Obama: I understand why Israel considers Iran an existential threat

“Leon Panetta, the CIA director, flew to Israel two weeks ago to warn [the Israeli Prime Minister] Netanyahu and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, not to surprise Obama with a strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.” reported the Sunday Times; on the eve of Netanyahu’s meeting with President Obama in Washington.

So, we are led to believe that President Obama, who was elected as “the peace candidate”, will restrain the nakedly belligerent Israeli government.

In his Newsweek interview published online the same day, whilst reiterating the same old propaganda, Obama’s tone was more blunt than usual…


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 http://www.newsweek.com/id/197891/output/print

excerpts from Obama’s Newsweek interview: “A Highly Logical Approach”

by Jon Meacham, Newsweek, 17 May 2009
(from the magazine issue dated May 25, 2009)


NEWSWEEK: Prime Minister Netanyahu is coming [to Washington this week]. How do you expect to talk to him about the possibility of Israeli military action against Iran? And some people have argued that we should not take [American military action] off the table.

OBAMA: I've been very clear that I don't take any options off the table with respect to Iran. I don't take options off the table when it comes to U.S. security, period.

What I have said is that we want to offer Iran an opportunity to align itself with international norms […] [and stop posing] a threat to its neighbors. […]

If it doesn't work, the fact that we have tried will strengthen our position in mobilizing the international community, and Iran will have isolated itself, as opposed to a perception that it seeks to advance that somehow it's being victimized by a U.S. government that doesn't respect Iran's sovereignty.


NEWSWEEK: And you would expect the Israelis, as an ally, to follow along with that and not take unilateral [military] action?

OBAMA: No, look, I understand very clearly that Israel considers Iran an existential threat, and given some of the statements that have been made by President Ahmadinejad, you can understand why. […] They're right there in range and I don't think it's my place to determine for the Israelis what their security needs are. […]

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RELATED QUOTES:


“When you see the gas chambers, the concentration camps, […] [t]hese memories can never leave you, but it makes you absolutely determined that we should not ever allow this to happen again.”

[UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, interview at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp, 28 April 2009] [1]

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“How do we ensure that “never again” isn’t an empty slogan, or merely an aspiration, but also a call to action?”

[US President Barack Obama, Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the United States Capitol, Washington D.C. , 23 April 2009] [2]

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“We will not allow Holocaust deniers to carry out another Jewish Holocaust. This is the supreme commitment of the State of Israel, and it is my supreme commitment as Prime Minister of Israel.”

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Holocaust Remembrance Day speech in Jerusalem, 20 April 2009] [3]

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“So let me be clear: Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile activity poses a real threat, not just to the United States, but to Iran’s neighbors and our allies.”

[US President Barack Obama’s speech in Prague, 5 April 2009] [4]

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“I think that we Americans joining with our European allies can impose significant and very impactful sanctions on Iran which I think could modify their behaviour. I would hope that we could succeed in that direction and I have some optimism we can, but I have to look you in the eye and tell you that the United States of America can never allow a second Holocaust.”

[US presidential candidate John McCain, interview with Israel’s Channel 2, 21 July 2008] [5]

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NOTES:


[1] PM’s words at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp (29 April 2009)

 http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/israeli-prime-minister-we-will-not-allow-holocaust-deniers-to-carry-out-another-jewish-holocaust/


[2] Remarks by the President at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony (23 April 2009)

 http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/israeli-prime-minister-we-will-not-allow-holocaust-deniers-to-carry-out-another-jewish-holocaust/


[3] Address by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (20 April 2009)

 http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/04/21/israeli-prime-minister-we-will-not-allow-holocaust-deniers-to-carry-out-another-jewish-holocaust/


[4] Remarks by President Barack Obama in Prague as Delivered (5 April 2009)

 http://dandelionsalad.wordpress.com/2009/04/07/obama-irans-nuclear-and-ballistic-missile-activity-poses-a-real-threat-to-its-neighbors/


[5] US will never allow second Holocaust: McCain (22 July 2008)

 http://www.theage.com.au/world/us-election-2008/us-will-never-allow-second-holocaust-mccain-20080722-3iy0.html

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