WarSclerotic

Netanyahu calls on UK to condition full ties to Iran with cessation of calls to destroy Israel | JPost | Israel News.

( “What an unreasonable request!  You can’t expect us to dictate political ideology to another country!  Damn Jews are always whining about something…” – JW )

PM’s remarks come in media blitz with European press on Iran.

IDF holds flight exercise ahead of Iran talks – Israel News, Ynetnews.

IAF holds drill to examine abilities to reach remote destinations. ‘When we say all options are on the table, we’re talking about military options as well,’ IDF website says, noting drill was to prepare troops to any possible threat

Yoav Zitun

The Air Force had a widespread drill this week utilizing several squadrons, in order to test the force’s ability to reach remote destination during lengthy flights.

In one of the highlights of the drill, where the Air Force cooperated with a foreign army, fighter jets were fueled midair.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held several interviews with European media outlets, warning against Iranian fraud in the nuclear talks with the West, which are to be held next week in Geneva.

The IDF website defined the mid-air fueling as “testing the abilities to fly long distances. When we say, ‘all options are on the table’, we’re talking about military options as well. The Air Force, the longest reaching arm of the IDF, is responsible for realizing that option if it is so required. In the force, we’re enforcing a range of abilities, including long-term flights. In this field the Air Force is required to develop all relevant ability, from a pinpointed activity to a wide-range action.”

Almost all of the F-15 and F-16 squadrons of the IAF participated in the drill, and training similar to it is held several times a year.

The IDF said the training, which is expected to go on until next week, is no different from drills that took place in recent years, practicing operational planning, flight, fueling and radio control.

The commander of one of the squadrons thatho took part in the drill said: “Challenges in a flight like this start in the planning phase, and continue in the flight itself which is far from home, in unfamiliar weather and terrain conditions, as well as all possible threats.”

The Air Force stressed that “The training sharpened the ability and connected the whole of the components and squadrons to the unique and complex training. In the personal aspect pilots talk about a lengthy flight requiring special physical training and preparations.”

Taliban mocks U.S. over shutdown and ‘empty-minded leaders’ – Alarabiya.net English | Front Page.

A sign marks a closed corridor of the U.S. Capitol as the federal government was shut down. (AFP)

Taliban militants fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan taunted the U.S. on Wednesday over the recent government shutdown, reported Agence France-Presse.

The fighters accused U.S. politicians of “sucking the blood of their own people.”

A statement issued by the Islamist militants described how U.S. institutions have been “paralyzed” by the shutdown.

U.S. federal agencies were ordered to shut down by the White House budget director last week, after Congress missed a deadline to pass a budget.

The government shutdown over Republican efforts to halt President Barack Obama’s healthcare reforms as last minute maneuvers failed to resolve deep differences between Democrats and Republicans.

The statement issued by the Taliban condemned the acts of U.S. politicians.

“The American people should realize that their politicians play with their destinies as well as the destinies of other oppressed nations for the sake of their personal vested interests,” it stated.

The insurgents blamed “selfish and empty-minded American leaders” and claimed they were guilty of taking U.S. citizens’ money “earned with great difficulty” and then “lavishly spending the same money in shedding the blood of the innocent and oppressed people.”

“Instead of sucking the blood of their own people… this money should be utilized for the sake of peace,” they added.

The Taliban, who were ousted from power in a U.S.-led offensive in 2001, have been known to use their website to issue verbal attacks on Washington and the Kabul government in the past.

The Jewish cup. Still half-full. | Jerusalem Post – Blogs.

Prof. Ira Sharkansky

 Israel is demonized by screaming students at distinguished colleges who refuse to listen to Israelis who have been invited to lecture,  government leaders who spend disproportionate time and energy on condemning Israel and demanding that it alter its domestic policies and its postures toward violent neighbors, prominent musicians who refuse to accept invitations to visit the country, professors who refuse to publish the work of Israeli colleagues, and labor leaders who urge boycotts of ships destined for Israel.

Its primary antagonist, responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians, is lionized by self-styled humanitarians who single out the Palestinians for prime economic and political support when, in fact, they suffer significantly less that numerous other ethnic groups on every continent.

Israel’s Warning To UK On Relations With Iran | Orange UK.

Israel’s Prime Minister has attempted to pour cold water on warming relations between Britain and Iran, imploring that diplomatic relations should not be re-established unless Iran entirely dismantles its “nuclear weapons programme” and stops calling for the “annihilation of the state of Israel”.

