WarSclerotic

ANALYSIS: Israel’s main interest at Obama’s summit: Stop Iran – Monsters and Critics.

Jerusalem – With just days remaining until Washington’s nuclear security summit, Israel on Tuesday still had not decided who it would send.

That’s because for Israel, nuclear security has one meaning above all else – stopping Iran from acquiring atomic weapons.

Thus, the ranking of the delegation Israel ends up sending to US President Barack Obama’s gathering on Monday and Tuesday of more than 40 world leaders will likely indicate Israel’s expectations that this goal can or cannot be met.

A high-level delegation – led possibly by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – would mean Israel expects the summit will adopt ‘practical measures and resolutions’ to halt Tehran’s drive to acquiring nuclear arms, a senior Israeli official said.

But a lower ranking representation would indicate scepticism as to whether the Israeli expectations can be met, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the German Press Agency dpa.

The focus of the Washington gathering – the largest summit in decades in the US capital – is specifically on keeping nuclear material used in weapons and in other fields like power generation out of the hands of rogue criminals and terrorists.

But it is likely there will be talks on the sidelines about other issues, including the ongoing efforts to force Iran to stop its nuclear enrichment programme that the international community suspects will lead to nuclear weapons. And there are signs that Russia and China – both of whose leaders are coming next week – are softening to the idea of a new round of UN sanctions talks.

Israeli leaders have repeatedly pushed for international action to halt Tehran’s nuclear ambitions, for ‘sanctions that bite,’ in the oft-expressed words of Israeli spokesmen.

‘Israel expects the international community to act swiftly and decisively to thwart this danger,’ Netanyahu told last month’s conference of the America-Israel Public Affairs committee.

‘The biggest danger is the indecisiveness of the international community,’ Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Der Spiegel, also in March.

For Israel, the dangers posed by Tehran’s nuclear drive are heightened by statements, by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other Iranian leaders, that the Jewish state should be wiped off the map, and by the support, including arms deliveries, Iran gives to Islamic organizations, such as Hamas, or the Lebanese Hezbollah, which reject any peaceful accommodation with Israel.

Israel leaders also make it clear they think time is running out to stop Iran.

‘I think that it’s a crucial time,’ Lieberman told EU Foreign Affairs supremo Catherine Ashton in mid-March.

‘It is now the time for a new Churchill policy, not the time for a Chamberlain policy, and that’s our expectation,’ he said.

Assuming effective sanctions are put in place against Iran, Israel will likely wait to see what effect, if any, they have, before deciding on further courses of action.

Despite Russian President Dimitry Medvedev’s statement that he has received assurances from Israeli President Shimon Peres that Israel does not intend to strike Iran, other Israeli leaders have been more ambiguous on the possibility of a military strike against Tehran.

‘We will always reserve the right to self-defence,’ Netanyahu told the AIPAC conference.

‘We are not taking any options off the table,’ Lieberman told Der Spiegel.

Whether Israel would use the military option, however is another question.

It is likely that Israel’s ambiguity is intended as a deterrent, aimed at adding weight to international pressure on Tehran, for fear of the ramifications of any Israeli military action.

Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made it clear during a recent visit to Israel that he is concerned by the ‘unexpected consequences’ an Israeli strike on Iran will have.

In addition, any unilateral Israeli military action against Iran would serve to turn the issue into an Iranian-Israeli conflict, and not a problem for the world.

And, given the statements by Israeli leaders that Iran poses a threat not just to the Jewish state, but to the region and the world, this is exactly what Israel wants to avoid

This entry was posted on April 7, 2010 at 12:32 PM and is filed under Iran / Israel War. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can comment below, or link to this permanent URL from your own site.