He also warned that a more "effective" solution was drawing closer, but would not elaborate.
The spokeswoman for Mofaz, Talya Somech, confirmed he had been quoted accurately but said Mofaz was expressing "his own opinion" and not that of the government.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and designed to produce energy, but Israel believes the country's fundamentalist regime seeks nuclear weapons. Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has repeatedly said Israel should be "wiped off the map."
In an interview published Friday in the local daily Yediot Ahronot, Mofaz said "If Iran continues its nuclear arms program — we will attack it."
"The sanctions aren't effective. There will be no choice but to attack Iran to halt the Iranian nuclear program," he said.
There is a precedent for Israeli military action: In 1981, Israeli planes destroyed an unfinished Iraqi reactor.
Other Cabinet ministers accused Mofaz of speaking irresponsibly and suggested he was trying to sound tough for reasons connected with internal politics.
Mofaz sees himself as a candidate to replace Olmert, who is embroiled in a corruption scandal that might force him to step down, and is engaged in a rivalry for the job with Israel's popular foreign minister, Tzipi Livni.
"The cynical use of Israel's strategic matters for party politics is beyond the pale and very serious," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said in a statement. Vilnai said it would be wise to remain silent and "leave matters of security to those taking care of them."
On Friday, oil prices made their biggest single-day jump ever, and traders cited Mofaz's comment — which hinted at the possibility of instability and a disruption of global oil supplies — as one of the reasons for the spike.
Trying to Hide Their Role