In an exclusive interview with Sky News in his Jerusalem offices, Benjamin Netanyahu continued his now well-established campaign to counter-attack Iran’s recent “charm offensive” in Washington and the United Nations in New York.

Western diplomatic sources said that they have grounds to believe that the new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani may be “genuinely interested in joining the community of nations and conceding on its weapons programme” in order to end crippling international economic sanctions.

Mr Netanyahu said that the West could be suckered by Mr Rouhani’s moves.

“It could be duped and shouldn’t be duped. It’s got sufficient examples of warnings not to be duped … Churchill said don’t let the Nazis arm themselves. Do not let an implacable radical regime have awesome power. And he was right.

“And there is a lesson to be learned here – don’t let a regime with unlimited ambitions and aggression, Iran,  that is participating in the mass murder of Assad … propping Assad up right now against thousands and tens of thousands of men women and children, by practising terrorism across five continents,” the Prime Minister of the Jewish State said.

He observed that a “good deal” that ended sanctions would be one that says to Iran ‘do what Syria is doing now’.

That is, if Assad came and said ‘please relax the pressure remove the military option against me and I will give you 20% of my chemical weapons’ –  people would laugh him out of court.

He said: “Effectively that is what Iran is proposing. It is proposing that it gets rid of some of our military nuclear capability but we leave really the bulk of what we need to rush forward and make enough enriched uranium to make a bomb and you remove the sanctions …”

Israel has worked hard to build an international coalition against Iran.

It has alternatively threatened to attack Iran’s alleged nuclear weapons programme unilaterally – and agreed to let Washington take the lead on making implied military threats.

But the phone call between Mr Rouhani and US President Barack Obama at the end of the Iranian president’s visit to the East Coast of the US, has rattled the Israeli leadership across the political spectrum.

Most would agree with Mr Netanyahu that “you’ve got a situation now where Iran is on the ropes – they’re on the ropes, the economy is about to collapse”.

“But ? (they are) very close to threshold status to produce enough fissile material for the core of atomic bombs – that’s the hard part of making an atomic bomb,” he said.

“Now you have got them they’re in the 12th round of a boxing match and they’re on the ropes and instead of growling they’re smiling. And you’re supposed to let them rise from the ropes and continue?”

Israel’s main fear is a temporary deal between Iran and the international community, which would already have the backing of Russia and China, two of the five permanent members of the UN security council, to trade a partial lifting of economic sanctions for partial concessions on developing weapons grade uranium.

But wasn’t Mr Netanyahu risking appearing both petulant and belligerent by taking a hard line on Iran, out of step with the rest of the world?

The Israeli Prime Minister replied: “No I was accused (of being) petulant and belligerent at the time of the Arab spring two or three years ago. And I said ‘it’s not quite what you think – it may herald an Islamist tide that will sweep away all the hopes for democracy’.

“Most people think I was right about that.”

PM tells Europe: If Iran sanctions are eased, they will collapse | The Times of Israel.

In a blitz of interviews to the European media ahead of new nuclear talks, Netanyahu warns Tehran has ‘vast ambitions and limitless aggression’

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to reporters during a press conference, Tuesday, October 8, 2013 (photo credit: Flash90)

If the international community lifts sanctions on Iran without ensuring the guaranteed end to uranium enrichment, Europe and the rest of the world will face hundreds of nuclear weapons in the hands of a “murderous” regime, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a series of interviews with European media outlets Thursday.

“When a murderous regime engages in soft diplomacy and uses calming words of peace, but nevertheless continues to acquire immense power — it must be stopped, immediately,” Netanyahu said in the interviews, according to quotes provided by the Prime Minister’s Office on Thursday.

“This is the central lesson of the 20th century. It’s also the central lesson of North Korea. If [the Iranian regime] is not stopped immediately, there won’t be just two bombs pointed toward you [the Europeans], but 200. Stop it now while you’re in a strong position to do so,” he exhorted.

The interviews, timed ahead of next week’s new round of talks in Geneva between the P5+1 powers and Iran over its rogue nuclear program, were conducted with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and ARD TV, France’s Le Monde and France 24, and the UK’s Financial Times and Sky TV.

“I have in my office two pictures,” Netanyahu said. “The first is of [Theodor] Herzl, the founder of the Zionist movement, who warned of the rise of an anti-Semitism that would annihilate European Jewry. The second picture is of [Winston] Churchill, and it’s there because he said: ‘Don’t let the Nazis arm. Don’t give immense power to an inflexible, extremist regime.’ And he was right. We can learn a lesson from him.”

Netanyahu urged the Europeans to “be strict, be strong, be consistent. The Iranian regime has vast ambitions and limitless aggression. It is an active player in the mass-murder in Syria. It enables [the Syrian civil war] to happen through its support of Assad. It conducts terror acts across five continents, in 25 cities over the last three years. It violates every decision of the [UN] Security Council related to ending enrichment.”

Netanyahu characterized the Iranian regime’s recent overtures to the West as an effort to continue enrichment, while offering only “tactical, cosmetic concessions.”

“If the sanctions are eased,” he warned, “they will collapse. [Tehran] will get everything they want and we, as a collective, will get nothing.”

He added: “Don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. It’s important to emphasize that this isn’t an Israeli issue. It’s also your concern.”

The prime minister concluded with a hint at possible Israeli action to stop the Iranian nuclear program. “The Jewish people have traveled a 4,000-year journey,” he said. The Jews’ enemies “tried to destroy us again and again, but failed. We won’t allow men such as the ayatollahs to succeed.”

In recent weeks, Iran has begun negotiating directly with the US over its nuclear program and severe sanctions imposed by Western powers. On Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported Iran’s offer to limit its production of nuclear fuel in exchange for an easing of international sanctions. It is expected to proffer its deal at a meeting next week with the P5+1 in Geneva. Late Wednesday, Israeli TV reported that the US and Iran were making significant progress toward a deal that would aim to keep Iran two to three years from a nuclear weapons capability.

Netanyahu’s Iran policy enjoys widespread support among Jewish Israelis, who distrust the new diplomatic warming between Tehran and the West, according to the latest Israel Democracy Institute Peace Index. The poll found broad distrust of US President Barack Obama’s promise to keep Iran from a bomb “at all cost.”

The study, conducted in late September and early October, found that 80% of Jewish Israelis did not believe Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s recent speech before the UN General Assembly signaled a moderating of Tehran’s nuclear policy, but was merely a change in rhetoric. Only 14% believed it was sincere. Among Arab Israelis, 47% believed it marked a change in policy and 42% thought it was only rhetoric.

PM warns Europe against Iran: ‘Don’t let them have enrichment’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Netanyahu holds interviews with European media outlets to warn against reducing sanctions to Islamic republic, urges world not to ‘let a radical regime have awesome power’

Attila Somfalvi

As Europeans are suggesting that economic sanctions against Iran may be reduced, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held several interviews with European media to stress the dangers of the Tehran regime.

In interviews with representatives from the Frankfurter Allgemeine, the French daily Le Monde, the British Financial Times; as well as the the German ARD television station, the French France-24 and the British Sky News, Netanyahu addressed the issue of nuclear Iran.

Referring to a pictures in his office, one of Theodor Herzl, who warned against the “impending rise of anti-Semitism,” and the other of Winston Churchill, who warned against the Nazis, the prime minister said the world mustn’t “let a radical regime have awesome power.”

The prime minister addressed Iran’s nuclear program, saying that the “violent” Iranian regime, which is “practicing terrorism… has violated every UN Security Council resolution to stop enrichment… is now smiling, and coming and saying, ‘you know what, let us keep enrichment, let us keep my plutonium reactors, and I’ll make some tactical, some cosmetic concessions. You reduce the sanctions.'”

Suggesting that the Islamic republic cannot be trusted, he noted: “So they get everything, and we collectively get nothing.”

Netanyahu added that the danger posed by Iran was not only an Israeli problem, but also the problem of Europe and the entire world. He urged Europeans to take part in controlling Iran’s nuclear program, saying “Don’t let them have enrichment. Be strong; be tough; be consistent.

“The right thing is not to fall into a trap.”

The prime minister also asserted: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

–

“A Sclerotic Goes to War”
will continue till January 2014.

I thank all who contributed and/or sent letters of support. 

While it’s still a small number compared to the number who visit the site on a daily basis, the sincerity and true appreciation of my work could not have been more evident.

The main reason I simply felt I couldn’t stop doing the site was because of two emails that I received, in particular.  They made me realize how I  had been underestimating the impact my work was having on the underlying ideals that motivated me to begin it in the first place.

I reproduce below, redacted and edited versions of the letters.  The editing was necessary to protect the senders’ anonymity; both for their safety and to preserve the effectiveness of their good works.

Dear Joseph,

I and my colleagues are really very sorry to hear that you have not been able to raise enough funds to make continuation worthwhile. It is very surprising, given both the quality of your selection and the number of people who look at your site. We certainly value your work highly. It seems extraordinary to us that others do not.

We shall all miss you. Your site is very popular here. We do however understand your position very well. What really impresses us is how you manage to pick out just the right sort of stuff for those who are interested in, and who support, Israel. We know from our own work just how demanding that selection can be. Computer based web mining systems help but they are no match for a good, Mark1, human brain. Like yours, Sir.

You have done a great job over the last years for Israel and you have our warm and genuine congratulations for your efforts, which have been considerable, and your own contributions which have been both witty and erudite, in the fine tradition of your father.

Please do not even think about returning our modest contribution, made after your recent plea. Look on that rather as a very small thank you for all the help and pleasure over the last few years that you have given us.

Perhaps, I should explain, briefly if I can, and discreetly, what we do in this organisation. There is a reason, which I will come to later.

We give advice. Much of the advice we give relates to strategic, military and political matters and, being as totally independent as we are, we can be as frank as we like. And believe me, we are!

Therefore, one of the things that we do, because we believe it is in the interests of this country, is to promote the view that Israel should be treated much more as a valued and valiant ally, rather than criticised constantly, in certain quarters, for actions that would go unremarked, were they made by other nations.

Further than that, we believe that Israel is holding the line for us in one of the two great threats that face the world. That threat is Iran and its dash for nuclear bombs. We constantly and robustly argue that Iran cannot be trusted to negotiate honestly and we endeavour to make sure that our arguments, backed by intelligence and analysis, reach the right quarters.

We very strongly support the Israeli position that a realistic military option, rather than one of President Obama’s movable red lines, must be there on the table and we were mightily impressed by Mr Netanyahu’s powerful speech at the UN on the subject. Israel has judged this matter correctly. The US and the EU have not and their pathetic and naïve trust in more talks is endangering the world, we believe.

We should perhaps add here that we frequently challenge the official views of intelligence organisations, where these are published and in the public domain, and where we feel that necessity. We do this very vigorously at times. We have long argued, for instance, that we believe that Iran may well have made, and certainly intends to go on making, nuclear weapons, when the US, in particular, with the massed consensus view of all its 16 intelligence organisations has, by contrast, long taken a much more complacent view, implying no immediate or imminent threat. We disagree.

The other major threat that we see, is one that is only too obvious to our Israeli friends. The threat from fundamental, terrorist Islamism, expressed as Jihadism, and very different from the more tolerant strands of Islam. The West generally still does not understand fully the drive, the ferocity and the danger from this quarter. We have forecast what we believe will be the absolute inevitability of an attack, on the pattern of Mumbai or Nairobi, on this country, sooner or later. This would be a very poor way of ensuring minds are concentrated on the threat but it may be the only way that the message is brought home.

Now why am I telling you all this and why now?

Because Joseph, although quite clearly you are exhausted by your long tour of duty, and disappointed by the lack of support, we expect that you, like all those of us who study such matters, can never really give it up. If the time comes, when you have regained your breath and eased up a little, knowing now what we do, and how we support Israel, if you ever see or hear something of note that you think could help Israel’s case, feel free, without putting yourself out at all, or wasting your time, to send a link to me. If we can use it in one of our briefing papers and if it will help Israel, that would be good.

Absolutely no problem if you never send us a thing but I put the thought there in your mind for more relaxed days.

Sorry to inflict such a screed on you but, unless you know just what we really do, my suggestion would have made no sense.

Many thanks again, Joseph, for all you have done over the years. We salute you, Sir!

Kind regards and our very best wishes

L’éminence grise.

Joseph,

Your information I gleaned rom your site on the theft of chemicals from Libya going to Gaza and Syria was a very deep deep worry for me when I travelled to Libya for the elections two years ago.

I had no idea what would come across my path that trip. After Nato left, nothing was done by Nato about all the mind boggling stores of weapons Quadaffi collected absolutely terrified top military officials. Putin was right, Nato left the job undone and every Waco with a pick up truck was bent on sociopathic plunder.

This included unexploded cruise missles found a year later.
There were over 150 warehouses of weapons that could burn Africa for the next 30 years.

By divine opportunity I met the military official in charge of dealing with this out of control situation.

I really personally suffered with the knowledge I learned from my meeting. I was sure 100% that it could be dealt with.

(Paragraph omitted)

So there I was alone with some very bad knowledge and the contacts from Libya kept around my neck so I would never lose it.

(Paragraph omitted)

That fall I contacted the cleaners in _____.  Last spring the job was completed in Libya.

I cried.

You are my eyes Joseph. I am just me, one average guy by himself.

How can you see the effect you have. You did not send aircraft carriers, marines seals, destroyers, congress etc from eliat. You just made hidden knowledge open to the world.

There will be no Libyan chemicals coming to eliat.  You Joseph played a significant part in that. No child will breath their last in Israel because of rogue Libyan chemicals.

You can quit if your want Joseph.

(Paragraph omitted)

When I left for that meeting with the Colonel in Misrata late one evening I changed all my clothes from white to black. I walked out on my arab hosts and guests. I said nothing where I was going and this was  silently offensive to them by not letting them know where I was going. I could not endanger my friend of decades if where I was going went sideways.

What I did was normal. If your neighbours house is on fire you do something. My neighbour is your country Joseph. I went into the fire and phoned 911.

Nobody answered the 911 for a long time.

  _____ answered immediately.

______ got it done.

(Paragraph omitted)

I cannot tell you how ______ did it. I have no clue. But Libya is clean of chemicals.

You Joseph Wouk did your part.

With your site or without your site I am going on.

You are a special man.

My job is to be a normal citizen.

Regards,

I was gratified, humbled and truthfully shocked by these emails.  I have to tell you it made me ashamed to have ever considered ending the site before the Iran/Israel conflict was settled one way or the other.

The way I see it, Obama’s interest in working with Rouhani will produce either a diplomatic solution or a war within the next few months.  In January I will be going to the States to take care of my father for a while. By then the situation should be a lot clearer.

There’s no justification for my ending this site before then.

Please don’t stop sending contributions and support.  They mean more to me than you can imagine and they make it so much easier for me to slog through the daily effort of keeping this site the way you expect it to be.

Thank you for understanding.

Joseph Wouk
October 10, 2013

`

Most Jewish Israelis do not trust Obama on Iran | The Times of Israel.

( My friends, it’s really great living in a place where most people actually DON’T have their heads up their asses. – JW )

Poll finds that two-thirds of Jewish Israelis do not believe the US president will prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons

US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepare for a press session in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, September 30, 2013 (photo credit: AP/Charles Dharapak)

Most Jewish Israelis do not trust Obama to keep his promise to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons “at any cost,” according to a study released Thursday.

Of the Jewish Israelis surveyed in the latest Israel Democracy Institute Peace Index, 67 percent said they did not believe the president would keep his word, while 27% said they thought he would. Among Arab Israelis, 42% believed Obama would prevent a nuclear Iran, while 38% did not.

The majority of all Israelis think the US is projecting weakness on Middle East issues, as 63% said they thought US actions in regards to Syria projected weakness and 60% said the same regarding Iran.

In recent weeks, Iran has begun negotiating directly with the US over its nuclear program and severe sanctions imposed by Western powers. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Iran is preparing to offer to limit its production of nuclear fuel in exchange for an easing of international sanctions. It is expected to make the offer at a meeting next week in Geneva.

Israeli officials have largely dismissed the idea of negotiating with Iran, insisting that the only acceptable solution to the standoff is for Iran to dismantle its program.

Jewish Israelis seem to agree with that sentiment, as 80% believed Rouhani’s late-September speech before the UN General Assembly did not signal a change in policy but rather merely a change in rhetoric. Only 14% believed it was sincere. Meanwhile, 47% of Arab Israelis believed it marked a real change in Tehran’s policy, and 42% thought it was only rhetoric.

When it comes to Iran, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu enjoys widespread support among Jewish Israelis. Fully 77% said they thought Netanyahu was right to repeatedly warn the world of the danger Iran poses, while just 14% think Western leaders are right to meet with the Iranian president. Among Israeli Arabs, 56% agree with Western diplomatic steps and 20% support Netanyahu’s more skeptical line.

Saeb Erekat, left, John Kerry, center, and Tzipi Livni at a July press conference in Washington restarting peace talks (photo credit: AP/Charles Dharapak)

The study also polled Israelis on relations between Israel and the Palestinians, finding that 65% of all Israelis (61% of Jewish respondents and 88% of Arab respondents) were in favor of peace talks between the sides, compared to 29% (34% of Jewish respondents; 8% of Arab respondents) who opposed such talks.

However, most Israelis surveyed were not optimistic about the negotiations, as 78% of Israelis (81% of the Jewish public; 64% of the Arab public) thought the chances are low that the current round of negotiations will lead to a significant agreement, while just 15% (14% of the Jewish public; 20% of the Arab public) thought the chances are high.

Israel and the Palestinian Authority resumed American-brokered bilateral peace talks on July 29. In an effort to jumpstart the talks, Israel has agreed to release over 104 Palestinian prisoners. Late last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly that Israelis and Palestinians had agreed to intensify peace talks aimed at reaching a final status agreement.

The survey also showed that Jewish and Arab Israelis disagree over a right of return for Palestinian refugees, one of the key points of contention between Israel and the Palestinians. Among Jewish Israelis, 81% do not think Israel should accept the return of even a limited number of Palestinian refugees to Israel, while 80% of Arab Israelis support such a right.

This survey was conducted by the Israel Democracy Institute and Tel Aviv University between September 30 and October 1. It included 601 respondents who constitute a representative sample of the adult population of Israel, with a margin of error of 4.5%.

Times of Israel Staff contributed to this story.

French, British diplomats tell Israel that interim deal possible with Iran – Diplomacy and Defense Israel News | Haaretz.

Meeting held ahead of talks between six world powers and Iran next week.

Iran’s President Hassan Rohani takes questions during a news conference in New York, September 27, 2013. Photo by Reuters

Senior Israeli officials and European diplomats said on Wednesday that Britain and France did not rule out the possibility of reaching an interim agreement with Tehran that would ease some of the international sanctions on Iran, in exchange for significant restrictions on that country’s uranium enrichment and increased monitoring of its nuclear facilities.

High-ranking British and French diplomats arrived in Israel on Wednesday to meet with their Israeli counterparts, ahead of the six-power talks with Iran that are scheduled to begin in Geneva on Tuesday.

The delegations included France’s top delegate to the talks, Jacques Audibert, and the deputy head of the British negotiating team, Michael Howells. The two held separate meetings Wednesday with senior figures in the National Security Council, the Foreign Ministry and the Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Ministry.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius sent Audibert to Israel after speaking on Saturday night with Strategic and Intelligence Affairs Minister Yuval Steinitz.

The Wall Street Journal reported early on Wednesday that Iran is expected to submit a proposal of its own at next week’s talks in Geneva. It is said to be similar to the one submitted by the six powers to Iran in talks held in Alamaty, Kazakhstan more than six months ago. Iran, which was in the midst of its presidential election at the time, never responded to the proposal from the so-called P5+1: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States – the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council – plus Germany.

Based on conversations with past and present senior American administration officials as well as senior Iranian figures, the Wall Street Journal report said the Iranian proposal would include an end to uranium enrichment to 20-percent purity, from which reaching the 90-percent purity needed for a nuclear weapon is a relatively small step. The 180 kilograms of 20-percent-enriched uranium already stockpiled in Iran would be removed to a third country, in exchange for nuclear fuel rods for use in the research reactor in Tehran. Iran would also agree to limits on the number of uranium-enrichment centrifuges in operation and to additional inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency. In addition, the WSJ said, Iran is considering offering the closure of the fortified underground site at Qom where uranium is being enriched to 20 percent.

The visiting diplomats told their Israeli counterparts that while they were skeptical that a breakthrough could be reached in Geneva, they sought to test the seriousness of Tehran’s intentions.

One European diplomat said Israel was being unrealistic in its expectation that an agreement with Iran would end all uranium enrichment in that country, as well as in its expectation that sanctions would not be eased until Tehran’s nuclear program was completely dismantled. The diplomat said that if Tehran’s proposal in Geneva was similar to that reported by the Wall Street Journal, it would be considered a reasonable one.

The British and French officials told their Israeli counterparts that they disagreed with Jerusalem’s argument that any letup of the sanctions would lead to a breakdown of the entire sanctions mechanism.

The Europeans said the six powers would agree to lift sanctions on Iran’s trade in gold and petrochemical products, but that the European Union’s oil embargo would remain in place, as would restrictions on Iran’s banking system, easing of which would require further concessions by Tehran.

Israeli officials yesterday dismissed the WSJ report and said the Iranians were recycling old, irrelevant ideas. Steinitz said Iranian willingness to limit uranium enrichment to 20 percent was less significant now that Iran has thousands of centrifuges operating that can enrich uranium at a faster pace than before.